One month and a couple of days into the 2024 baseball season seems about right for pertinent, and some not so, observations. So here goes.
In an era of pitching specialists, baseball has abandoned one that once was deemed the most important — the “long man” on the staff. Where have you gone Diego Seguí, Sammy Stewart, Orlando Peña?
Earl Weaver once called Stewart “the most important pitcher on the staff” when he averaged more than 100 innings and 30 relief appearances a year between 1979 and 1981 — an era when the Orioles routinely rolled out 20-game winners. It mattered little that the team’s winning percentage wasn’t as high in games Stewart pitched as it was in games he didn’t.
It was all about the burden Stewart took off the rest of the staff, and why Weaver prodded his general manager to “get me Diego Seguí,” who routinely logged 100-plus innings in less than 55 games once he left a starter’s role. Stewart was so good in the role that he actually qualified to lead the American League with a 2.32 ERA in the strike-shortened 1981 season.
In today’s game, teams are routinely dealing with starters going less than 18 outs (six innings), which for a winning team usually means a total of five pitchers per game, which is not sustainable throughout a 162-game season. On pitching staffs now limited to 13, that leaves no room for a long reliever. And it’s showing up all over the game, in some cases on injury lists that seem to multiply by the week.
For comparison’s sake, the Orioles had only two full-time relievers log 60-plus innings in 2023 other than closer Félix Bautista — Yennier Cano (72.2 in 72 games) and Mike Baumann (64.2 in 60). As a further, and more definitive, comparison, the Orioles used a 12-man pitching staff from 1979-1981 — for the entire season. Think about that one — 12 pitchers for the whole year.
From a quick and hardly official glance at rosters around the game today, I couldn’t find a pitcher who qualified as a true “long reliever.” In an era when starting pitchers are not averaging six innings per game it would seem imperative every team have at least one who can average more than two.
We have “quality starts” for starting pitchers, who often qualify for a win but not a QS, “holds” for the setup guys, who often merely set up “saves” for the closer. Maybe if somebody comes up with a statistic for those who average more than six outs in relief we can bring back the “long man,” now too long forgotten.
There seems to be a number for everything else, so why not? Only problem is — would there be any takers?
As per Elias Sports Bureau, keepers of everything official, there were 214 pitchers who made at least 30 appearances in relief last year. Only two of them — Tristan Beck (30 games, 72 innings) and Jakob Junis (40 games, 86 pitches), both with the San Francisco Giants — averaged more than two innings per appearance.
Those numbers, however were severely skewed in both cases by innings logged after following an “opener,” which means there were no true relievers, “long men” if you will, who averaged more than six outs a game, an alarming number it would seem.
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If there is only one thing we learned about the Jackson Holliday drama that played out during the first month of the season, it’s that there is no blueprint for a prospect’s path to the major leagues.
There is one other, however, and for sure there will be some claiming otherwise. What we really learned is that, at some point, everybody got this one wrong, including this corner, and just about everyone qualified to be an expert. (Interpretation of “expert” courtesy of the late, great Charley Eckman: “an ‘expert’ is a guy from out of town.”)
To his credit, Orioles GM Mike Elias has admitted the club maybe could’ve handled the situation better, probably dating back to the offseason when Holliday making the team went from a possibility during the winter, to a probability during spring training and then a near certainty when the time came to make the final cuts.
The uproar over Holliday being optioned to Norfolk, despite an alarming trend during his final 20 at-bats in camp, left no doubt that the vast majority of Birdland fell into the “same old Orioles” trap that service time, not performance, was the determining factor.
Subsequent events seem to prove the initial decision is hard to fault. When the O’s appeared to do the right thing and promote Holliday in time to log a full year of service this season, it satisfied those who felt he should have been here in time to run the Orange Carpet. He had gone to Norfolk, done what he was supposed to do and earned his way.
What followed was chaotic to say the least, but the one who handled it best seemed to be the kid himself, who didn’t appear to lose confidence, worked hard and played better-than-adequate defense. Meanwhile the “keep him” and “send him out” factions hotly debated the subject to the point where nobody seemed happy with whatever decision Elias made.
Here’s a bottom line: In the unlikely event Holliday isn’t an elite (All-Star) player in the making, every talent evaluator in the game (or stands) will be wrong. And if that should happen, again unlikely, they will simply put it on the player and move on, as though it was just another bad day at the office.
One more observation Upon Further Review: If Holliday is going to be continually compared to Hall of Famers, please forget about the slow starts for Willie Mays and Cal Ripken Jr., for goodness’ sake. If you have to, use Brooks Robinson, who was sent back to the minor leagues three times before he finally made it.
Somehow I think Holliday would accept that one.
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Pertaining to the lead to this column, for what it’s worth I believe right-hander Albert Suárez is a logical candidate to be a “long man” on this Orioles staff if and when Kyle Bradish and/or John Means return to the rotation.
Keegan Akin, if he’s not on the back end, would be my left-handed option.
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There doesn’t seem to be a road map that leads to Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers playing in the same outfield for the Orioles.
P.S. Either one of those guys on the back end of the A’s bullpen would look good in orange and black.
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The Astros suddenly look to be closer to another rebuild than another appearance in the ALCS. If the playoffs were determined on May 1, a lot of teams that were there a year ago would be on the outside looking in.
P.S. The Royals have done a nice job mixing some veterans with their perennial All-Star catcher Salvador Perez and budding superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
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Can’t-miss TV this weekend: Cincy’s Elly De La Cruz and Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson on the same field.
Jim Henneman can be reached at JimH@pressboxonline.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles