2K19: Closer and Bullpen

[Sour Masher]

Damaged UCL for Middleton. Getting a second opinion. I'll guess what the first one was. Buh bye.

A league mate of mine traded Belt for him while Middleton was on the DL. I didn't get it then and this is why. When it comes to pitchers, there is no such thing as a minor elbow injury. He thought he was buying low. Now he just gave Belt away for free.

[rhd]

Hader w another solid performance, 2IP, 2H, 0R, 2K. 4-2 after 8. We'll see if Knebel gets the save opp in the 9th.

[Sour Masher]

Hader w another solid performance, 2IP, 2H, 0R, 2K. 4-2 after 8. We'll see if Knebel gets the save opp in the 9th.

7-2 now, so no save op, but I gotta figure he would have.

[rhd]

Justin Anderson w the save opp for Angels tonite. Handed a 2-1 lead, he got a shaky save after 2H and 1BB w 0K. Not confidence-inspiring.

[Judge Jude]

key on Hader is he went 7-8 now and not 8-9

still an awesome RP in any format, but this was a changing of the guard to Knebel regardless
Jeffress and Albers still have value in a non-shallow league

[chancellor]

Carson Smith takes the lead in “Stupid injury of the year” award, or baseball’s version of the Darwin Awards

[Judge Jude]

Braves talking about Winkler getting more SV opps
definitely alluring in NL-only

[revo]

Gabe "Don't Call Me Mr. Kot-ter" Kapler draws the ire of fantasy players everywhere as he brings in Edubray Ramos to start the 9th of a 4-1 game, gets two easy strikeouts, then gets YANKED for Neris to face Davis, who ends the game. WTF???????

[Judge Jude]

1-2-3 9th for my ERamos and Neris in a 4-1 win - and no SV to show for it
I wonder if Kapler knows the SV rule

managers should feel free to ignore the stupid rule - but none of them ever does

[overkill94]

By all means, get your best reliever all warmed up just to bring him in for 6 pitches (all strikes) then get another reliever all warmed up to get one stinking out. Is this supposed to make Neris feel better? Seems like more of a slap in the face - “you’re still our closer but we don’t trust you to get all 3 outs in a save situation”. Fuck you Gabe Kapler.

[Ken]

Awful aggressive considering it worked! I could see this happening more and more. There's no reason a mlb manager should arbitrarily decide that the 1st out in the 9th inning is the best time to bring in his closer. He could bring him in the 8th, or with 1 out in the 9th if it makes more sense based on matchup.

[overkill94]

It was entirely pointless though. Obviously managers should be creative with when they use their closer but with 2 outs in the 9th inning with the bases empty and a 3-run lead? What’s the damn point?

[Judge Jude]

well, Neris has been getting killed by righties; he pitched to Davis
then again, ERamos has allowed 2 ER all season, he whiffed his only 2 batters today, and as noted it was a 3-run lead

I would say this is a bad example of a good idea

[Ken]

It was entirely pointless though. Obviously managers should be creative with when they use their closer but with 2 outs in the 9th inning with the bases empty and a 3-run lead? What’s the damn point?

Neris hadn't pitched in 5 days. Maybe getting him some work in a lower pressure situation without overuse such that he can come back and pitch again tomorrow if needed. Not sure, but whatever the idea was, it clearly worked.

[overkill94]

The phrase "it clearly worked" is kinda silly though. They could've revived the corpse of Brad Lidge to come in and pitch to the last batter and finish the game. Just because the final out was made doesn't make it a smart decision. If they really wanted to get Neris some work, have him come in at the beginning of the inning and see if he can get himself back on track with Ramos ready in case he falters. The only semi-logical explanation is that Neris is the new lefty specialist, but even that one's pretty flimsy.