Juan Cruz....bullpen help?

[yeszir]

I'm pretty sure Juan Cruz sucks but I was cruising mlbtraderumors and saw that he had been released. The Royals just ate a lot of money for a small market team by dumping him.

 

Thoughts on giving him a shot to help the sox bullpen? We don't really need more rollercoaster guys but his K/9 ratio is promising. Walks are through the roof though.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/04/royals-release-juan-cruz-dfa-luis-mendoza.html

[riverside sluggers]

He hasnt been bad this year. Wouldnt mind him in a middle relief role

[diony]

He doesn't sucks when he's posting a K/9 of above 9.

[Dojji]

Worth a shot.

[Dipre]

Would be a nice reclamation project IMO.

[Dojji]

I think he could be like Aardsma a couple years ago. We got some good performances out of Aardsma even if the overall numbers aren't good..

[JimEdHOF2009]

He may have a K/9 ratio above 9 but his BB/9 is up over 6..he is garbage unless he can throw strikes.. I guess the Royals figured they already had one guy with great stuff who cannot throw strikes in Tejada and decided to flip a coin and get rid of one WILDMAN.

[Northern Star]

I'm pretty sure Juan Cruz sucks but I was cruising mlbtraderumors and saw that he had been released. The Royals just ate a lot of money for a small market team by dumping him.

 

Thoughts on giving him a shot to help the sox bullpen? We don't really need more rollercoaster guys but his K/9 ratio is promising. Walks are through the roof though.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/04/royals-release-juan-cruz-dfa-luis-mendoza.html

 

The Royals paying him not to pitch for them doesn't tip you off?

[Jasonbay44]

Id rather have him then Schoeneweis or Atchison.

[jacksonianmarch]

So....you want to take a guy from the Royals? A pen arm that the Royals didnt want? Do you remember the Royals pen when you faced them?

[Dipre]

So....you want to take a guy from the Royals? A pen arm that the Royals didnt want? Do you remember the Royals pen when you faced them?

 

Is there some sort of problem with a team signing a player who's had ML success before and seeing if they can catch lightning in a bottle?

[WhiskeyBreath]

As long as there is nothing seriously wrong with his velocity they should at least look into him.

[Gom]

I would love to have this guy. The Royals are idiots.

[jacksonianmarch]

Cruz has always been like this. I remember when he came up with the Cubs. He was a tease. Ridiculous stuff, absolutely terrible command. He and Daniel Cabrera are one and the same, albeit about 10 inches different in size. At some point, you stop looking at what could be and start looking at what is. He would be a f***ing nightmare. Every single one of you guys would be at his throat in his first game when he strikes out 3, walks 2 and hits a batter

[riverside sluggers]

Cruz has always been like this. I remember when he came up with the Cubs. He was a tease. Ridiculous stuff' date=' absolutely terrible command. He and Daniel Cabrera are one and the same, albeit about 10 inches different in size. At some point, you stop looking at what could be and start looking at what is. He would be a f***ing nightmare. [b']Every single one of you guys would be at his throat in his first game when he strikes out 3, walks 2 and hits a batter [/b]

 

Dont you mean Manny Delcarmen?

[jacksonianmarch]

He makes MDC look like Greg Maddux circa 1996 in terms of control

[riverside sluggers]

Manny Delcarmen this season has 6 walks to one strikeout. Last season in 59.2 innings he struck out 44 batters while walking 34

[Palodios]

He's also only allowed 2 earned runs all season. He's going to be better, he just hasn't pitched healthy in a while.

[TheMino007]

MDC? You don't judge relievers by ERA, this guy has let in a ton of inherited runners and his control has been terrible

[Dojji]

The point is even MDC's command is better than that of Juan Cruz.

 

I still give him a shot because we have rather little to lose, but let's not pretend that our standards aren't a little too high because of the bullpens of the last couple years.

[riverside sluggers]

Manny Delcarmen 2009-present... 70 games, 4 blown saves, 6 holds (6-3, 4.29 ERA)

67.1 innings, 66 Hits, 36 Runs (32 ER), 6 HRs, 40 Walks, 45 Ks

 

Thats 106 baserunners allowed in 67.1 innings. That stat doesnt include number of inherited runners he has let score

[Palodios]

Manny Delcarmen 2009-present... 70 games, 4 blown saves, 6 holds (6-3, 4.29 ERA)

67.1 innings, 66 Hits, 36 Runs (32 ER), 6 HRs, 40 Walks, 45 Ks

 

Thats 106 baserunners allowed in 67.1 innings. That stat doesnt include number of inherited runners he has let score

 

He sucked in 2009, and its going to take some time for him to get back to pitching like 2007-2008. If we're giving every single other red sox player a chance to stop sucking, why not MDC?

[Jasonbay44]

Sign Cruz, activate Dice-k and DFA Atchison and Schoeneweis.

[jacksonianmarch]

The sox pen allowed 11ER in 8IP in this series.

[Korn2]

If you sign someone up at this point he has to be significantly better than the guy you are getting rid of. I'm not sure that's the case with Cruz.

 

Atchinson is going to be farmed out and they want a second lefty in the pen so its either going to be Showenweiss or Embree. You aren't cutting Wakefield so that means that you are cutting Ramon Ramirez is you sign Cruz. Ramon Ramirez has been a dissapointment for nearly a year, but even so I'm not convinced that Cruz would be a significant upgrade.

 

I'd be all for stashing Cruz in AAA and calling him up if someone gets hurt or if he shows that he'd be much better than Ramirez. Cruz is probably going to want and receive a major league deal though.

[Palodios]

Ramon Ramirez has been a dissapointment for nearly a year

 

I'm not sure if you're talking about Ramon A. Ramirez or something, but Ramon S. Ramirez-- the one currently on the roster-- is a quality pitcher. He had a really bad start to this season, but so has the rest of the bullpen, and so has the rest of the team, and he's seemed much more competent lately.

 

He was untouchable before the all-star break last year, but he fell apart just like most of the 2009 bullpen did, and I'm sure a big part of that was the wear and tear of pitching after the crummy starts from Penny/Smoltz/Tazawa etc. I can understand throwing someone like Ortiz or Daisuke under the bus because its been going on for a long time, but with everyone else I think its worth giving them time.

[Dipre]

I'm not sure if you're talking about Ramon A. Ramirez or something, but Ramon S. Ramirez-- the one currently on the roster-- is a quality pitcher. He had a really bad start to this season, but so has the rest of the bullpen, and so has the rest of the team, and he's seemed much more competent lately.

 

He was untouchable before the all-star break last year, but he fell apart just like most of the 2009 bullpen did, and I'm sure a big part of that was the wear and tear of pitching after the crummy starts from Penny/Smoltz/Tazawa etc. I can understand throwing someone like Ortiz or Daisuke under the bus because its been going on for a long time, but with everyone else I think its worth giving them time.

 

Excellent post. Kudos.

[Korn2]

Ramon Ramirez post all-star break last year had 17 walks in 31 innings of work, and more hits than ininings pitched that's not what I call "quality." Ramirez's work so far this year hasn't done anything to make one believe that the second half of last year wasn't a representative sample.

 

If you re-read my post however, I argued AGAINST cutting him and in favor of giving him time to show that the second half of last year wasn't a representative sample. If he's this bad in June or July, you'd have to consider cutting him if there are better options on the market.