Thursday, March 14, 2013
Ben’s thoughts
Ben has a great summary from SABR, along with his thoughts. Lots to pick out. I'll just choose one, since it'll let me bring up the 1994 Expos:
A couple factors James might not be taking into account: first, the deterrent value of situational relievers. If a team knows its opponent has no southpaw in the pen, it can stack its lineup with lefties whenever a righty starts or a lefty starter leaves the game. And then there’s the effect of forcing one’s remaining bullpen guys to pitch in longer bursts, which would likely make them all a little less effective without the right mix of relievers. Some helplessness at the hands of a big lefty bat in the late innings wouldn’t be the only downside to doing away with LOOGYs.
The top five most used relievers with the 1994 Expos were all righties. And the 1994 Expos was the greatest baseball team ever assembled. And I think there was a great Redsox team that also had no lefties in the bullpen. ?