Lyles was a money thing, right?

[Jopal78]

Lyles has some great numbers for the Pirates and really isn't doing anything different than he did with Milwaukee in terms of hits, walks and homers allowed. Maybe I'm missing something in the peripherals but that kind of production seems like they could've picked up the option and swapped him off to somebody at least.

[And That]

Not picking up Lyles' option remains one of the most baffling moves of Stearns' tenure, IMO. Not quit signing Neftali Feliz bad, but close.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I too was struggling to understand this one. Lyles is at worst a solid, very affordable long reliever capable of providing multiple innings of relief in an outing. He has also showed a live arm capable of bring it in the upper 90s with decent movement, and solid secondary stuff. I thought he was an ideal bottom of the pen arm, as he brings a lot of attributes that this team's front office values. It is obvious they must have saw something different. Perhaps they saw the good number of solid arms they were bringing back this year and decided having someone like Lyles kicking around was a luxury they didn't need?

[bill hAll Star]

1. Lyles is having an extremely lucky season. He's a nice player that I'd have been fine bringing back but he's barely better than the journeyman that he has been the last handful of years right now. BABIP, strand rate, HR/FB% are all well below career averages.

2. Hindsight is not just 20/20 here, it's 20/40.

[Greenleaf1]

It seemed a little weird at the time that we let him go, but he definitely wouldn't have been in our rotation and at the time it didn't really seem like he was needed in the bullpen (he wasn't even on the playoff roster). Maybe if they'd known Jeffress would start the year on the IL and Knebel would be gone, we would've held onto him, but at the time he seemed a bit too expensive for what it seemed like he was worth.

 

Glad to see him pitching well, we'll see what his numbers look like by the end of the season. Starting pitching isn't really our problem right now.

[pacopete4]

Can't hold onto everyone. You're going to have these things happen.

[tmwiese55]

I'm guessing he didn't have an option either? so keeping him would've meant up all year. I agree he tended to fit the long relief role they like here so I was surprised too but of course never thought anything like this from him. Just thought a decent depth guy. Who knows, maybe expressed a desire to start and they tried to do him a solid.

[And That]

1. Lyles is having an extremely lucky season.

DRA- has him at a 70. Contextually, he's having about the season he should be having.

 

2. Hindsight is not just 20/20 here, it's 20/40.

I thought it was a weird move at the time it happened. I can go dig up a link if you'd like.

[bill hAll Star]

2. Hindsight is not just 20/20 here, it's 20/40.

I thought it was a weird move at the time it happened. I can go dig up a link if you'd like.

 

That's fine and good foresight on your part. There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep a league average swing pitcher for $2.5 million or whatever it would've been.

 

These topics and consensus, "head-scratcher" are popping up because he's had a lucky start to the year and is putting up All-Star numbers. Again, maybe you're the one that saw it but I'd guess you or I 9 of the other 10 times we've said, "wow I'd have kept him for that" about a player would end up in the player being average or worse.

 

I will give you this: If the Brewers helped foster this change, then they should've held on. But it was probably a roster crunch issue pre-injuries.

 

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/on-jordan-lyles-breakout/

[Thurston Fluff]

I'm guessing he didn't have an option either? so keeping him would've meant up all year. I agree he tended to fit the long relief role they like here so I was surprised too but of course never thought anything like this from him. Just thought a decent depth guy. Who knows, maybe expressed a desire to start and they tried to do him a solid.

 

That's what I was thinking. If he was going to be the bottom of the pen here he has to be more valuable than the several pitchers we can swap out at will.

[Roderick]

Lyles has some great numbers for the Pirates and really isn't doing anything different than he did with Milwaukee in terms of hits, walks and homers allowed. Maybe I'm missing something in the peripherals but that kind of production seems like they could've picked up the option and swapped him off to somebody at least.

 

One of the sites had his option as $1M or something, but that was wrong it was $3.5M. And without a minor league shuttle option.....

[sveumrules]

Combination of costing more than our internal arms, having less flexibility than our internal arms on account of not having any options left & not being demonstrably better than those same internal arms that were cheaper/provided more roster flexibility.

 

It's almost like a pitching version of Choi.

 

When you are already a good MLB team & are also good at identifying useful pieces around the margins (as it seems Stearns & company are), you will inevitably have to let some of those pieces around the margins go because there just isn't room for all of them on the 25 man roster.

[KeithStone53151]

Lyles has some great numbers for the Pirates and really isn't doing anything different than he did with Milwaukee in terms of hits, walks and homers allowed. Maybe I'm missing something in the peripherals but that kind of production seems like they could've picked up the option and swapped him off to somebody at least.

 

One of the sites had his option as $1M or something, but that was wrong it was $3.5M. And without a minor league shuttle option.....

 

Right. If he happened to be unlucky on BABIP instead of lucky, we'd all be screaming to DFA him if he were a Brewer. Also factor in playing in a pitchers park and his stuff hasn't significantly changed since last year...it's not THAT bad of a move.

[bigredrobbo]

We are talking about the same pitcher who, save for an extra innings outing where he got a hit, was one of the more disposable arms, according to most of BF.net, last year, yeah?

[Brew crew 92]

Combination of costing more than our internal arms, having less flexibility than our internal arms on account of not having any options left & not being demonstrably better than those same internal arms that were cheaper/provided more roster flexibility.

 

It's almost like a pitching version of Choi.

 

When you are already a good MLB team & are also good at identifying useful pieces around the margins (as it seems Stearns & company are), you will inevitably have to let some of those pieces around the margins go because there just isn't room for all of them on the 25 man roster.

 

This.

Adrian Houser and Jordan Lyles are very similar pitchers, both have FBs 94-95, both have big curve balls, Houser has an option and makes 2 mil less.

[MrTPlush]

Okay so we didn’t bring back Jordan Lyles, so what. We ended up with Gio Gonzalez who is doing essentially the same thing. We can’t use hindsight to regret all 10 overachievers we should have signed to be in our 15 man rotation.

 

We got Gio Gonzalez for the same price and I think I would bet on him to be better than Lyles.

[LouisEly]

A strong argument could be made that Albers was (is) a sunk cost and a declining asset, and that Lyles was a better option. However, had Jeffress and Knebel not gotten injured in spring training, and had Anderson not been needed in the rotation due to Burnes horrible start, there is a very good chance that Albers doesn't make the team, or at least certainly gets released by the time Nelson returns. In that case, it could have been Lyles getting released and a waste of $3.5M.

 

Young pitchers are probably going to struggle at first, but they can only learn so much at AAA. Eventually they have to take their lumps in the majors and get experience against major league hitters. It's easy to say guys have options and send them to AAA, but that eventually offers no additional benefit.

[JosephC]

From 2015-2017, Lyles threw 177 1/3 MLB innings and had a 6.39 ERA, 4.79 FIP, 1.62 WHIP and a K/BB ratio <2. In the first half of 2018, he was so mediocre performing in a pitcher's park (4.29 ERA, 4.45 WHIP) that the Padres waived him and just let him walk so they could audition younger pitchers. He got a 2.05 million dollar free agent deal this off-season, more than 40 other pitchers got free agent contracts worth more. Why did the Brewers pass on a 3.5 million dollar commitment? Probably it was because Lyles history didn't justify that number. The market only giving him about 60% of that number is real solid evidence that not many teams would have picked up a 3.5 million dollar option on him (maybe none).

 

History and sample size matters more than anything. Lyles pitched well for the Brewers but it was only 16 1/3 innings. Looking at the total picture from 2016-2018, Lyles was a 5.75 ERA, 4.73 FIP, 1.51 WHIP pitcher. Congrats to the Pirates and their crystal ball for hitting on their flier investment this off-season.

[And That]

The Brewers helped Lyles reinvent his curveball. His curve is now, shockingly, the reason behind the success he's had with the Pirates this year. So the Brewers basically developed Lyles for the Pirates. You're welcome, division rival.

[Ennder]

This is nothing but a pure fluke, nothing in his peripherals supports his ERA this season. He may be a high 3 ERA guy instead of a high 4 guy but that is about the best you can hope for from him. His barrel rate against, hard hit percent against, BB% etc are all higher than they have been in recent seasons. He is striking more out which is good but everything else is pointing to absolute fluke. No big loss.

[3and2Fastball]

Most pitchers are volatile year to year. Selling high on Hader would have been a genius move too. The guesswork as to which pitchers will produce year to year is somewhat akin to picking stocks, the goal is to win more than you lose.

[bill hAll Star]

*Ehem*

[pacopete4]

Oh, he stinks again? Shocker.

[Jopal78]

Oh, he stinks again? Shocker.

 

If he ‘stinks’ what does that say about Burnes, Wilkerson, Burch Smith, Jay Jackson, Alex Wilson, Petricka?

[bill hAll Star]

Oh, he stinks again? Shocker.

 

If he ‘stinks’ what does that say about Burnes, Wilkerson, Burch Smith, Jay Jackson, Alex Wilson, Petricka?

 

One of the bigger regrets I have is not posting, "in, before he is compared to our current pitching."