Bronson Arroyo, Fernando Rodney, K-Rod, Carlos Marmol, Luis Ayala Off the Table
This is hardly a news site — isn’t that what Twitter is for? — so you may have already heard that Fernando Rodney was made a Mariner, Bronson Arroyo agreed to a deal with the Diamondbacks, Francisco Rodriguez is returning to Milwaukee, and Luis Ayala has signed a minor-league contract with the Washington Nationals.
Rodney received a two-year, $14M contract to bolster the bullpen in Seattle. The 37-year-old presumably will enter spring training as the closer, while Danny Farquhar and Tom Wilhelmsen — who combined for 40 saves last year — will slot into setup roles. I don’t know about Rodney; he had that historical 2012 season, and had a high strikeout rate last year, but he’s otherwise been a middling middle reliever throughout his career. Also, for what it’s worth (not much, I’m sure), I don’t like the way Rodney wears his hat. There’s something fishy about that ’12 campaign, and I get the feeling that the 2014 Mariners could be the 2013 Blue Jays — plenty of big moves in the winter leading to high expectations, but the team falling like a house of cards by June.
Arroyo, also 37, agreed to a two-year, $23M deal with the Diamondbacks. That’s what durability costs in today’s market. Never considered spectacular, there’s one thing Arroyo does, and that is, take the ball every fifth day. He’s never been on the disabled list in his MLB career, and he pitched 200+ innings in 8 of the past 9 years. The one year he didn’t reach 200, he pitched 199 — while fighting mononucleosis, Valley Fever, and whooping cough, and losing 17 pounds. Personally, I thought he’d be a good fit for the Mets, but they chose to spend the big bucks on Bartolo Colon — presumably because Sandy Alderson’s strategy was to pay for upside, rather than consistency, this winter. Was it the right decision? We’ll know in about 6-7 months.
K-Rod returns to the Brewers for one year, $3.25M. No longer a lights-out closer, Rodriguez will team up with Brandon Kintzler to set up Jim Henderson. I don’t care for K-Rod, but he pitched well last year and seems to have settled into a middle-reliever role.
Carlos Marmol signed a one-year, $1.25M deal with the Miami Marlins. Marmol was a disaster with the Cubs for the past few years, but turned things around in Los Angeles in the final two months of 2013. Did he merely need a change of scenery? Not sure. He’s always been shaky, but for “only” $1.25M, seems like a good gamble for the Fish. He figures to fight for a setup role with Mike Dunn, A.J. Ramos, Carter Capps, and others. I don’t know if the Mets kicked the tires on Marmol, but I get the feeling he wouldn’t fit well in NYC, nor Dan Warthen.
Ayala received a minor-league contract and spring training invite from the Nats. Washington already has Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, Craig Stammen, Ryan Mattheus, and Jerry Blevins in their bullpen, so Ayala will have a tough time earning a job.
Beyond whether these particular pitchers were good fits in Flushing, are you seeing a pattern? Teams are building up the back-end of their bullpens with three primary guys rather than one, and rotations are being made deeper than they were a few years ago. It was unusual when the Mets acquired K-Rod and J.J. Putz in the same winter, but now, it’s normal for a contending club to stockpile closers. And, over the past two years, it could have been argued that the Mets’ starting rotation depth was a strength, but presently, it’s not necessarily an advantage — not when so many teams seem to have 4-5 solid starters heading into spring training.
There was buzz that the Mets were in on Rodney, and now that he and Rodriguez are off the table, I’m not sure who is left to add to the bullpen in Flushing. Joel Hanrahan threw a “light” bullpen session (whatever that means) for the Mets recently, and Andrew Bailey remains unemployed, but both had major reconstructive arm surgeries less than 10 months ago. Rafael Betancourt is also coming off of surgery and will reportedly only return to the Rockies. Ryan Madson might be a good gamble, though he also is coming off a surgery (though, not as recent) and hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2011. Among the relievers who are presumably healthy and available include ageless wonders Kevin Gregg and Octavio Dotel. Lefty Mike Gonzalez is still unsigned, but he has not been very good since 2009. I don’t envision a reunion with Oliver Perez, and he’s really a LOOGY anyway. If there’s anyone else on the market, I would think that the Orioles would be all over him.
That said, it’s looking like the Mets’ big addition to the bullpen is Kyle Farnsworth — if he can make the team. Bobby Parnell is coming off of neck/back surgery and hopefully will be 100% by Opening Day as he’s the closer. Everyone is hot on Vic Black but he pitched all of 13 innings last year, most of them in September. We’ll get into the Mets relief candidates in a future post, but for now, it appears that an addition to the Mets bullpen won’t be happening before pitchers and catchers report. How do you feel about that? Answer in the comments.
In the field, he has slow feet, so it doesn’t matter how fast his hands are. At bat, I don’t see extraordinary bat speed — by that, I mean, bat speed like Gary Sheffield, Manny Ramirez, or Miguel Cabrera. I’m not saying he has a slow bat, I’m just saying I don’t see anything particularly special. Further, Lastings Milledge had pretty good bat speed, but that didn’t help him enough to stay in MLB.
Wilmer Flores looks to me like he could be a decent corner guy some day, but I don’t see enough athleticism to play an up-the-middle position. But then, I could be wrong. We’ll see soon enough.
Not in love with Drew, and I agree with you that a disproportionate amount of attention is on him. He is no game breaker, but frankly, what he offers is exactly what this team needs. Young pitching loves plus defense, and it is a good bet his glove will be plus the next two years. He is far from a slugger, but he is a legit MLB bat that can deepen the lineup a tad. To me, Tejada’s value increases when he shifts from everyday SS to middle inf sub, wherre he can play vs. LHP and bring plus D to 2B late in games. That is worth $20-$24 mil over 2 years, even if Drew only plays 130 games/year. This is the type of move competitive teams make. Now, if Alderson has a move up his sleeve for a slick young SS prospect, by all means, go for it if the price is not too high. Tovar needs more seasoning and they need a 2nd alternative at SS. Flores playing SS in the bigs, while possible, is more of a fantasy. Additonally, a SS/2B combo of Flores/Murphy will make ground ball pitchers queasy at a minimum.
If so, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Relievers have short life spans when it comes to effectiveness. The answer is to have as many big arms as you can and hope you hit lightening in a bottle and start all over again the next year. And if you stumble on a Mariano you win a lot of games.
During the “Mo Rivera Era,” the Yankees nearly always had a few good veteran middle relievers. For example, Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton, Tom Gordon, Scott Proctor, Rafael Soriano. The recent Tigers teams have featured Joaquin Benoit and Dotel, among others. Were they overpriced? I don’t know. What I do know, is that as long as starters go only 5-6 innings, and closers only pitch in the 9th, those pitching the 6th through the 8th are often deciding the outcome of a game — so the better they are, the better chance a team has of a winning record.
Relievers don’t necessarily have short life spans. As was brought up previously, relievers — and middle relievers / non-closers specifically — are inconsistent because they’re generally the worst pitchers on a given staff. I disagree that the answer is as simple as piling up “big arms” — whatever that means. What’s a “big arm”? Someone who throws 95+ MPH? If so, then I definitely disagree with that theory, because the Mike MacDougals, Jorge Julios, and Marcos Carvajals of the world can’t consistently retire big-league hitters.
A good pitcher is a good pitcher regardless of how he is classified — be it closer, setup man, middle reliever, or starter. Teams are paying big salaries to former closers to be setup men / middle men because they’re the best that money can buy on the market. Does that mean they’re “overpriced middle relievers”? Maybe so. But a team isn’t going to win a championship without good pitching, regardless of how much money is spent on it.
If he pitches well but the team struggles he gets traded at the deadline for prospects. If Thor, Montero and Meja pitch well Colon goes anyway.
If Colon doesn’t pitch well there will still be a contender who will take a flyer for a low level nonprospect. And they take the salary with him.
The upside in Colon is the trade value. He will not be here next year anyway.
My concern with Colon is that his performance from the last two years was a mirage, and strongly dependent on pain killers and PEDs. His mechanics are extremely dangerous to the elbow and shoulder — two areas where he’s had problems in the past (not surprisingly). If he can use undetectable PEDs for recovery, maybe he’ll be fine. If he can’t, I expect to see him on the DL frequently. It’s really difficult to trade a pitcher on the DL at the deadline.
He’s basically a short term fix for ’14. If Arroyo actually was willing to come at the same price, he might have been a better option. But, I doubt that — he got more NOW, after all, A bit more, sure, but probably was more then. Might even have required three years.
The Mets didn’t want to risk waiting to February to fill an important hole and even if they did, if the Mets offered about the same money, why not go to Arizona, which has a better chance at contention now?
Was his price a few million more back when the team actually got Colon? Or was more / a third year?
On the other hand, if our minor league starters could develop into elite relievers, the few guys in the sport who are good in the ‘pen every year, that’d trump what FA and trades have to offer. If Jacob DeGrom could become the next Tyler Clippard, I think you take that.
Unfortunately, most elite relievers seem to have a wipeout #2 pitch, and I haven’t head of any Mets farmhands who possess a pitch like Clippard’s change up or Kimbrel’s slider. At least, not yet. Koji Uehara’s splitter didn’t become the nasty weapon it is today until he scrapped his change up. So maybe some future Met has that in them.
If the Mets aren’t seeing that, though, better to keep our minor leaguers as starters, and acquire some more relievers. If they don’t make their respective teams, I bet Francis, Slowey, Baker and Blanton could all become the next Torres. As for guys out there right now, a ROOGY like Dotel has his uses.
Arroyo to the Mets was cited as an alternative. That sounds reasonable to me. But, the price tag might have been an issue. He’s getting 23M now … you’d think he was asking more before or (as I recall) a third year.
I can understand why the Mets didn’t go for that.
If Madson is healthy, Alderson should go after him aggressively. Like Colon, if enough kids in the pen excel and/or push the issue, and Madson is decent, there will be a trade market should the Mets not be in the WC race.
That is absolutely one of my favorite phrases in the English language, a true “webgem”, so I use it out of respect for its creator and because there is no better way to sum up the use of DH in the most elite baseball league on the planet.
What I am finding interesting is the more frequent mentioning in some media reports of players having a preference to sign with teams in one of the two leagues based on the DH. Pitchers prefer the NL, while older or defensively challenged players look to the adulterated one. It’s not surprising.
Unfortunately, sometime in the future the MLBA will push for adding the DH rule to the NL. The excuse will be that it is in baseball’s best interests to play by the same rules. But economic interests, rather than making baseball a better game, will be the true motivation.
I agree with you on the “economic interests” issue, but word is both MLB and the MLBPA like the DH, and my fear is that it is much more likely that the NL adopt the DH than the AL aboandon it. This topic has been rehashed many times, but to eliminate the DH would require a proposal that would win over the owners and the MLBPA. I think some type of roster expansion from 25 to 27, which would add more jobs, could win over the PA. MLB is worried about less offense, but it could be argued that a deeper bench could provide more platoons, which could increase offense in place of the DH/softball league type of hitter.
LOL – hate this guy.