Comments on: Does Neftali Feliz have a chance to start?

By: clydeserra

clydeserra — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:10:09 +0000

Santana was a rule 5 guy that had to be stashed for a year. Perez is ready now go get big league hitter s out. He needs to start.

By: ThatGuy

ThatGuy — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:31:13 +0000

Johan Santana broke started in the pen for the Twins

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:54:42 +0000

Maybe it would work more often, if more teams would adopt it. Every individual is different. But with very young power pitchers it can be effective. Rather than overextend youthful arms or waste their productivity in the minors ease them into the show. Especially ones who need to work on secondary pitches. No matter how good their stuff is, starters usually need 3 pitches or hitters will catch up to them. Nothing is worse than a promising over matched hurler struggling. Confidence goes, injuries occur and bad habits are formed. This formula won’t work for everyone, some guys are more polished when they arrive, some guys take a while to develop and many aren’t adaptable to the bullpen. But in instances like Feliz I believe it works. This gives the club the options. If the secondary stuff never develops, then the pen is probably the proper place.

By: hackerjay

hackerjay — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:24:29 +0000

This sounds good in theory, but how often does it actually work? Wainwright is the only guy I can think of in recent history, and he spent just one year in the pen.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:18:34 +0000

Great point Craig about starting vs. relieving. This is why I feel Hoffman is no HOF’er. If he was truly a HOF’er he’d be pitching 7 innings every 5th day.

By: BC

BC — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:43:08 +0000

Agree. Worked out OK with Mariano Rivera, huh?

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:29:52 +0000

Can’t go along with you here Craig. Feliz is very young. A couple of years in the bullpen can be a pretty effective, safe way to introduce a young fireballer to the Bigs. Much easier to monitor pitch counts, develop secondary pitches, work on location, and get a feel for the big league game. Seems like a natural progression to me. I understand your concern about being “buried”, and I guess there is always that threat if highly successful, but I sure understand the logic of the careful plan, particularly with young, talented power pitchers.

By: seanmk

seanmk — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:59:20 +0000

well either neftali feliz or tanner scheppers will have to become starter

By: andrewkw

andrewkw — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:30:31 +0000

If the playoffs taught us anything last year it’s that Ron Washington would rather lose a game then pitch Feliz in any inning other then the 9th.

By: bcopus

bcopus — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:11:21 +0000

There are a few things I’ve never understood when I hear baseball commentaries.

1) How much better someone is from the bullpen. As you noted above…of course. It’s kind of a no-brainer.

2) How homeruns can be drive killers. I really never understood this. The premise of the game, if I’ve been watching it correctly for the past 25 years, is to score more runs than the other team. So, given that a homerun is the only sure-fire way to score a run (besides being walked in), how does that become a negative for a hitting team?

3) I once heard a certain commentator say, “They want to score a few runs here in the 7th, but leave themselves something to do in the 8th and 9th.” Really? They don’t want to go ahead and take the lead?

4)This last one goes for all sports. “Team A has a 13-37 record against Team B since 1972. Can they overcome that?” I may really not understand the logic, and if that can be explained to me, that would be great. But to me it seems like what happened in 1972-2010 bear little weight unless both teams stayed exactly the same, aged exactly the same, and played exactly the same way for every year.

By: BC

BC — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:01:01 +0000

They’re going to screw him up like the Yankees screwed up Joba The Hutt. And the Reds will do the same thing to Chapman. Everyone remember, I said it first.