The second year under a new General Manager is typically where you’ll begin to see the most change within an organization. The first year is spent sort of learning the ropes, getting an infrastructure built, and evaluating just where you are and what you’ve inherited. But the second year is when a GM can begin to make signings and trades that can shape the direction of an organization and reveal a lot of about a General Manager’s philosophy. Some are harder to figure out, but not Billy Eppler. He made clear what he values the day he traded for Andrelton Simmons. He values run prevention, which is just a fancy way of saying defense. Eppler only reaffirmed it this winter when he traded for brilliant defensive middle infielder Danny Espinosa, rangy CF Cam Maybin to play LF (along with Ben Revere), and Martin Maldonado to play catcher. But it also appears upon closer examination, that Billy Eppler may be trying to employ an entirely new tactic in pitching.
A long range bullpen.
Your typical bullpen is full of one inning specialist such as set up men and closers, a one out specialist like a lefty reliever, and one mop up man that can cover 2-3 innings if needed.
But one look at who the Angels have brought in and you start to suspect that perhaps Eppler intends to arm Scioscia with a series of relievers that are all capable of going 2+ innings.
There’s Jose Alvarez, who operates both as a multiple inning specialist and a lefty specialist, J.C. Ramirez, who the Angels are getting stretched out as a starter, Jesse Chavez who will work both as a starter or reliever as needed, Alex Meyer who is a starter but many believe will end up in relief, Vicente Campos who is being worked out as a starter as well but has the arsenal of a hard-throwing reliever, and Brooks Pounders who is expected to work in both capacities. Now chances are, Chavez will be the fifth starter, Ramirez is being stretched out just for the sake of versatility, Alvarez will resume his multi-inning role and Meyer, Campos and Pounders will all be ticketed for AAA.
Sure, that clears everything up and makes it all squeaky clean. But even in AAA, the Angels are still expected to have a rotation of Daniel Wright, Manny Banuelos, Nate Smith, Vicente Campos and Alex Meyer. That still leaves Brooks Pounders, Chris O’Grady, Troy Scribner and Jordan Kipper as long relief options, lest the Angels wish to have Scribner and Kipper repeat AA again, a level they each had a ton of success at already.
Picture this for a moment, Jesse Chavez works three scoreless frames, one time through the order, and comes out. It minimizes the offense’s opportunity for any familiar or comfortable at bats. J.C. Ramirez who has a completely different arsenal and look comes in for another two innings. A strong lefty component is on deck and in the hole, so Jose Alvarez comes in for another two innings, all to set up Bailey, Bedrock and Street.
Suddenly it appears the Angels have set up a group of pitchers versatile enough to compete against a variety of match-ups.
Or better yet, the Angels decide it’s time to really limit Richards, Skaggs and Meyer’s innings (once he’s in the majors) to prevent injury. They’d also like to be able to hook Nolasco before the other team can do too much damage, or before his 13 million dollar option vests. Suddenly we have four different starters that may only go 4-5 innings on a consistent basis, and will need a relief core to eat 2-4 innings a night before Bailey-Bedrock-Street take over. With Ramirez, Chavez, Alvarez and Pounders all on the 40-man, all working in relief, the Angels would have the depth to pull such a move off.
Now obviously we can’t say it will or won’t be a certain way when it comes to bullpen alignment. But it’s at least something worth thinking about. A long range bullpen full of multiple inning specialists….
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