“Failure” to acquire right-handed reliever made sense
August 1, 2011 at 2:32 pm by Kevin Orris under Atlanta Braves
For weeks and even months leading up to the trade deadline, Peter, Ben, and I all expressed our desire for Frank Wren and Co. to add a right-handed reliever to the bullpen. While Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters, and Craig Kimbrel have all ranked among the best in the league, the depth of the bullpen has been lacking, leading to more than expected usage.
I can’t help but reiterate the fact that O’Flaherty, Venters, and Kimbrel have been used extensively this season. Among the relievers of all 30 teams, Venters (63.1 IP) ranks first in appearances with 59. Kimbrel (53.0 IP) and O’Flaherty (49.1 IP) are tied for third at 54.
There’s no arguing against their dominance though. Kimbrel leads MLB relievers with a 2.4 fWAR with Venters (1.5) and O’Flaherty (1.0) also ranking among the top 20. They make a pretty good group.
But if they’ve pitched too many inning to this point, a point which some would argue against and the Braves only reliable right-handed reliever is Kimbrel, it makes sense to acquire a right-handed bullpen option, right?
Yes. It makes perfect sense, however, the trade deadline has since passed and the Braves failed to acquire a right-handed reliever. But I’ve come to realize that failed isn’t the correct word to use. I’m actually happy that Wren chose to avoid the right-handed bullpen market.
Blame the Texas Rangers and GM Jon Daniels. Daniels, Baseball America’s 2010 Executive of the Year, was able to acquire two of the premier right-handed arms available at prices the Braves appear to be reluctant to pay. For San Diego’s Mike Adams, the Rangers dealt Robbie Erlin, Texas’ No. 4 prospect heading into the season, and Joe Wieland, their No. 23 pre-season prospect who has posted a 1.80 ERA with a 9.2 K/9 this season between Single and Double-A.
There’s no doubting that Adams is a great pitcher, but IMHO the price was too steep. If the Braves were to have offered up a similar package, it would have likely included a top four pitching prospect (Mike Minor, Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, or Arodys Vizcaino) and possibly another young arm. That move would make little sense for the Braves.
Then there’s Koji Uehara. He was dealt for former Braves farmhand Tommy Hunter and Chris Davis, a masher who has failed to stick with the Rangers. Uehara is certainly a name that we’ve talked about extensively, but the price was pretty high. The added value of both Uehara and Adams is sure to be large, but was it worth trading such valuable pieces? Probably not.
Enter Arodys Vizcaino, a right-handed pitcher acquired from the Yankees in the Javier Vazquez deal, who has finally been converted to a reliever, just as many scouts have predicted since joining the Braves in December ‘09.
If you listened to the podcast last week, you heard Peter mention Vizcaino’s promotion to Triple-A Gwinnett and bullpen conversion, and so far it’s been nearly flawless. Through four appearances in Gwinett, Vizcaino allowed just one run (a home run in his first outing) while striking out six batters in four innings pitched.
Even though Wren “failed” to acquire a right-handed reliever at the deadline, Vizcaino is his prize possession that appears to be on the fast track to Atlanta. The Front Office’s reluctance to add an arm shows the trust in Vizcaino to arrive soon, because really, how long can Scott Proctor remain on the active roster?
With Vizcaino, Fredi will have a converted starter in his play pen with innings to burn and batters to K that will hopefully transition smoothly to the big leagues. There’s no doubting the potential of Vizcaino in the bullpen with his mid-90’s fastball and swing-and-miss curveball that he can command in the zone.
The time will come soon when fans will be filled with exuberance with the permanent call-up of Vizcaino and potentially Teheran and Delgado to throw valuable bullpen innings come September. For now, be happy that Wren pulled off a phenomenal deadline deal when he acquired Michael Bourn, and allowed the Texas Rangers to make upgrades at a steep price.
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When can we expect to see AV in the ‘pen? I certainly hope that we don’t have to wait for a September callup…
Is Vizcaino’s move to RP a career move, or just something that was done this year to limit innings?
1/Steve
I don’t think anyone can say for sure but I would guess in the next few weeks. I think it will happen prior to September.
2/KLB
I haven’t seen much of him this year, but developing a reliable third/fourth pitch has always been a necessity for him to remain a starter. For now, it appears that he’s going to be in the bullpen but there’s potential down the road if he can further develop his changeup or add a slider, two-seamer, etc. It’s tough to be a successful starter when you only have two good, much less reliable pitches.
Couldn’t agree more. Even though a lot of people were frustrated by Wren not making a move for anyone, I think he demonstrated he has the fortitude not to mortgage the farm and overpay to make a splash. I play a lot of poker and I would NOT want to play poker with Wren. He is good at letting others do the bidding for him.
@Steve – No guesses on the exactly call-up, but the Braves would most likely call-up before September, so he could be included on post-season roster.
agreed.
I’m really glad we got Bourn. I’m happy with what we paid, and I somehow knew a few weeks ago Schafer was getting shipped out at the deadline. I think it was the way Fredi kept trying to talk him up and sell him so hard, even though his numbers were anything but praise worthy.
Regarding the RH reliever issue, I used to think we needed to do something at the deadline. Kris Medlen is out for the season most likely, as his set-back will not let him throw again until September, at the earliest. Moylan is close to returning, which is good, but ya never know how someone is going to proceed when it comes to back issues. Those two were the guys I was counting on a month or so ago to fill in the RH need in the bullpen. Neither of which was necessarily the best option.
However, AVi and AVa (Vizcaino & Varvaro both) give me hope, and Christian Martinez’s performance against the Pirates gave me hope. Also, Linebrink has been somewhat… good, lately. Although his FIP is sitting at 4.17, he has been able to maintain a markedly lower ERA than FIP (3.46 to 4.16) throughout his career. I don’t see why this trend would somehow just end. I believe he has the ability to continue to give us good innings. Not that I would throw him in the 8th inning, but he has been solid as of late, and provided a pleasant surprise.
Moylan, CMart, Linebrink, Kimbrel, Venters, O’Flah, and Sherrill. With AVi, AVa, Gearrin, and Asencio most likely joining in at roster expansion, things could be worse heading into the playoffs. I like the bullpen mix if it can stay healthy and productive.
I agree that I like Wren’s ability to not mortgage the farm for a “win-now” player.
The World Series window for the Braves is really just opening. We should be in serious contention for the next 5 years, easily.
I’m also intrigued to see if AV sticks in the ‘pen or develops into a starter. He’s got quite a few guys in the rotation ahead of him and it wouldn’t bother me at all if he stayed in the ‘pen if he can be dominant. AV, Venters, and Kimbrel is scary good.
DLow to the the pen and turn Christian into a starter. Perhaps DLow can show how good he was in the past in that role. CM has shown in long relief that he is good enough to start.
Just an FYI – hopping on TheFanSportsRadio.com (Waycross/Blackshear, Brunswick/St. Simons) with Kevin Thomas at 3:20 Eastern.
Now the problem turns into proper bullpen pitcher usage…knowing the situations and which pitcher best fits said situation – for example Sherrill vs. LHB = great, vs. high leverage RHB = not so much.
Well between AV, the eventual return of Medlen, and Moylan on his way Wren probably felt like the move was not even close to a necesity. The only way a deal would have probably happened is if another team was willing to sell very low.
This is my first post in a long time and I’ve since moved from Chicago back to glorious Atlanta
Anyways, what’s the deal with Medlen? Haven’t heard anything of him all season
Medlen suffered a setback and isn’t expected to return this season.
great stuff on the radio just now kevin.
I certainly hope you are right about their plans for Vizcaino – the sooner, the better – and I hope Fredi at least occasionally uses him in the correct situations (surely not counting on it though).
If it’s not Vizcaino – or some of the other farm hands – I still think moving Lowe to the pen, and inserting Minor into the rotation would work. But then, I’d be happy with almost anything that got Proctor off the roster.
Kevin,
I agree that for what Texas ha paid, they can have them.
However, I still think of it as a failure. We needed that right handed reliever coming out of the All Star break with 20 straight days of games and everybody ijmportant in the pen running up innings and appearances. So, IF one of the “minor league golden children” was the solution, Friday after the ASB was the time. All chance of “Super 2″ was gone for Vizcano (and for any of Minor, Teheran and Delgado, could have been handled by sending them back down). The roster spot for any of them could have been handled by dfa of Proctor (which SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS).
By then we knew Medlen wasn’t coming back and that Moylan was probably mid August. So, reinformcemts should have been coming then.
I would love to see Moylan (assuming his arm doesn’t fall off) and Viz (there seems no reason to doubt he could handle himself in the majors) join the pen some time in August… Those two leading (along with Sherrill and Linebrink) up to the three headed monster would be a sick bullpen. And then either Beachy or Lowe (hopefully Lowe) should be moved to the pen in October forming the best Braves pen probably in my lifetime…
If Vizcaino were to come up this year, perhaps before September, how would that affect his super 2 status and the Braves bringing him up next year? Presumably, we will treat him like the Rays did Hellickson and Desmond Jennings, protecting him for as many years as possible.
The Braves elected not to do this with Heyward/Freeman because there was little option. But in this case, going into season, our pullpen and rotation are strong AND deep. It seems obvious that Wren and Co will delay the arrival of our young arms.
“Stay tuned but I think #Braves roster move for Bourn might be Proctor.” – Dave O’Brien
http://twitter.com/#!/ajcbraves/status/98127333021585408
Frame this tweet for your grandchildren.
o’brien says he thinks proctor’s getting the boot to make way for bourn today. thank god.
Great article.
I think that moving Vizcaino to the AAA bullpen had two purposes. One of them was to limit his innings this season. The other was to prepare him to move to the Atlanta bullpen for the pennant race. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Minor and Teheran spend some time in the Atlanta bullpen late in the year. Why buy BP arms when you have kids like this in the minors?
just wondering but if Ludwick was traded for a player to be named later and we still seem to be poor again lh pitching; wht didn’t we make that trade.
Regarding moving Lowe to the pen for the playoffs, this shouldn’t and won’t happen, simply because Lowe has by far the most postseason experience of any of our pitchers (and he’s been fairly successful). That, combined with his ability to eat innings (as long as he’s not coughing up runs), will keep him in the rotation. Wren mentioned wanting to keep Beachy’s innings down (a wise decision) in a booth interview the other day, so I see him moving to the pen for the postseason.
What about getting a rh bench bat? Are we gonna try and make a move for that or call someone up from the minors?
All Fredi wants to know is how fast Vizcaino can RUN.
Can’t wait until the team has its proctorectomy and can start the healing process.
DOB just tweeted, unfortunately, that he thinks it’ll be Varvaro or Constanza sent down, not the Proctopus.
Unfortunate.
Dammit, DOB, you proc-tease!
I was all set to say, “A Michael a day keeps the Proctor away.”
Is it wrong that I’m not too bothered about Vizcaino coming up for the next few weeks? I just have this image of Fredi using him, realising how good he is and then pitching him 40 times before the end of the season.
Doing away with Proctor to make way for Bourn would have easily made this the best Braves trade of my lifetime.
Seriously, one trade that ends the tenure of both Jordan Schafer and Scott Proctor AND relegates Nate McLouth to the bench… how can that not be the greatest Braves deal of all time?
@30
While I’m inclined to agree, I can’t help but think the heist of Fred McGriff was the best deal in Braves history as it brought them the ’95 Title.
If we get the ’11 Title, then yes, this deal would easily outpace the Crime Dog deal.
Yes, having someone named Bourn “kill off” both Schafer and Proctor would have been awesome.
Interesting lineup today:
Bourn, CF
Prado, 3B
Freeman, 1B
Uggla, 2B
Heyward, RF
Ross, C
Gonzalez, SS
Jurrjens, P
Constanza, LF
Jurrjens should bat second. You know, to get him going.
I wish Hinske was batting 7th tonight.
Great article Kevin!
I wonder if anyone else in the history of baseball has gone from batting leadoff one day to batting 9th the next. This has to be a first.
Wow, that lineup is slightly more absurd than I expected. As I said yesterday, Livan Hernandez pitches everyone backwards and specializes in dumb rookies that don’t have a strike zone. Meanwhile, Hinske has 28ABs (including a HR) against Livan. I don’t care so much that Fredi will never read “the book” and will never understand underlying stats, but his job is to maximize the abilities of his players, and he fails MISERABLY at that.
So, the over/under for Constanza getting the ball out of the infield is 15%. I’m going under
Is it too late for Hinske to lose 50lbs, gain some range and an arm, and learn shortstop before game time today?
Hmm, so Fredo pulled a LaRussa.
Why is Wren allowing this to happen? Proctor still not cut. Playing a AAA kid that made a couple of bad blunders the last game, batting him 9th, and benching Hinske, who does very bad things to RHP.
#35, I’d be willing to bet a sizeable chunk of money that Brett Gardner has done it many times.
I would like to extend congratulations to Frank Wren for the outstanding job he has done at the trade deadline.
We now have in place a GM who actually values Braves prospects as much as other teams value Braves prospects.
This was not the case for previous GM John Schuerholz. The attitude of Schuerholz was that if Liberty Media is not going to provide me with sufficient funds to work with; than I will use the “crown jewels” of our farm system as an alternate means to improve the club.
This was a very shortsighted approach as evidenced in the J.D. Drew trade as well as the disastrous Mark Teixeira trade. This mind set was even evidenced in lesser trades such as the Kyle Davies for Octavio Dotel trade as well as the Joey Devine for Mark Kotsay trade.
The difference is in the mindset. John Schuerholz viewed all Braves farmhands as nothing more than trade chips or potential trade chips. Frank Wren views Braves prospects as future members of the Braves.
I guess Constanza is playing LF instead of Hinske because you know, he…well because they…the Nats, you know, they…they don’t have…well because speed is so important and we….you know.
I also would rather see Hinske batting, probably 7th. I think Fredi is enamored with his new toy and now wants to see a “speed lineup” in action.
We will just have to wait for the shine to wear off his new toys before Constanza is on the bench where he belongs.
At least the Bourn trade made it impossible for Fredi to screw up the top half of the lineup.
Seriously? Constanza? At least bat him 8th so Jurrjens can execute the beloved sac bunt.
I thought having Bourn would reduce the number of black holes in our lineup. Apparently Fredi still wants 0 production out of the bottom of the order.
Again we see that nothing in life is foolproof.
Nothing in life is *Fredi*proof. Swear to god I don’t know how that man doesn’t drown in the shower
This lineup is vintage TLR.
Folks, other than the incomparable ‘Russa, I think we’ve got the best manager in the game.
Ironically, The Book does say that an offensive is slightly better with the pitcher batting 8th, but the difference is pretty miniscule over a season. I doubt that Fredi has gotten to that chapter yet, though.
Just to be clear, I don’t have a problem with the pitcher batting 8th, it’s using Constanza instead of Hinske that’s the puzzler.
MichaelVP?
@ Dr. Hugo,
You must not know anything about baseball. Every great baseball mind knows that speed is the most important baseball related skill. What’s the point of getting on base if the person can’t run fast? Constanza does so much. Sure he gets out on boneheaded baserunning mistakes, but he feels like he’s doing less boneheaded things. You’ve got to tip your cap to a guy like that
the first thing I said when we landed bourn was that it is nearly impossible for Fredi to screw up the lineup now….clearly I was mistaken.
Forgive me guys but what is “The Book” it seems sometimes this site uses it metaphorically to speak of “going by the book” but other times literally including page number references of a sabermetrics book? Thanks for the clarification
Sluggla!
This lineup has all the potential to be really dangerous if we didn’t have a “drunk behind the wheel” manager setting it up. Oh well. Keep on going oppo field Dan, it’s a beautiful sight.