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BP’s are almost always touch and go and evolve over the course of the first 60 games or so. A manager rarely has the luxury of both his set-up guy and closer being set in stone out of ST’ing, so he typically has to rely on instincts at some point. This manager’s demonstrated to me that his instincts aren’t suited to a successful management of a Big League BP.
jj – Here’s a link to see Pallante’s new ‘death ball’. The third pitch that he throws in the video is the one that is most intriguing. It looks like a slider/sweeper that drops like a split-fingered pitch. If Pallante can get that kind of movement on a new pitch and consistently get it in the strike zone, he’s a different pitcher. I realize that the key word here is ‘if’.
The elusive "death ball" pitch design with Cardinals reliever Andre Pallante. ☠️ pic.twitter.com/1JuKGlDG3X
— Tread Athletics (@TreadHQ) October 31, 2023
Romero pitched well in 2023. He’s not having a good spring. Hopefully, that means he’ll be unhittable when the real season starts.
I can’t get out of my mind those three outs that Liberatore got against the Orioles in that game where Wainwright got his 200th win. He pitched like a high end closer. I hope he can bottle that and take a swig of it when needed. I saw a photo of Libby this spring that made me wonder if he has enough lower body strength to pitch multiple innings. His velo drops 2-3 MPH when he works out of the rotation. I’d like to see what happens if they use him in relief, only.
“Deathball”…I genuinely hope the elite Big League hitters don’t hear about this so-called pitch…I can only imagine that the name of the pitch may place them in a homicidal mindset once they step into the box.
I think it’s GG’s “slider” with the 1 to 7 tilt, but “deathball” does sound cool.
If Andre could raise his effectiveness vs righties, it would help fill what Hicks and Stratton did in 23′. Both could hold righties to a .660-ish ops and face middle order bats.
Gimme the best 8 vs righty bats!
Thanks for the updates.Mud, I too would like to see what happens if Liberatore were worked up as a reliever, putting everything he has into 15 pitches. The argument made is if he works up as a starter he can always do relief, but not vice versa. The problem is, that’s only how it works on paper. It’s a mindset thing, and an approach thing. You don’t just flip and switch and poof, you’re a reliever. The org’s intransigence is, at this point, wasting his career.
Liberatore has a good pitch mix to be a starter. It’s just that his fastball consistently gets crushed so he throws it less and less and then guys can sit on his breaking pitches. But as a reliever, his fastball gets an extra 2-3 mph bump and goes from bad (because it was fairly straight and pedestrian) to at least average (because it’s still fairly straight but now “fast”). This helps his breaking pitches play up.
Could he still be an effective starter with his current fastball? Maybe with elite command. Otherwise his ceiling might just be a #4/5 starter. And that’s not terrible. It’s a little useful. But I look at it like we have a trove of guys vying for #5 starters who could probably do that same job today. I’d rather have an elite lefty reliever. And Liberatore seems to potentially be able to provide that. I think it maximizes his value to the team.
Bling, I like Liberatore in the 5th/6th inning, if he earns it. With Thompson starting, Libby is the likeliest candidate in the pen for a multi-inning role.
It would challenge him with different leverage situations, depending on the base/outs states the starter left him, and the score.
In 95 career PA’s, he’s allowed a .561 ops to LHB’s, which is shutdown. In 220 PA’s last season he brought his vs righties down to an .862 ops.
Contreras, our highest ops last season, finished with a .826 ops overall.Vs rightie is going to be a challenge for this pen and Libby. I view him as a “when behind” reliever, if he makes the pen.
With the 3 batter rule, we are better off using him during an inning with two lefties up, that the opposition wouldn’t PH for. Tough assignments, but it’s a role that helps utilize his strengths.
With Pallante’s new pitch, as with any other pitch, it’s a matter of can he get it over the plate when he needs to and not right down Broadway. We’ve heard a lot about the movement but nothing about that.
Middleton injured….again. Cardinals website says he’s headed back to St. Louis for evaluation.
With his buyout included, that’s SIX MILLION DOLLARS completely wasted. I would like to criticize our front office, but maybe this is on par with what happens consistently all over MLB, and if that’s the case, then all you can really say is ‘that’s just the way the game is played’. I don’t know if there’s a way to determine how much sunk cost is generated by each organization, but I’d sure like to know where our front office compares to other front offices.He still has a chance to come back this season, so it may not be a complete waste. $6 million isn’t chump change for an MLB org, but that isn’t really that much wasted money to an org. That is about 1/30th the total payroll.
As I mentioned some time back when Middleton’s and O’Brien’s injuries were announced, forearm usually means elbow trouble is involved, especially if it drags on. I wouldn’t expect anything from either of them.
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