I am hoping Walker is just experiencing something akin to dead arm – he is still fairly close to his TJ surgery, so maybe he doesn’t have the stamina needed.

That might have something to do with it but Walker came back from TJ really fast, I assumed his recovery time was so short because, well, he recovered quickly. I’m not sure that his TJ is causing him problems so much as what we’re seeing is Walker’s near true talent level.

He’s always been an arm you’d rather use in middle relief than in late inning situations. From 2004-2005 he gave the Giants about 120 innings of 4.20 ERA baseball, that’s probably his ceiling. Not a bad thing to have in your bullpen, but it’s how you use him and what you should expect from him. He’ll be 33-years-old next year and it’s possible that his 4.20 ERA days are past.

I’ve always felt Walker was a little overrated because he’s a super duper nice local kid but he is what he is, and he’s not a huge part of our bullpen. I wouldn’t be sad to see him go, or if he stays, to take on a middle relief role outside of late game duties.

If you told the entire population of ‘Closers’ in MLB that you were going to start using them differently, I’m pretty sure they’d riot.

The save stat is the reason why guys like Joe Borowski and Todd Jones have earned millions of dollars when they aren’t all they great but they “Get the job done when it counts” which is in a manufactured and arbitrary situation that they have no control over, and most times, the hard work has already been done before they got in the game.

The fact is that if you looked at game-states scenarios — the different combination of runs, open bases, and innings that make up the different stages of the game — closing out the 9th inning in save situation — a lead of 1-3 runs — will happen 90%+ of the time. It’s going to take a maverick manager to start making a change to how the bullpens are used, because if the game flops and you lose, the press is going to hammer that manager for not bringing in the closer at whatever time they perceived was the correct time.

You emailed me last week with a question about THE BOOK, and Tango has a great chapter on bullpen usage that answers a lot of these questions.

Idiot.

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoy the work, I really do appreciate your comments and input.

If Bochy were a smart and forward-thinking manager, he’d start bringing in Wilson when leverage dictated it, not when the scoreboard operator turns on the “9.” The whole “defined roles” thing isn’t just ineffective, it’s lazy and willfully ignorant.

Yeah, it’s not just Bochy that thinks that way, but 90% of all baseball managers. What you’ve suggested, while right on the money, is basically baseball heresy. El Lefty Malo made the same grip over at his site, saying that during the Houston series Bochy didn’t call in Wilson at all because he never had a save situation to use him in.

To paraphrase the “great” Don Rumsfeld, you have to go to war with the bullpen you have, not the bullpen you want. Apart from Wilson, the bullpen is pretty craptastic. (We miss you, Merkin! Get well soon!!) I had high hopes for the Romos and Hinshaws of the world, but they’re not getting the job done consistently.

If Bochy were a smart and forward-thinking manager, he’d start bringing in Wilson when leverage dictated it, not when the scoreboard operator turns on the “9.” The whole “defined roles” thing isn’t just ineffective, it’s lazy and willfully ignorant.

Let’s begin the healing by dumping all relievers whose names end in “-er.” That seems fair, don’t you think?

I’m a Romo fanboy. I just like his stuff and style. I think he could be a good bullpen guy. Hinshaw could be great if he learns to control the strikezone more. Sadler has STUFF but control has prevented him from being good. I actually don’t mind Misch as a reliever, he excelled in that role in the minors. Matos doesn’t do much for me, not sure why. I’m not sure Geno will make it in the majors, he throws slower than Zito — topping out at like 82mph — and his upside is probably a LOOGY. Still, I’ll always love the guy that rocks the stirrups.