Brandon “Capt Hook” Hyde definitely loves to take guys out the second they run into trouble. That includes starter’s from the 6th inning on and relievers.
The Orioles have used their relievers in 197 games, topped only by Miami’s 198. The closest AL East team is Tampa at 185 games. The Orioles bullpen have blown a league leading 12 save opportunities (tied with 6 other teams). The Orioles use their relievers for an average of 17 pitches, tied for second lowest behind only the Mariners and Blue Jays at 16.
Now obviously sometimes it just makes sense because a guy does not have it and need to come out. And the starter’s inability to pitch much past 90-95 pitches effectively very often is a problem as well.
But my biggest problem is Hyde’s use of 3, 4 or even 5 pitchers to get through 3+ innings of normal work a game.
Now, the Orioles are carrying three guys in Voth, Akin and Baumann that should be able to provide length but he rarely brings them in and let’s them eat more than two innings. In an 8-3 game, why couldn’t Akin pitch the last three innings in that game last night. If Akin can’t go three innings without allowing five runs he doesn’t belong in the big leagues.
The Orioles have six relievers who have pitched in 23 or more of the team’s 55 games. A quick look around the AL East for relievers with 23 or more games shows:
Tampa – 1
NY – 3
Tor – 3
Bos- 0
Last night Gibson did not do his job and it was frustrating to watch, and it might have been the right call to have Baker come in an get that final out. But once he did, he should have gone to Akin to eat innings. Instead Baker struggled, then Coulombe struggled and he ended up having to use Cano for 1.1 innings and Bautista is a game the team was up 8-3 when the starter left the game.
So first off, Hyde needs to expect more from his starters and leave them out there longer when he can. I don’t know whether it’s a Hyde thing or an organizational thing, but they just don’t let their starter’s go much past 95 pitches.
Starts with more than 95 pitches or more:
Bradish – 0 (most 94 pitches and only one other start over 90 pitches)
Kremer – 2 of 11 starts (3 exactly at 95 pitches, 1 over 100)
Wells – 7 or 11 (3 at 95, 2 at 96, 2 over 100)
Gibson – 7 of 12 (3 at 95, 3 at 96, only 1 over 100)
Rodriguez – 2 of 10 (1 over 100)
Now I glanced around and keeping starter under 100 pitches seems to be more of the norm, but one, those starters are getting deeper into games and when they don’t, most team seem to have those bulk relievers that will eat up some innings.
This comes back to Hyde’s usage of Voth, Baumann and Akin.
Akin was the most misused as a situational lefty vs a bulk reliever this year. Akin has been used in 15 games at the major league level and only pitched 13 innings while only pitching two or more innings one (exactly 2 innings).
Voth, who has proven he takes awhile to warm up and should not be brought into mid inning situations when he has to warm up quickly, has pitched 26.1 innings in 18 games. But, he’s only pitched 3 or more innings (bulk reliever appearance) in one game this year and was exactly at 3 innings. In 12 of his 18 appearances he’s pitched in less than 2 innings of work.
Baumann has pitched 27.2 innings but in a whopping 24 games. He’s pitched two or more innings only 4 times. He was really overused in mid-April when Hyde ran him out there 5 times in 11 days for 7.1 innings. He then allowed ten runs over his next 8.1 innings over 9 appearances.
Obviously Cano and Bautista have been the two best relievers but they are being used a ton. Baker has been used a ton too.
Bautista and Baker leads the team with 26 appearances which is tied for 3rd most appearances in the MLB with only Cleveland’s closer Emmanuel Clase being the only closer with more appearances at 27 (though he’s thrown one less inning than Felix).
Cano 29 innings is the 11th most in MLB with most above him being bulk relievers. Only Justin Lawrence and Scott McLough have pitched in more games with more innings.
Unless Hyde changes his ways or all of the Orioles relievers show they all have rubber arms, we’re going to start seeing relievers melt down. We’ve seen this at times with Baumann, Baker (who has been the most abused) and now Coulombe. Even Cano has not looked as sharp though some regression was expected there.
If Hyde would just use his bulk relievers in games for three innings with 4 or more run leads or down 4 or more, it would help alleviate some of these problems in my opinion.