Was Felipe Rivero snubbed for NL Reliever of the Year?

Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Felipe Rivero was not a finalist for the NL Reliever of the Year award. Does his exclusion count as a snub?

Pittsburgh Pirates RP Felipe Rivero came into his own in 2017.

Over 73 appearances, Rivero posted a 2.47 FIP to go along with a 10.5 K/9 rate. He kept the ball in the park at 0.5 HR/9 and worked to reduce his walk rate year-over-year to 2.4 BB/9, down from a 5.9 rating in 2016.

He took over closing duties when Tony Watson was shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and converted 21 of 23 save opportunities.

The bottom line is that the Pittsburgh Pirates continued their trend of finding fantastic back-end relievers on the trade market.

So why was Rivero not included in the lists of finalists for the National League Releiver of the Year? And is this oversight actually a snub?

The finalists

The National League finalists for the award are Wade Davis of the Cubs, Kenley Jansen of the Dodgers, and Corey Knebel of the Brewers.

A recent piece on mlb.com details the resume for each finalist.

On Davis:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Davis was one of only 35 relievers to face at least 100 at-bats with the tying or go-ahead run on base or at the plate, and according to Statcast™, he had one of the lowest expected batting averages (.169) against him in those situations. On Sept. 23, his franchise-record 32 straight successful saves to start a season snapped.[/perfectpullquote]

On Jansen:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Dodgers’ closer collected his third career 40-plus save season (2014, ’16 and ’17) and joined Eric Gagne (2002-04) as the only pitchers in Dodgers history with three seasons of 40-plus saves. Jansen led all regular relievers with a 1.32 ERA (10 earned runs in 68 1/3 innings) and tied for second in the big leagues in saves (41). He led all NL relievers in WHIP (0.75) and ranked second with 109 strikeouts.[/perfectpullquote]

On Knebel:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The right-hander became the ninth reliever in Brewers history to be selected for an All-Star Game. He ranked among MLB relievers in strikeouts (tied for first, 126), strikeouts per nine innings (third, 14.92), saves (tied for fourth, 39) and appearances (tied for fifth, 76). His strikeout total surpassed Julio Machado‘s 98 in 1991 to become a Brewers single-season record by a reliever.[/perfectpullquote]

If we put these three relievers — all very accomplished and solid — against Rivero, here’s how things shake out:

(courtesy of The Baseball Cube — tap/click on image to enlarge)

Across the board, Rivero’s numbers belong right up there with the three finalists, though there are several spots in which Rivero lags.

• Though Rivero had a fantastic SO/BB ratio, Jansen’s historic figure cannot be ignored. Having said that, Rivero’s 2.4 BB/9 ranks second among this group.
• In terms of raw strikeouts, Rivero lags behind both Jansen and Knebel, with Jansen posting 21 more punchouts despite pitching 7 less innings.
• The last area in which Rivero lags behind the others will be the most frustrating one. Though the save is still a statistic that relievers are judged by, the recent trend towards ‘bullpenning’ has yet to take firm hold. Until it does, casual observers and old school thinkers alike are saddled with a reflexive instinct to put saves on a pedestal. Rivero may be unfairly penalized due to having Watson in front of him for so long that he could not post the higher save totals found among the other three candidates.

So is it a snub or not?

In a word, no. In another word, maybe?

If the Pittsburgh Pirates had let Rivero take the reins much sooner, perhaps Rivero compiles enough saves to have the voters — an eight person panel, compiled of former Major League relievers and led by Mariano Rivero and Trevor Hoffman — to take notice.

On the other hand, the three finalists all have legitimate cases for inclusion over Rivero. Not only did Jansen post historically low walk numbers, but his SO/9 is a nearly four full strikeouts more than Rivero. Ditto for Knebel, who also had the most innings pitched of this group by an admittedly small margin. All were bunched pretty tightly together in H/9 as well as total earned runs allowed. All were very effective relievers, though Davis’s numbers do dim a bit by appearing in the fewest games and pitching the fewest innings, though both were beset by a late injury.

It may be tough for Pittsburgh Pirates fans to swallow, but Rivero was just a notch below the finalists.

And that means…absolutely nothing. The Pittsburgh Pirates have a fantastic late-inning reliever in their midst, and nitpicking an award like this amounts to nothing more than offseason fodder.

Image credit – Flickr Creative Commons