On Sunday August 16th, Ryan Webb broke a big league record, and virtually nobody noticed. It was the same record he broke on nine previous occasions last season, as well as on multiple occasions late in 2014. Webb entered in the eighth, down 4-1 with one out and a runner on first, in relief of Zach McAllister, who replaced Carlos Carrasco and allowed two runs. It took Webb two sinkers to get out of the inning: the first for strike one to Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki, and the second for a double play, which he induced more often last season than any other player with as many innings pitched.
The Indians didn’t score in the top of the ninth, which meant that Webb was the last Cleveland pitcher. It was the 97th game that Webb had finished during his MLB career. And in that time, he’s never recorded a save. At no point in baseball history has a pitcher finished nearly as many games as Webb without even one of them resulting in a save.
Can you imagine if these were save situations Webb had entered in? He would be one well paid fellow.
As impressive as this is, it underlines that Ryan Webb very quietly had a quality season in the bullpen for the Indians. There was a bit of luck on Webb’s side, as evidenced by a small ERA/FIP discretion. His ERA in 2015 was 3.20 while his FIP was 3.70- very good numbers in relief in a league where finding quality bullpen arms usually come at a premium.
Webb has pitched for the Padres, Marlins, and Orioles and Indians over the last 7 seasons, appearing in a total of 357 games. He’s had an ERA+ better than 100 in each of the last five seasons. That figure was only 101 last year, which is still very good for a reliever. His peripherals were strong though, as evidenced by Webb’s 3.77 FIP. Since 2010, Webb has the second-best HR rate of any pitcher in baseball (min. 250 IP), allowing only 0.36 per 9 innings pitched.
Given Francona’s preference for a large bullpen, his willingness to have guys go back and forth between Columbus and Cleveland and that Webb has a track record as a reasonably effective reliever at the MLB level, the Indians should bring him back for another season to be one of the main “holds” guys.
Webb can be resigned at a club friendly level. He is coming off a 2-year, $4.5 million which means a one year deal worth around $1.5 million would make sense. I don’t anticipate a club giving Webb more than a year deal, as his last multi-year deal did not end on good terms in Baltimore and the league notion that relievers are fickle enough not to be trusted long-term. The Indians usually take these one-year risks as they are not locked into bad contracts long term (a rare few exceptions being Swisher and Bourn).
If teams are trying to follow the Kansas City Royals model of having a shut-down bullpen, the Indians, being in the same division, certainly need all the help they can get. Resigning Webb would be a great start.
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