Should we move Wily Peralta to Bullpen

[reillymcshane]

I know we've talked about this last year when Wily was struggling, but I wanted to see what people thought about the idea of Peralta being shifted to the bullpen.

 

Peralta is a mostly a fastball/slider guy (he has thrown those two pitches 92-95% of the time over his career). He has struggled against lefties (.853 OPS vs lefties vs .724 OPS vs righties over the last three years). His velocity hasn't changed much over his career, and he still throws 94-95 mph on a consistent basis.

 

Like many guys, Wily has traditionally gotten worse as he's gone through the line up:

 

1st time through order: .730 OPS

2nd time through order: .739 OPS

3rd time through order: .808 OPS

4th time through order: 1.182 OPS (very limited data - only 45 ABs)

 

So with all that, I'm thinking that maybe his skill set would work better in relief. He might increase his velocity a bit, not have to manage a long game, etc. He's got lots of talent, but maybe a starting pitcher just isn't in the cards.

 

Wily will be 28 next May. He's got almost 650 innings under his belt. I'm starting to think there's enough data to say he's not going to be a good starter. But he does have talent, thus the idea of moving him to the bullpen.

 

Just wondering what others thought.

[Austin Tatious]

I agree with you. I give you kudos for saying it even though he did fairly well down the stretch. But, with a view of his entire body of work, I think he'd be a better reliever. Your stats for times through the lineup bear this out.

 

Now, we need 5-6 other starters ready to go, but I think that's doable.

 

Davies - possible all star

Guerra - let's hope he keeps it up and is not a flash in the pan

Nelson - better than his slump showed, I hope

Anderson - pitched well the second half

Competition between any of a number of young arms, including Jungmann and Lopez to name a couple.

 

If you end up dealing someone like Guerra, hopefully there is the next pitcher ready to step in at, say, the all star break. Perhaps Hader.

 

So, I like the idea of moving Peralta to the pen, but we need to rely on others to get it done in the rotation.

[Outlander]

I know the Brewers have a low payroll but don't think it is worth the money to try him in the bullpen. If he stinks it up as a starter to begin the year again then I would give it a shot just to see if it is worth tendering him a contract in 2018.

[TURBO]

He needs to start the year as a starter, see what happens from there. A bullpen transition can take place anytime, I'd like to see if his 2016 end to the season is what Wily truly is capable of on a consistent basis.

[adambr2]

Similar to what Turbo said, he needs to at least get a chance in the rotation given his finish this year. If he tanks, it's worth trying him in the pen to see if he can salvage his career there.

 

If we're not going to give him a shot to start in 2017, may as well non-tender him, he's very unlikely to be worth 4M+ as a reliever.

[MrTPlush]

Might as start well try him as a starter regardless of your opinion. He is a non tender either way. Whether he does good in the bullpen or stinks it up in the rotation. I doubt moving him to the pen is going to garner him a raise.

[jerichoholicninja]

If he can't throw strikes as a starter what makes anyone think he can do it as a reliever? I mean, whatever, see if you can't get anything out of him but I just don't see it helping.

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

Last chance for Wily. If he struggles in the first half designate him for assignment and cut your losses. I do have more faith in Wily than Chase Anderson. If no additions are made it is looking like a Garza, Guerra, Davies, Nelson, and Peralta rotation. Garza is not a #1 but management will treat him as though he is. Anderson as long relief and spot starter is not a terrible thing early on.

[AdvantageSchneider]

Last chance for Wily. If he struggles in the first half designate him for assignment and cut your losses. I do have more faith in Wily than Chase Anderson. If no additions are made it is looking like a Garza, Guerra, Davies, Nelson, and Peralta rotation. Garza is not a #1 but management will treat him as though he is. Anderson as long relief and spot starter is not a terrible thing early on.

 

What now? How are they going to treat him as if he is a #1? They already asked him to go to the bullpen once. If he doesn't pitch well to start the season next year he's a good bet to get DFAd like Suppan and Wolf.

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

Garza will start opening day and they will try and build his value to trade him midseason. Your #1 starts opening day.

[TURBO]

Garza will start opening day and they will try and build his value to trade him midseason. Your #1 starts opening day.

 

No way does Garza start opening day. Davies or Guerra will be your opening day starter.

[TURBO]

Garza is not a #1 but management will treat him as though he is.

 

Ummm, do you have some inside information since you are stating a lot of stuff as fact.

[And That]

Garza will start opening day and they will try and build his value to trade him midseason. Your #1 starts opening day.

 

No way does Garza start opening day. Davies or Guerra will be your opening day starter.

I think the current situation is that Garza may or may not start on Opening Day. It doesn't make sense to state it as an extreme either way. And whomever the Opening Day starter is matters to the extent that it will become the obscure answer to a trivia question within the next five years.

[jerichoholicninja]

Garza will start opening day and they will try and build his value to trade him midseason. Your #1 starts opening day.

 

No way does Garza start opening day. Davies or Guerra will be your opening day starter.

I think the current situation is that Garza may or may not start on Opening Day. It doesn't make sense to state it as an extreme either way. And whomever the Opening Day starter is matters to the extent that it will become the obscure answer to a trivia question within the next five years.

 

If Garza wasn't the Opening Day starter last year I don't know why he would this year. I fully expected him to start the opener last year because he was the veteran but they went with Wily for whatever reason.

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

Because Guerra has a noodle arm, Nelson was junk, Davies is too young, Anderson may not make the top five, and Wily is a rebound candidate. Counsell will go with "his experience in big game situations" although the opener is not necessarily a big game. Garza was a DL candidate coming out of spring training in 2016.

[reillymcshane]

I love the absolutes people place on players.

 

Didn't we learn anything from the Sith.

[TURBO]

So Davies is too young to be the opening day starter?

 

ok then...

[FVBrewerFan]

Hate to break it to you, but the Brewers don't have a #1 (or #2) yet. Someone has to be opening day starter, and it means nothing.

[monty57]

Peralta's best shot of helping the Brewers will be to have him start the season in the rotation. After some time in the minors, he came back and dominated. If he can continue pitching well through the first half of 2017, he would be a good trade candidate.

 

If he starts the season in the rotation and stinks up the joint, then we can chalk up the second half of 2016 as a fluke and move on from Wily, but we should give him the shot to see if he re-discovered something in his time in the minors and can be the pitcher we all hoped he'd be.

[MadThinker88]

Peralta's best shot of helping the Brewers will be to have him start the season in the rotation. After some time in the minors, he came back and dominated. If he can continue pitching well through the first half of 2017, he would be a good trade candidate.

 

If he starts the season in the rotation and stinks up the joint, then we can chalk up the second half of 2016 as a fluke and move on from Wily, but we should give him the shot to see if he re-discovered something in his time in the minors and can be the pitcher we all hoped he'd be.

 

Very good points being made here. I would make a small adjustment to it: if a SOLID deal comes along for dealing Wily, TAKE IT!!!!

 

This offseason the FA pitching market is quite limited so people willing to deal pitching away should get greater than normal value. If another team is looking at the 2nd half of Wily and thinking he has turned it around, they might be willing to deal for Wily now, not once he struggles again (if he struggles) during the 2017 season.

[monty57]

Peralta's best shot of helping the Brewers will be to have him start the season in the rotation. After some time in the minors, he came back and dominated. If he can continue pitching well through the first half of 2017, he would be a good trade candidate.

 

If he starts the season in the rotation and stinks up the joint, then we can chalk up the second half of 2016 as a fluke and move on from Wily, but we should give him the shot to see if he re-discovered something in his time in the minors and can be the pitcher we all hoped he'd be.

 

Very good points being made here. I would make a small adjustment to it: if a SOLID deal comes along for dealing Wily, TAKE IT!!!!

 

This offseason the FA pitching market is quite limited so people willing to deal pitching away should get greater than normal value. If another team is looking at the 2nd half of Wily and thinking he has turned it around, they might be willing to deal for Wily now, not once he struggles again (if he struggles) during the 2017 season.

 

Oh, absolutely. I think the Brewers will look to trade a pitcher, but won't be pressed into doing something. The most likely candidate should be Garza, with the team eating some salary in order to get something back, but if someone is enamored with Peralta's second half and is willing to pay up for him, then by all means take it. I just don't expect that to happen.

[harrydalton]

No. Keep him as a starter one more year.

[CheezWizHed]

I love the absolutes people place on players.

 

Didn't we learn anything from the Sith.

 

Technically, we learned it from Obi-won, who outed himself as a Sith...

[brewcrewdue80]

Something to be considered certainly. How about 5 Starts at a time? Give that whole Team control a chance to add a year before calling up Hader, or Lopez back up to the mix.

 

If he's 4.5+ERA Wily the move is made. I'd tell him this. He's got 5 starts pretty much 4weeks to maintain the numbers. Do it, you keep starting. Don't you get sent to the Minors(if optionable) to pitch Bullpen before we call you back up, or even trade. As in, a team like Philly, or Colorado sees this move is happening, and they see him as SP material still.

 

But as Reilly shown in his initial post, Wily is only good for 18batters. 3rd time around and higher it gets ugly. So I'd give him what was Boyer's attempted role on 2IP Relief outings when needed. Could probably get him 4Innings a week as such. Which I think would put him near 80Innings Especially if you use Hader and or Lopez as 5IP Starter type in the early goings.

[monty57]

Something to be considered certainly. How about 5 Starts at a time? Give that whole Team control a chance to add a year before calling up Hader, or Lopez back up to the mix.

 

If he's 4.5+ERA Wily the move is made. I'd tell him this. He's got 5 starts pretty much 4weeks to maintain the numbers. Do it, you keep starting. Don't you get sent to the Minors(if optionable) to pitch Bullpen before we call you back up, or even trade. As in, a team like Philly, or Colorado sees this move is happening, and they see him as SP material still.

 

But as Reilly shown in his initial post, Wily is only good for 18batters. 3rd time around and higher it gets ugly. So I'd give him what was Boyer's attempted role on 2IP Relief outings when needed. Could probably get him 4Innings a week as such. Which I think would put him near 80Innings Especially if you use Hader and or Lopez as 5IP Starter type in the early goings.

 

I have no problem if the team goes into the season with the plan of giving him a month or so to prove himself before calling up the prospects, but I wouldn't tell him that... especially the part about doing it to add a year's service time to the prospects. Teams do that stuff all the time, but actually telling a player "you're here for a month so we can gain a year's service time on another guy" has Player Union issues written all over it.

 

Besides that, after getting sent to the minors this year he should know that he has to pitch well or he's going to be replaced. No one in the opening day rotation should feel overconfident about his long-term role as a Major League starter. They all need to work really hard so that they aren't the one getting the ax when more talented pitchers join the team.