Lessons from St. Louis in building a bullpen
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Lessons from St. Louis in building a bullpen
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Now we know one of the great misconceptions in the days leading up to the postseason: St. Louis did not have a leaky bullpen. There were times during the regular season that, yes, it was a weakness. But come Oct. 1, Tony La Russa had enough time to discern which parts were useful, what roles they were best suited, and who he could trust most.
The Cardinals' bullpen has thrown 48 1/3 innings in 12 postseason games. It has a 2.23 ERA. La Russa has deftly utilized each piece at the right time and it's made him the talk of October. (A lack of other storylines have aided that.)
Here is how St. Louis acquired their relievers:
Jason Motte ($435,000) - 19th round pick in 2003
Fernando Salas ($420,000 approx.) - International free agent signing
Arthur Rhodes ($3.9 million, but only $113,000 paid by STL) - Signed as free agent in August
Octavio Dotel ($3.5 million, but only $1.2 million paid by STL) - Acquired in deadline trade with TOR
Marc Rzepczynski ($430,000, but only $143,000 paid by STL) - Acquired in deadline trade with TOR
Lance Lynn ($414,000) - 1st round pick in 2008
Mitchell Boggs ($431,000) - 5th round pick in 2005
That leaves the total cost of the seven primary St. Louis relievers at approximately $3.16 million. (Calculations are rough, especially with pre-arbitration salaries and mid-season acquisitions.) Granted, it cost a lot to reach that point. The Cardinals traded Colby Rasums, a talented young and cheap outfielder for Dotel, Rzepczynski and others.
St. Louis began this season with Ryan Franklin as closer. Here is the sobering number: He was paid $3.25 million by the Cardinals in 2011. Franklin last pitched a game June 28 and he still made more money than the combined amount of the seven current relievers that have the Cardinals three wins from a championship.
There are risks in building a bullpen, most namely, multi-year deals. Franklin inked a two-year, $6.5 million deal before the 2010 season. In 2010, he saved 27 of 29 games to a 3.46 ERA and was a dependable closer. In 2011, he blew four of five save chances and was released with an 8.46 ERA. The Cardinals, effectively, ate half of the deal.
The Phillies will face a similar situation this winter. Ryan Madson is a free agent and on the cusp of a lucrative contract. He's been a member of the Phillies organization since 1998 and the team would very much like to have him back. But they are unlikely to offer anything more than three years (if that) in a contract. Madson's agent is Scott Boras. He will command top dollar as the top relief prize, and with a plethora of teams needing a new closer, Madson could find that four-year deal elsewhere.
If that happens, Ruben Amaro Jr. is on record saying he wants to sign another veteran closer to replace Madson.
"I don’t feel comfortable with the guys we have internally," Amaro said. "If Ryan does not sign, we might have to go outside the organization. There are some people in our system who think [Justin] De Fratus or [Phillippe] Aumont can do that. I am not convinced of that yet."
La Russa never named "a closer" in Franklin's departure. The majority of the save chances fell to Salas, who converted 24 of 30. Motte, who emerged as the best option late in the season, converted 9 of 13. As a whole, the Cardinals saved 64 percent of their chances -- only Washington, Chicago and Houston had worse rates in the National League.
The Phillies used a closer in 2009 who posted a 7.21 ERA and blew 11 saves. They still made it to Game 6 of the World Series with Brad Lidge.
When St. Louis could no longer ride their veteran closer, they turned to a group of high-ceiling, hard-throwing relievers to fill the void. It took a few months to figure out the best combination, but now the Cardinals are that close to a World Series victory.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Charlie would've never pinch hit for Halladay, Lee, or Hamels in the 6th inning as LaRussa did for Carpenter last night... a pinch hit that won the game for the Cards. The Phils would've just left the runners stranded on base.— formerphilsfan- cant argue the comments about tony's move to pull Carpenter last night, and that you can often get away with cheaper bullpen options..i know Rhodes is over the hill but still thought the phils should have looked at him as a situational lefty when texas cut him. it ended up giving Tony a second lefty that allows him to really go crazy with bullpen moves. would like us to get another lefty for next year.— jim715
- The Phils don't need luck. The need their second ace to hold a 4 run lead.— NMPartners
- 2009 WS: .227 AVE .318 OBP .782 OPS
2010 NLDS: .212 AVE .301 OBP .574 OPS
2010 NLCS: .216 AVE .314 OBP .635 OPS
2011 NLDS: .226 AVE .269 OBP .604 OPS
It's not the pitching. It's not the manager. It's the position players. They've disappeared in the post season.— Jeff Dowder - But you must HIT the ball to get a lead to have the opportunity to save. Just another useless article by the Philly "media"— kozykoz26
- Anyone notice how the Cards bats are still active! How about that
Country Boy???? Move on.....— Lynnwood - I don't think it is a big secret arund baseball that building bullpens on the cheap is an effective way to do business. Releiver perfromances generally fuctuate from year to year so having millions tied up in most bullpen arms is a waste. I also favor letting high ceiling SP prospects develop in high leverage bullpen situations, especially for contending teams. I wouldn't resign Madson those resources could be better used to foritfy the position player pool.— Ed Gein
- The hot team wins in the postseason in baseball.
Thats the fact I get from this year and last year and in fact if you look at the recent past it happens much more often than the best regular season teams.— Bob65S - The only reason the bullpen was the difference was because of the drastically different strike zones in games 2 and 4.— Pelti
- Moral of the story: Don't sign a closer to a long, lucrative deal...including Madson. Bullpen parts are interachangable. The Phils have plenty of strong, young relievers (DeFratus, Savery, Aumount) that should get their chance. If they sign a closer, get a veteran on a 1-year deal.— Phront_Runner
- It's not so much who you have, but how you use them. One absolutely cannot deny the effect Tony LaRussa achieves by the way he uses his bullpen. His system of one (or maybe two) batter(s) per reliever works. We saw it at the end of the regular season (though the Phillies could have easily prevented the Cardinals from getting into the playoffs), the NLDS, the NLCS, and now (yawn) in the World Series.
Among the things that we have seen LaRussa accomplish amounts to a major stall. How much harder it has to be to hit when you have to wait 7-10 minutes between batters in the last three innings of every game! Last night's series opener was a tale of two games---the first an entertaining 5 2/3 innings of crisply played, taut baseball. But, after the Cardinals scored with two gone in the home sixth, the game degenerated into a tedious parade of mound visits, trips from the bullpens, warmup sessions, and at bats in which the hitters appeared to have been frozen. The best analogy to what LaRussa and Ron Washington have turned baseball into is what happens when the opposing coach calls a timeout seconds before the snap on a game tying or winning field goal attempt. It is a strategy that sometimes works (in football), is within the rules of the game, but which smacks of gamesmanship.
Until the endless parade of relievers began filing into the game last night, the game has taken an hour and forty minutes. The final 16 outs required another hideously boring hour and twenty-two minutes to complete. And what did we see? From the Rangers just a bloop single and a walk, and almost exactly the same from the Cardinals.
We have been told that the post-season ratings have dropped this year. When what you're watching is tantamount to watching a glacier move, is it any wonder??????— john newlin - I know it isn't going to be a popular statement and seem like sour grapes, but I don't like at the playoffs as any more than a fun distraction. There is much much larger sample size to judge by when considering the 162 games played during the season. The results of short series can be chalked up to randomness.— Ed Gein
- Who cares about the bullpen, if you cannot score two friggan runs what is the point of a good bullpen
— phillyceltic - john newlin..with larussa managing, no way im staying up for these games..dvr right through the commercials, larusa's trips to the mound and a lot of mccarvers blabbering...more sleep and maintains my sanity...just make sure you hit "extend" by 120 minutes on the brodcast or it will run out in the bottom of the 6th— jim715
- "Hard=throwing" is the key for a closer. The fact that Madson also has a great changeup makes him more special— VicM
