The Changing Ways of the Braves Bullpen
April 6, 2012 at 1:15 pm by Kevin Orris under Atlanta Braves
Though much has been made of the Braves rather stagnant offseason, there is one big difference with the current roster’s makeup that has been rather ignored.
First, check out the 2011 Opening Day bullpen: Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, Eric O’Flaherty, Cristhian Martinez, Scott Linebrink, Peter Moylan and George Sherrill.
Now look at the 2012 Opening Day bullpen: Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, Eric O’Flaherty, Cristhian Martinez, Chad Durbin, Livan Hernandez and Kris Medlen.
While some of the names differ, it’s more than the names that change the makeup of the 2012 bullpen.
It didn’t appear that until late last season the Braves front office and coaching staff began to realize the demand they placed on the trio of Kimbrel, Venters and O’Flaherty. Rookie Arodys Vizcaino was put on a fast track to the big leagues to provide crucial support for a bullpen that was in danger of exhausting its biggest assets. No one can say for sure that better bullpen management would have pushed the Braves into the playoffs in 2011, but the Braves have attempted to move past any regrets by restructuring in a big way for 2012.
With the departures of Linebrink and Sherrill, in addition to Moylan’s injury, the Braves found themselves without any relief specialists. Though Venters and O’Flaherty are both left-handed pitchers, their stuff is effective against hitters on both sides of the plate and it is a mere certainty they are going to throw the 7th and 8th innings in a close game.
Because of the lack of stamina in the back of the pen last season, the Braves have attempted a completely different approach for their relief core this season. General Manager Frank Wren inked two NL East veterans in Chad Durbin and Livan Hernandez to small-money deals within the last week. In addition, Kris Medlen has also returned from injury after missing nearly the entire 2011 season.
With Durbin, the Braves acquired a former starting pitcher turned reliever who has accrued 759 innings in the Major Leagues. Look at his splits and you will find that his opponents OPS numbers are nearly identical from both sides of the plate.
In Hernandez, Atlanta signed one of the best innings eaters in recent baseball history. Since his debut in 1996, he has pitched in 475 MLB games. Just one of those came in relief.
Medlen is an interesting case because of his potential to start and finish games, but moreover because of his dominance against left-handed batters due to the effectiveness of his changeup.
Between the three of them, they combined for a total of 350 innings in their most recent full-season of work. The trio of Linebrink, Sherrill and Moylan shared just 156 total innings of work in the same scenario.
If it were me, I would have preferred a Cory Gearrin type over Chad Durbin considering the amount of depth the bullpen already contains and the lack of a true right-handed specialist, but the move is just one injury away. Considering the fragility of the Braves rotation, Hernandez or Medlen could fill a starting void almost immediately, allowing the Braves to bring Gearrin, Anthony Varvaro or a healthy Peter Moylan back into the mix.
At this point, it’s safe to say the Braves have prepared to sacrifice situational splits for bullpen stamina and longevity this year. Whether or not it pays off won’t be known for some time, but it does present a scenario to monitor throughout the season.
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I think we’ll see Fredi go with more double switches this year now that he has relievers that can go more than 1 inning. You could see him do it with Medlen, Martinez, Herandez or Durbin. Let’s just hope Contsanza isn’t the other part of the double switch entering the game.
Who knows, maybe Frediot will just let Livan hit for himself rather than have to waste Costanza for a PH. God forbid Ross ever make it into a game he didn’t start.
However, have guys who used to start could take more decisions away from Frediot. As stated, they went away from situational specialists and towards inning eaters with even splits. Now Frediot doesn’t have to worry about how he’s going to use his flow chart of relievers, everyone after O’Ventbrel is basically interchangeable.
They aren’t really interchangeable before the 7, 8, 9th inning guys. Medlen is the best of the bunch, followed by Martinez (Wait, really?), followed by Hernandez, followed by Durbin. But I really do expect the bullpen to be amazing this year, if the back three can come even close to last year (the first 9/10th) and Medlen and Martinez perform as they have previously. Livan will be good in the role he was signed for and Durbin will be an upgrade from Linebrink.. I hope.
Livan’s head does not look quite right in a Braves hat. I think the scripted A may be the wrong proportion to his overall girth. He resembles a living Bobble-Head doll eating sunflower seeds. He may soon be my favorite Brave.
5 Bucks says that Frediot options a pitcher to the minors when Chipper comes back so he can keep Constanza on the roster…
Any takers?? ;)
I’ll take that bet ;) but seriously, I think they will option Constanza, considering the front office and fredi want to keep the bullpen from burning out.
@ 2
Reliever flow chart hahaha….I’d forgotten about that from last year. Its so sad that Frediot might actually need to use one.
@5
Let’s hope Frediot has no input on that decision.
dude it’s addition by subtraction. no proctologist, linestink, or sherrill. (though George was actually decent last year, I’ll admit). I’ve been impressed by Martinez, and I think Livan will be better than most people think. Don’t know what to expect from Durbin.
Off topic…but whoa! Nice site upgrade!
I think the braves have unknowingly, despite themselves stumbled onto the future of good bullpen management: you know how everyone always says its dumb to pay a closer a ton of money when the 9th inning isn’t always the most important inning? Well, by Frediot declaring that O’ventbral is locked into 7, 8, and 9th innings, this leaves Medlen open to pitch the highest leverage inning!!
This is awesome!! I was just as big a proponent of Medlen starting as anyone, but that was because his value is limited as a mop-up long innings eater. However, his role as it stands right now, looks more like he is the go-to guy when the game is close and its time for the starter to hit the shower.
This is huge!!! This is how your best reliever should be used!! Now, I’m not saying Medlen is the best reliever on the team, but wouldn’t you want a very good pitcher pitching when the game is in doubt?
Fredi unwittingly locked himself into an awesome situation, and Medlen could easily be an all-star this year because of it.
I mentioned this in a comment the other day. Top-to-bottom, this bullpen is worlds better than it was last year.
Medlen is the man and should have the arm to come in and pitch 2 to 3 innings on any given night. Livan should get a chance but Medlen should have pitched on Saturday. He can get us out of those innings. The Braves will be in many close games and Fredi is already worrying about wearing out the pen. Medlen will win more than not. Use him!