The Cost of Relief Pitching

Yesterday the Diamondbacks started the relief pitching sake by sending Joe Thatcher to the Angels for minor league prospects. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Braves have been looking for left handed relief pitching to backup Luis Avilan for a while now but haven’t found anything they believe is a good deal. While everyone was watching Oakland and the Cubs set off fireworks, the Angels and Diamondbacks began the relief pitching carousel for this season and gave us an idea of the value of left handed relief.

A Trade for Relief Pitching

Jerry Dipoto has said all along he was happy with his rotation and wanted to strengthen his pen; this does that. Functionally the D’Backs sent lefty specialist Joe Thatcher and 28 year old LHH minor league outfielder Tony Campana to the Angels for right handed relief pitching in the form of 21 year old Joey Krehbiel currently in High A and 23 year old LHH outfielder Zach Borenstein who has had some AAA experience but is currently in AA. Campana looks like a depth throw in to replace Borenstein so essentially it’s Krehbiel and Borenstein for Thatcher.

The Value

Krehbiel was drafted in the twelfth round in 2011 and thought they wanted him to play third base. While BA had him as the Angels 23rd ranked prospect their evaluation (subscription required) isn’t sure.

"He has been used as a set-up man as an Angels farmhand, so he isn’t exactly a priority prospect, but he’s shown a 91-93 mph fastball that touches 95 from a low-three-quarters arm slot that makes him a very rough look for right handers (.454 OPS at low Class A Burlington in 2013) but a relatively easy one for lefties (.806 OPS)."

Borenstein is a useful utility kind of player whose best position according to Baseball America (subscription required) “is in the batter’s box.” They go on to say that his carrying tool is “that he’s a left handed hitter with plus power potential.” Going into this year BA had him ranked as the Angel’s 9th rated prospect.

That’s a C rated pitching prospect under 23 and a C rated hitter under 23 for a 1/2 a year of a 32 year old true LOOGY; his L/R split leans harder left unlike someone like Eric O’Flaherty has a reverse split.

What that means to the Braves

We’ve looked at relief pitching options several times; Ryan specifically looked at a Thatcher trade and was right on in his estimate of what it would take. Thatcher is essentially a replacement level lefty and as quality improves the price goes up but while middle relievers – particularly lefties – are essential they aren’t all that expensive. A guy like Antonio Bastardo who was a 1.2 rWAR reliever last year and is under control through 2016 would bring a higher level prospect but nothing that should put a dent in our system. Excluding teams that still consider themselves in the chase, here’s a list of lefty relievers who might be available.

Player	WHIP	IP	Age	Tm	G	ERA	FIP	SO9	SO/W
Tony Sipp	0.676	23.2	30	Hou	24	1.90	2.52	11.79	10.33
Jake McGee	0.809	38.1	27	TBR	41	1.17	1.6	10.33	4.89
Andrew Miller	0.949	32.2	29	BOS	39	2.48	1.33	15.15	5.50
James Russell	1.068	24.1	28	CHC	34	2.22	3.89	7.40	2.00
Wesley Wright	1.130	23	29	CHC	30	2.35	3.02	7.04	3.00
Oliver Perez	1.182	33	32	ARI	37	2.18	2.99	9.27	2.62
Antonio Bastardo	1.195	39.1	28	PHI	38	3.66	3.26	11.21	2.04
Mario Hollands	1.200	30	25	PHI	33	2.7	3.88	6.90	2.30
Alex Torres	1.223	34.1	26	SDP	36	1.83	3.49	8.65	1.74
Darin Downs	1.250	20	29	Hou	25	4.05	2.56	7.20	3.20
Mike Dunn	1.286	32.2	29	MIA	40	3.58	3.69	10.74	3.00
Jake Diekman	1.300	40	27	PHI	40	4.28	3.03	11.93	3.31
Brian Duensing	1.330	32.1	31	MIN	32	2.78	4.5	5.01	1.38
Neal Cotts	1.361	36	34	TEX	40	3.75	2.66	10.50	3.23
Aaron Poreda	1.400	30	27	TEX	23	3.60	2.91	8.55	3.17
Rex Brothers	1.444	36	26	COL	42	4.5	4.39	8.50	1.48
Dan Jennings	1.459	24	27	MIA	26	0.73	3.55	8.76	2.18
Boone Logan	1.500	15.1	29	COL	21	5.87	4.80	12.91	3.67
Marc Rzepczynski	1.517	29.2	28	CLE	42	3.94	3.51	7.89	1.73
Josh Outman	1.514	24.2	29	CLE	31	3.28	5.22	8.76	1.50
Chris Capuano	1.547	31.2	35	BOS	28	4.55	4.02	8.24	1.93

All numbers from Baseball-Reference’s Play Index.

The list is sorted on WHIP from best to worst. As I noted a few days ago, Capuano has been released and would essentially be free. He also essentially awful this season which is why he’s still a free agent. I also left those with worse numbers than Capuano off for obvious reasons. Looking at the list who would you make your target? There’s a poll below where you may pick your top 3 let us know. The poll will remain open until Monday evening.

That’s A Wrap

The market for relief pitching will be more active after the All Star break as the non-waiver trade deadline approached. The D’Backs traded Thatcher because his value now is his value then and they liked the offer. Most teams will hold out as long as they can and wait for the best offer. The Braves may not make a trade at all though history says they will do something even if it’s just symbolic – think Rick Ankiel – as a way to show the players they are searching for help. As we get information on their dealings we’ll post it here at the Take.

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