Kevin Gregg bandwagon?

[Don]

I was not a fan of the signing and really not so in retrospect. I think he is a decent bullpen arm, but the tires were bald and alot of tread was wore on that arm. He does not look like he can reach back and get it by you and his stuff is simply an arrow. At least with Koji, everything has movement and it does not matter if it is 85 or 95. Jim Johnson and Koji are solid enough to be the one-two punch. Gregg needs to be placed in a new role for awhile until he can get his stuff together because I do not see it right now.

What could be worse that trotting Gregg out on the mound to give up a homerun to a 39 year old that can only hit fastballs? You throw him a meatball and tie the game, geeze, Pat Egan could do that and saved the Orioles 7.5 million dollars.

Between him and Gonzo, it will cost the Orioles 10 games. These are 10 games that could put them into the conversation in late August. They might not play for a wildcard, but at least they would be in a position to make some noise late in the year.

[thezeroes]

If ifs and buts were candys and nuts-------------?

If Kevin was told/promised that by signing here he was to become the closer than I think he will be allowed to prove he cannot. I think that Gonzo is a poor substitution for a lefty reliever but the alternative may be Hendrickson and that is not an alternative, in my mind, at this time.

[A_K]

If there's one thing I agree with the sabermetric community on, it's that you don't pay for relievers. Gonzalez and Gregg stink.

[Don]

The catch 22 though is this team had to buy bullpen arms. It is the biggest crap shoot in baseball because teams cannot track what pitchers did between outings, what day to day activities and treatment were done, and countless other factors. I was not fond of Gregg, but what else was on the horizon to meet the needs. They had to get an arm because it was not 100% certain that Johnson, Koji, or anyone else was going to last the season, much less make it out of spring training.

The Orioles did not have a clue that Pedro Beato would be a solid guy in the bullpen, even though the numbers suggested that they should have at least kicked the tires on it. Pat Egan is still a bit of time away, but he too could be forced into a role where he is not quite ready. My hope was for Ryan, Mike, or Rick to find some establishment this spring to help the bullpen, but far too inconsistent and they had to be shipped to Norfolk.


It takes a certain person to pitch in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

There are some guys I want to take a flyer on in Norfolk and Bowie, but the damage is done and you simply have to take the poison pills that you created. Sad but true.

[A_K]

You could make the case that they needed to bring in bullpen help, but did they need to bring in expensive bullpen help?

The argument isn't that there's no way for a reliever to be worth a reasonably expensive contract, it's that it's impossible to know what you're getting from a reliever, largely due to the issues you bring up. So if their performance is almost completely unpredictable, why go for the expensive, older option with limited upside, rather than the younger, cheaper option?

Sure, there was no way to know what Pedro Beato was capable of, or Pat Egan or any of the other relievers we could have promoted but didn't. BUT, it was also impossible to know what we were going to get from Kevin Gregg! It's not a very appealing choice when the alternative to uncertainty is more expensive uncertainty.

Next year, I say they grab whatever two young relievers they like and throw them to the fire. If they don't work-- just as Michael Gonzalez and Kevin Gregg haven't worked-- send them down and grab two more. If those don't work, grab two others. Or trade for someone else's cheap minor league relievers. Whatever. If it's all a crap shoot anyway, I'd rather play at the $5 minimum table.

[Don]

I am not making a case for him. I simply do not know if other options were given a contract and those pitchers simply went in another direction. I did think Gregg was the better one of the relief pitchers at that last second and they needed someone, but I think it was way too much money.

Gregg had the peanuts and the Orioles had other options on the free agent market that were rather bleak.

On another note, should the Orioles claim Garrett Olson to help out the bullpen?

[thezeroes]

I think all bullpens are a work in progress every year. The one in Baltimore at present will eventually work it self out. The trust that Buck has in the different individuals will become self-evident. I do believe he has faith in Koji but does not trust the stamina. For the set up guys, Berken and Johnson are top flight because of their stuff (groundballs) and ability to throw strikes. Chris Jakubauskas is a feel good story from what he has come back from and his stuff at present plays better at this level than does Tillman's. Will he start or be long relief. Acardo has relieved over the course of a year but was dismissed by the powers in Toronto the last two years. We are not in a spot that we do not have options in the pen it is just the pecking order of those options. IMO