The Dodger Bullpen
One of the problems Davey Johnson had in his first year as the Dodger
manager was a lack of bench options, especially left-handed ones. Over the
winter, Kevin Malone worked to get him more balance, trading away Eric
Young and Raul Mondesi while bringing Shawn Green and
F.P. Santangelo. Along with increased use of Todd
Hollandsworth and the presence of Chad Kreuter, Johnson has had
more options when the Dodgers are batting.
At the same time, though, he has had to adjust to a bullpen without a
left-handed reliever. The Dodgers have gotten a grand total of 14 innings
of left-handed relief all season, and went through a three-week stretch in
which they had no left-handed relievers on the roster. Johnson has been
more of a matchups manager in the past, and this roster problem could have
led to some of the same complaints he made last year.
To his credit, he has adjusted well. Rather than bitch and moan, he changed
his usage patterns and has gotten good work from Terry Adams,
Mike Fetters, Matt Herges and Antonio Osuna in front
of nominal closer Jeff Shaw. Those four guys have provided more than
80 innings of relief at a combined ERA of about 3.00, and have often been
used for multiple innings at a time.
The Dodgers are back to carrying one left-handed reliever, waiver claim
Trever Miller, who is expected to be used in the one-batter role. In
a division with Barry Bonds, Larry Walker, Todd
Helton, Steve Finley and Erubiel Durazo, I admit that
it’s hard to have no lefties available. And Miller isn’t displacing a major
talent, as his roster spot is essentially the one that had been occupied by
what’s left of Orel Hershiser.
But given the success the Dodgers have had without a left-hander in the
pen–and the dubious case for Miller as a solution–it would have been nice
to see the team break the mold and continue using pitchers based on
effectiveness, not handedness.
A Giant Dilemma
Not that Dusty Baker needs any incentive to ride his starters, but now he
has one. The Giants are currently carrying just ten pitchers. That’s in
part due to the ugliness of Ben Weber–I mean his 14.63 ERA and 1050
OPS allowed, not his Peasian looks–but it also has to do with the great
performance the Giants are getting from the end of their bench:
Ramon Martinez: .282/.378/.487 Terrell Lowery: .591/.625/.909 Calvin Murray: .325/.415/.437 Felipe Crespo: .367/.441/.467
These are the likely candidates to be sent out when Joe Nathan comes
off the DL, and all are playing like gangbusters. And while none of these
hitting performances will last, these guys all have other markers.
Terrell Lowery and Calvin Murray are important defensively,
because Ellis Burks needs to sit frequently and Marvin Benard
is a center fielder by contract only. Ramon Martinez is the only
real backup shortstop on the team, while Crespo is a good hitter and can
play five positions.
My solution would be to dump Russ Davis (.283/.309/.358) and let
Bill Mueller play every day at third base and J.T. Snow play
every day at first base. If you want to sit one of them against a
left-handed starter, use Crespo, whose 1-for-8 this year batting
right-handed does not reflect his actual ability. Davis is the most
one-dimensional of the Giants’ bench players, and is performing the worst
of the bunch.
The need to handle Burks and, to a lesser extent, Barry Bonds
carefully means the Giants need at least six outfielders. They’re lucky to
have that many useful ones right now, so they should take advantage of that
fact.
Fun With Friars
The Padres have won four of five and nine of their last 14, while making
errors at a rate that has your local HMO jealous: 12 in five games and 15
in a seven-game streak with at least one. Something to think about when
your local broadcaster tries to use fielding percentage to make a point
about team quality.
The errors aren’t even the weirdest thing seen on defense in San Diego this
past week. Monday night, Bruce Bochy brought in Dave Magadan in a
double-switch.
At shortstop.
Joe Sheehan can be reached at jsheehan@baseballprospectus.com.
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