OT: "Jeremy Bonderman making a serious bid in Toledo to rejoin Tigers"
Apparently, Bondo has pitched well for the Mudhens, and the Tigers are hoping he keeps this up so we could bring him up and use him, maybe in our bullpen. If he continues to pitch well, he could be a great addition to our bullpen when our starters get beat up early.
"Through five outings with Toledo, Bonderman has allowed one hit and no runs in five innings, while striking out three and walking nobody. "
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130726/SPORTS0104/307260120
He always had problems in the first inning but then he was great after he got past the first. Let's hope he can come back soon and help us.
God I hope not. He was crap earlier this year and hasn't made an impact in the MLB in years. Just because he's thrown 5 good innings in AAA doesn't mean he's ready to bolster a World Series contender.
Pretty damn hard to make an impact on the Mariners, but he still managed to have a couple of 6+ inning, no run starts with the M's. Yeah 5 good innings in AAA doesn't mean that, but you have to start somewhere.
You can start by not bringing back washed up pitchers and thinking they'll be able to bolster your bullpen. If he were to actually make the team it reeks of a move of desperation. I wish him all the best but for a team like the Tigers that have their eyes set on a World Series, bringing Bonderman in to shore up the bullpen would be a bad sign.
I know you're very set in your opinion, but failed starters (or guys just past their prime) can absolutely have success coming out of the pen. Like someone said above, it's an apples to oranges comparison. This year alone, you can look at Andrew Miller in Boston before he got hurt, Tommy Hunter in Baltimore, Bret Cecil in Toronto, and even our own Drew Smyly. These are all guys that for one reason or another, couldn't keep a spot in the rotation and have instead made an impact working in relief. Also, lest we forget, Mariano Rivera was a failed starter before he decided to give pitching out of the bullpen a shot.
Never said failed starters couldn't work. Bonderman, however, who has had arm problems and is 6 years removed from a solid major league season is one I would not like to see in the bullpen.
3K in 5 innings of AAA doesn't illicit much confidence. one of the things you want from a middle-reliever is to provide a trial-run for being an ace set-up guy. Seems very unlikely Bonderman can do that.
I hope he is able to make at least somewhat of a comeback... Always liked him in Detroit, although he wasn't a lights out pitcher.
There's a reason he's been out of baseball
The biggest issue with Bonderman was that he never learned an off-speed pitch. His slider and fastball were within a couple MPH of each other. When you get rushed to the majors at 20, much more often than not you don't get the chance to learn and properly develop another pitch.
Actually, looking over FanGraphs here (HERE), his fastball and slider velocity over the past several seasons of action have been averaging 91.3 and 82.0 MPH respectively, at least if I am looking at the PitchF/X stuff correctly.
What seems to be consistent over the years is what you mentioned - his pitch distribution (looking at "Pitch Type" on this page) shows that the fastball and slider do indeed account for about 91% of his pitches on average, with most of the rest being that rarely featured changeup. I remember that being the case but the numbers confirm it.
The other thing that seems consistent in his admittedly limited action this year is that he's still getting a majority of his outs on the ground, although by a far smaller margin than what I remember when he was here last.
That being said, it is a low-risk move that could work if Bonderman can find that slider again and perhaps intermix the changeup a little more than he has historically.
that was an awesome link... I just wasted too much time on that site...
jdon
For me Bonderman was kind of like Fernando Rodney. When they were on they were some of the best pitchers in the game. When they were off, they had absolutely no control and couldn't find the strike zone.
Don't know why some people are getting so up in arms about this. There is literally no risk for the Tigers. If he finds that wicked slider he could be a huge asset. If he doens't pitch well, they can cut him and move on.
The Tigers need to find a reliable set-up guy to complement Smyly/Benoit. Every inning given to a guy who can't do that is wasted.
Right, and it's certainly worth finding out if Bonderman can be that guy. Otherwise you have to give up a commodity to get a commodity, who also may or may not work out.
2006 seems like yesterday
It's a pretty low-risk move on the Tigers part to see if he can make the transition. I don't imagine it can happen overnight, though Smiley certainly took to it quickly. In my book he can't possibly be worse than Coke. I could care less about the strikeout numbers if he can simply get through an inning 1-2-3.