Due to the amount of information flying out of Mesa last week, Joe Maddon’s view on his bullpen and the way he likes to use relievers was glossed over.
Joe Maddon said Hector Rondon would continue closing games and removed any questions, for now, about veteran Jason Motte being the Cubs’ closer. While talking about Rondon, Maddon explained how he likes using his relievers.
Remember, Maddon doesn’t follow the book that most managers have memorized. Maddon prefers to use his best relievers in high leverage situations, regardless of the inning, if he feels at that point the game is on the line. Maddon likes to use match ups, but not the traditional ones.
“Matchups aren’t necessarily left on left or right on right,” Maddon said. “Today’s game presents a lot of reverse split-pitchers or neutral guys. Neutral guys are able to get out righties and lefties consistently. They’re really interesting relief pitchers. And then you have the reverse split guys who also are interesting, the guy who gets the opposite side out better.”
Reverse-split pitchers are dangerous, according to Maddon. And the specialist “is becoming more difficult.” Maddon explained, “You only bring specialists in on guys you know they’re not going to pinch-hit for. If the guy is going to get pinch-hit for, then why do you bring in a specialist? Because he’s not going to pitch against the guy you want him to pitch to anyway.”
The front office has assembled several very good arms, hard throwers that were rather impressive last year. But there is not a proven veteran lefty reliever, or LOOGY, on the 40-man roster or a non-roster invitee to camp. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer were reportedly interested in a couple of lefty relievers but were not able to add them to the roster.
In baseball nothing is guaranteed and a lot can change over the course of Spring Training. Unfortunately, injuries often have an impact on plans a team makes in mid-February. If all goes well for the Cubs, pitchers perform to expectations this spring and the front office doesn’t make any trades, Joe Maddon’s starting five when the team breaks camp should be Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel, Kyle Hendricks and Travis Wood.
For the sole purpose of looking at the numbers of the pitchers that could makeup Maddon’s first bullpen of the season, here are the career splits for each of the hurlers. These are career splits, so there are small sample sizes mixed in with veteran pitchers and the improvements several of the young arms made last season do not necessarily reflect in their career numbers. For instance, left handers put together a .188/.293/.235 line against Justin Grimm last year while right handers batted .250/.318/.366 and Hector Rondon held righties to a .188/.229/.226 line while lefties hit .255/.304/.616 against him.
- RHB – .206/.297/.334
- LHB – .214/.319/.347
- RHB – .276/.300/.397
- LHB – .238/.333/.310
- RHB – .264/.344/.438
- LHB – .270/.337/.412
- RHB – .229/.319/.306
- LHB – .274/.347/.575
- RHB – .281/.338/.429
- LHB – .280/.345/.443
- RHB – .266/.328/.433
- LHB – .283/.356/.436
- RHB – .217/.268/.364
- LHB – .229/.309/.676
- RHB – .277/.315/.475
- LHB – .257/.284/.400
- RHB – .294/.321/.480
- LHB – .186/.298/.310
- RHB – .173/.236/.286
- LHB – .200/.324/.267
- RHB – .241/.310/.353
- LHB – .224/.284/.298
- RHB – .262/.415/.548
- LHB – .171/.326/.286
- RHB – .267/.331/.321
- LHB – .348/.413/.543
- RHB – .203/.308/.296
- LHB – .229/.336/.324
- RHB – .295/.344/.486
- LHB – .269/.343/.385
- RHB – .270/.325/.474
- LHB – .184/.245/.184
(Key: RHB – Right-Handed Batter; LHB – Left-Handed Batter)
The only role in the pen that Maddon has committed to at this point is Hector Rondon being the team’s closer. Beyond Rondon, the roles for Pedro Strop, Neil Ramirez, Jason Motte and Justin Grimm still have to be determined.
The Cubs are expected to break camp with a 12-man pitching staff, which would leave at least two spots in the seven-man pen open for the relievers that can show Joe Maddon and his staff what they’re capable of this spring.