Question about Mark A now that the Crew failed to make playoffs (Latest 10/10: Roenicke will return, Johnny Narron and Iorg gone)

[danzig6767]

Kansas City's bullpen has been ridiculously good all year. Between them Holland, Davis, and Herrera had a 1.28 ERA and 9.0 WAR (Per Baseball Ref) over 204 innings. By contrast, the Brewer's top 3 relievers had an ERA of 3.09 and 2.8 WAR. That's 6 win difference right there. 88 wins and the Brewers match Pitts and SF. These guys have been the difference in the postseason as well. Amazing.

 

Hard to see any team getting that kind of bullpen production in consecutive years. Key move for KC was moving Wade Davis, who was a middling starter at best, into a reliever. Who saw him having one of the most dominant seasons in recent history as a reliever?

 

When a bullpen is as good as KC's, it takes pressure of the rest of the team. Ask yourself, what was the turning point in the Brewer season? It was the game in San Diego when K-Rod got squeezed and blew the save. Over the course of 162 games those kind of losses add up. The Royals don't have the burden of those games in their memory banks for this season. They can't even conceive of losing when they are tied or have a lead late because in their experience, the opponent can't score.

 

Davis did have a really good year for Tampa in his last year there out of the pen, but KC tried him back in their rotation. After he struggled again though as a starter, they put him back in the bullpen.

 

He is a strange case to me. I get that for many pitchers, it's easier to pitch single innings out of the bullpen where they can throw as hard as they can, but the difference in the numbers for Davis as a starter compared to as a reliever are just so dramatic. You'd think with his fabulous stuff that he'd have been a better starter.