Pig 'Pen

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Joel Sherman sez the following suspects have cleared waivers and suggests the Mets should look into getting one of them:

Alderson is going to have to lean on his scouts and analytic folks to make the best calculated guess who has 10-15 strong appearances from a group that has gotten through waivers and includes former closers Addison Reed (Diamondbacks), Fernando Rodney (Mariners), John Axford (Rockies), Edward Mujica (A�s) and David Aardsma (Braves).

That Parnell has struggled is no surprise. Everyone knows his velocity is down since his neck and elbow deals and needs to transition to a finesse/wiley guy lickety-split, plus he's just like Niuewenhuis with the idiotic beard.

I actually liked Goeddel's results while he was up, before he was hurt, anyway. Wish he'd hurry back.

I have no interest in Axford; Aardsma barely distinguished himself as a 2013 garbage-timer and only been okay with the Braves; Reed's a lefty whose strikeouts are way down; Rodney's one of those fat gasbags who ruins every season for the Tigers and he's also having a bad year; and Mujica has already proven a scene of scenery hasn't meant improved fortunes this year.

[Guest sharpie]

Yeah, I vote none of those guys. Thank God for Clippard, though. Hard to imagine where we'd be without him (actually, easy to imagine but hard to accept).

[Ceetar]

we're at August 17th. There are various guys in the minors that will/can/should help probably more than random waiver pickups.

[dgwphotography]

Ceetar wrote: we're at August 17th. There are various guys in the minors that will/can/should help probably more than random waiver pickups.

This.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm pretty sure Reed's a righty. A most Parnellish righty, at that (gas of the very hittable kind). He's youngish, though, and may have some adjustments in him yet. I wouldn't mind kicking the tires on Mujica, if'n he's dirt-cheap; when he's kept the ball down in the zone consistently, he's quite solid (except lately, he hasn't really been able to keep the ball down in the zone much at all).

Gimme some Goeddel and Verrett, with a side of Vic Black.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

You're right about Reed. He bats left though, so you know, um, I was't completely inaccurate. /whistles

[Benjamin Grimm]

Has Vic Black been written off yet for 2015?

[Frayed Knot]

By me he has.
The problem is his addiction to walking a batter per inning, and until he can kick that monkey off his back ...

[Frayed Knot]

Some positive light being thrown on Logan Verrett by prospect guru John Sickels.
Now he's looking at things from more of a future viewpoint than as immediate bullpen help, but he surely was effective in the brief pen outings he had this year: 6 outings, 12.1 IP, 4 hits + 4 BBs, and, as Sickels points out, his numbers in Vegas are pretty good especially considering that it's Vegas.

If life were fair he'd probably replace Bobby Pee on the roster this afternoon but I'm not sure that Parnell can be sent down without risking losing him (and, yes, despite his recent troubles that IS a consideration). Be nice if he'd suddenly develop a hangnail that requires a 15-day rehab stint which would open up a spot for either Verrett or Goeddel prior to Sept 1st. Other than that the only other odd man out would be the just-acquired O'Flaherty but I don't think they want to leave Gilmartin as the only lefty in the bunch.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Adam Rubin ?@AdamRubinESPN 3m3 minutes ago Heard through grapevine Logan Verrett joining #Mets. No move announced for now.

[Edgy MD]

Unable to sleep last night, I tried naming all the 2000 Mets. I couldn't for the life of me remember that reliever from Oakland we gave up Terrence Long for and who gave us nothing. I flopped around for a half hour but couldn't remember.

Got in this morning and checked. It was Billy Taylor. And he was a 1999 Met, not a 2000 one. And we gave up Jason Isringhausen for him. Oops.

Oh, and Taylor, unlike the guy I was picturing in my head, was white. I'd totally conflated him with Chuck McElroy, a completely different 1999er we got from Colorado (and who, unlike Taylor, actually contributed).

[Ceetar]

fleecing the Mets with Taylor was a key point in Moneyball.

[Edgy MD]

I just want to rail vociferously against the idea that a team runs out of effective relievers in a war of attrition and the answer is to find one more reliever.

No, the answer is to keep the manager from having to go to a reliever everybody knows is scuffling in a game situation. Pick that guy up and score some runs before his name even gets called.

It's always "one more reliever." No, man. Execute. The eternal quest for a still more perfect bullpen gets good men killed. KILLED!

[MFS62]

I agree.
The third part of the solution:
Don't (automatically? ritualistically?*) replace the reliever if he is pitching well. Save the arms of the other guys in the pen.

Later

* Fie on you, Tony LaRussa.

[Ceetar]

MFS62 wrote: I agree. The third part of the solution: Don't (automatically? ritualistically?*) replace the reliever if he is pitching well. Save the arms of the other guys in the pen. Later * Fie on you, Tony LaRussa.

The trick here is to replace the reliever BEFORE he pitches badly, not wait until he does. It's a fine line, and a tricky one.

I'm heard a lot of people say Josh Smoker is pretty much a given to get a callup by September.

[Edgy MD]

He hadn't even occurred to me. Hasn't gotten out of Bingo yet, but why notski? He's 26 and he's striking people out.

[Frayed Knot]

Ceetar wrote: fleecing the Mets with Taylor was a key point in Moneyball.

I don't believe that was the case at all. MONEYBAll took place in 2002, two years after that deal and one summer after Isringhausen left Oakland.
It was one of Beane's challenge that season to replace the likes of Isringhausen (and Giambi & Damon) with some low-cost alternatives. So while it's possible that deal was mentioned in the book, it certainly wasn't a key point and I think you're probably remembering a scene where Beane is trying to wheel and deal with Steve Phillips about some other reliever although nothing ever comes of it.

[Ceetar]

It was referenced as a previous deal. It was talking about the perceived surplus value of a reliever when you called him a 'closer' and how Beane had basically taken an ordinary reliever and given him saves and made him that much more value. Market inefficiency, so to speak.

relevant passage:

[Frayed Knot]

If life were fair [Verrett would] replace Bobby Pee on the roster this afternoon ... Be nice if [Parnell] were to suddenly develop a hangnail that requires a 15-day rehab stint which would open up a spot for either Verrett or Goeddel prior to Sept 1st.

I saw that as a possibility but didn't think it would actually happen.
Let's see, what else might we need:
- be nice if Michael Cuddyer reverts to his previous hitting form
- be nice if Curtis remembers how to hit LHP
- be nice if Wilmer learns to draw a walk every once in a while