barzilla wrote:
James, I think you are overstating the Brocail case a bit. He isn't washed up, the Astros simply bought into his SD numbers too much. Most projections had him coming in at around a 4 ERA and that seems to be the track he's on. The problem is that a 4 ERA is not what you need out of your 8th inning guy. Ironically, Villareal was the other 8th inning candidate and he also was projected to end up with a 4ish ERA. He is also trending that direction. A lot of managing this particular bullpen is not necessarily writing off any reliever, but simply having enough perception to ride the hot hand at the time. As crazy as that sounds, that would be Geary and Villareal right now.

Any good reliever cannot have an ERA near or at 3.00. It's unacceptible based on their job description.

My observations of Brocail in ST clearly indicated that he was a disaster waiting to happen. He is pitching the same in the regular season.
A relief pitcher, whether he is the setup guy or closer simply cannot come in and pitch to batters and give up two hits and three runs.

When a reliever has an ERA of .4.00 that means he is coming in with the bases empty and then getting bombed. That's Brocail. Now if what the organization is expecting is mediocrity then Brocail is your man.
If the organization is looking for the type of reliever who can come in and consistently hold close leads of one or two runs then Brocail is not the kind of reliever capable of doing that.

Good relievers must show that they can consistently handle major league pitching to the point that their ERA will be around the low 2.00's or below.