As part of our Trademas in July series, we’ll take a look at potential trade targets for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Today we look at Marc Rzepczynski, left-handed reliever from the Oakland Athletics.
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen has been very good as of late, but it is still missing a key piece. Tony Watson remains the only southpaw reliever on the team’s 25-man roster.
LHP Antonio Bastardo‘s solid performance allowed manager Clint Hurdle great flexibility in 2015. A quick look at his 2015 game logs shows that he was used in a variety of situations. Whether it was throwing a full inning, more than one inning, or simply matching up, Bastardo wore many different hats. Even after the acquisition of Joakim Soria, Bastardo was often used in the seventh inning and later, showing an ability to be a reliable late inning piece.
This year’s relief corps lacks that matchup-slash-mid inning left-handed reliever.
Luckily, the Oakland Athletics – one of the only true sellers at this year’s MLB Trade Deadline – have a very movable left-handed reliever in Marc Rzepczynski
Profile and performance
Rzepczynski is in his age 30 season. He is with his fifth team, his first year with the Athletics. He comes with a 1-yr/$2.95 Million deal, and will be a true free agent for the first time after this season.
Rzepczynski carries a mainly three-pitch mix with a slider, a rarely thrown changeup and a sinking fastball. The sinker is thrown 60 percent of the time, nearly three times as much as the slider. The changeup is rarely thrown, and he has been known to mix in a four-seam fastball in rare instances.
His sinker velocity – he is averaging 92.94 mph in 2016 – is a tick below other noted sinkerballers such as Jake Arrieta (94.74) but actually higher than Dallas Keuchel‘s (89.04).
Here now is a complete look at Rzepczynski’s career to date:
| Year | Tm | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | TOT | 3.34 | 71 | 62.0 | 50 | 27 | 23 | 3 | 26 | 61 | 3.14 | 1.226 | 7.3 | 0.4 | 3.8 | 8.9 | 2.35 |
| 2011 | TOR | 2.97 | 43 | 39.1 | 28 | 16 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 33 | 3.38 | 1.093 | 6.4 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 7.6 | 2.20 |
| 2011 | STL | 3.97 | 28 | 22.2 | 22 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 28 | 2.72 | 1.456 | 8.7 | 0.4 | 4.4 | 11.1 | 2.55 |
| 2012 | STL | 4.24 | 70 | 46.2 | 46 | 22 | 22 | 7 | 17 | 33 | 4.72 | 1.350 | 8.9 | 1.4 | 3.3 | 6.4 | 1.94 |
| 2013 | TOT | 3.23 | 38 | 30.2 | 27 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 29 | 3.37 | 1.207 | 7.9 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 8.5 | 2.90 |
| 2013 | STL | 7.84 | 11 | 10.1 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 4.02 | 1.935 | 13.9 | 0.9 | 3.5 | 7.8 | 2.25 |
| 2013 | CLE | 0.89 | 27 | 20.1 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 20 | 3.05 | 0.836 | 4.9 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 8.9 | 3.33 |
| 2014 | CLE | 2.74 | 73 | 46.0 | 42 | 19 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 46 | 2.85 | 1.326 | 8.2 | 0.2 | 3.7 | 9.0 | 2.42 |
| 2015 | TOT | 5.66 | 72 | 35.0 | 40 | 29 | 22 | 3 | 14 | 41 | 3.36 | 1.543 | 10.3 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 10.5 | 2.93 |
| 2015 | CLE | 4.43 | 45 | 20.1 | 23 | 15 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 24 | 3.04 | 1.623 | 10.2 | 0.4 | 4.4 | 10.6 | 2.40 |
| 2015 | SDP | 7.36 | 27 | 14.2 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 3.82 | 1.432 | 10.4 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 10.4 | 4.25 |
| 2016 | OAK | 3.45 | 41 | 28.2 | 30 | 13 | 11 | 1 | 17 | 29 | 3.49 | 1.640 | 9.4 | 0.3 | 5.3 | 9.1 | 1.71 |
| 8 Yrs | 3.92 | 390 | 374.0 | 358 | 187 | 163 | 32 | 163 | 356 | 3.78 | 1.393 | 8.6 | 0.8 | 3.9 | 8.6 | 2.18 | |
| 162 Game Avg. | 3.92 | 64 | 62 | 59 | 31 | 27 | 5 | 27 | 59 | 3.78 | 1.393 | 8.6 | 0.8 | 3.9 | 8.6 | 2.18 | |
The case for Rzepczynski
- When making a case for Rzepczynski, the first thing that comes to mind is his contract. Even for a rental, paying a little less than half of his $2.95 Million salary is attractive. The prorated salary would be a great return on a minimal investment.
- His dominance of left-handed hitters – left handed bats slash a career .223/.289/.300 against him – combined with his ability to keep the ball in the ballpark negates the slight edge that lefty bats have at PNC Park.
- Rzepczynski carries a 71.4 percent groundball rate for the year over 28.2 innings. Though there is a bit of small sample size at play, that’s an amazing figure.
The case against Rzepczynski
- Though he has notched 70+ appearances in each of the past two seasons, Rzepczynzki’s innings pitched show that he has become more and more of a specialist. “Scrabble” has hurled 28.2 innings across 41 appearances in 2016, but his usage during his time in the bay has been at least a bit more varied. Of those 41 appearances, 14 have been for one inning or higher. This could show a similar usage pattern to how the Pittsburgh Pirates used Bastardo in 2015.
- Rzepczsynski’s walks a high amount of batters per nine, but the Pirates have proven that they don’t necessarily consider this a deterrent. Bastardo had four consecutive seasons with a BB/9 above four prior to arriving in Pittsburgh. Rzepczsynski has the strikeout ability to overcome this, but also gives up his share of hits.
What it might take
The Oakland Athletics’s cupboards are very bare in the outfield. Among their top 30 prospects as listed by MLB Pipeline, only two project as pure outfielders. Both of those prospects are in the bottom half of that top 30. This, before considering the state of flux their current MLB-level outfield is in.
Josh Reddick will hit free agency, and though Oakland is saying all the right things, they are likely to lose him. Khris Davis will hot arbitration for the firs time after this season and figures to be in the team’s plans. Coco Crisp has an option for $13 million next year with a $750,000 buyout. The club may balk at paying Crisp that much for his age 37 season.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Rzepczynski carries a mainly three-pitch mix with a slider, a rarely thrown changeup and a sinking fastball.[/perfectpullquote]In this way, the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup as attractive dance partners. While Pittsburgh is unlikely to include Harold Ramirez in any deal, it wouldn’t be unfathomable to see them include Barrett Barnes in a potential swap. Willy Garcia could also be dangled, though his inclusion may require a bigger package to be created.
With Austin Meadows ready to join the MLB outfield by late 2017 at the latest, Pittsburgh may have no qualms about giving up other OF prospects who would be blocked regardless. The acquisition of Matt Joyce shows that the team can fill out a 25-man roster with a cheap bench bat rather than forcing a prospect up simply to be a fourth or fifth outfielder.
Conclusions
Provided that the Pittsburgh Pirates feel comfortable that Rzepczynski is more than a specialist, he can be a fantastic fit. With the Athletics in a pure selling mode, other teams may offer better packages. However, general manger Neal Huntington should not be hesitant to enter the fray.
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Featured Image Credit – Keith Allison – Flickr Creative Commons
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