FanPost

Most Relief Appearances With Milwaukee Before First Save

There are certain roles for major league relievers.  Every team has a closer, one or two setup guys, a lefty specialist, and some guys to eat up innings in losses.  Obviously, some of those roles are more likely to see save opportunities than others.  Generally, bullpen roles (with the usual exceptions of closer and lefty specialist) are somewhat fluid.  If a pitcher does well in a lesser role, he will soon pitch more important innings.

This makes it difficult for a relief pitcher to go a long time without a save.  If a pitcher does well, he will continue to get innings and eventually have at least occasional chances at saves.  If he does not do well, he will soon find himself out of the league.

Often, a reliever making his debut or joining a new team will find himself at the back of the bullpen, pitching in losses and far away from save opportunities.  An example of this phenomenon on the current Brewers is Chris Smith.  The closer for AAA Nashville in 2009 and 2010, Smith has appeared in 36 games for the big club.  Of those 36 appearances, only three have given him an opportunity to protect a lead.  Of course, the one time he entered in a save situation, he blew the lead.  Perhaps there's a reason Smith is used primarily for mop-up duty.

Regardless, 36 games to begin his Brewers career seems like a long time to go without a save.  In fact, it is.  Only twenty-four relievers pitched in more games before their first save with the Brewers.  Smith can obviously continue to climb this list.  Given the options ahead of him in this year's bullpen, he will no doubt have the opportunity to climb into the top 20 before long.

Please note the list below is looking only at relief appearances and only at each pitcher's time with the Brewers.  Chris Smith's 2008 appearances with the Red Sox are ignored, as are Chad Fox's 1997 games with Atlanta and Seth McClung's appearances, starts, and saves with Tampa Bay.

The idea is not to look for players who relieved for a long time without a save to begin their major league career (a record held by Cla Meredith--271 appearances), but to find players who took a while to record their first save for the Milwaukee Brewers.  If you expect many lefthanders near the top of the list, you may be surprised.

Follow the jump for the list.

 

Rk Strk Start End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Tm
1 Valerio de los Sa 1998-07-31 2003-04-14 141 4 6 0 0 0 34 0 158.1 130 71 68 68 131 19 3.87 4 6 1 MIL
2 Chad Fox 1998-03-31 2001-08-26 108 3 5 0 0 0 17 0 118.1 105 48 44 54 148 8 3.35 7 11 2 MIL
3 Jose Capellan 2005-08-14 2007-06-26 85 5 5 0 0 0 22 0 99.1 92 49 46 42 80 14 4.17 3 5 0 MIL
4 Jim Austin 1991-07-04 1993-07-20 83 6 4 0 0 0 21 0 100.0 74 36 34 56 48 6 3.06 6 6 0 MIL
5 Seth McClung 2007-08-21 2009-10-04 78 5 5 0 0 0 19 0 108.1 95 50 46 66 84 9 3.82 3 3 0 MIL
6 Mark DiFelice 2008-05-18 2009-09-13 74 5 1 0 0 0 14 0 70.2 66 28 27 19 68 10 3.44 1 2 0 MIL
7 Brooks Kieschnick 2003-05-02 2004-10-03 74 2 2 0 0 0 24 0 96.0 110 51 49 26 67 11 4.59 6 3 0 MIL
8 Mike Ignasiak 1991-08-22 1995-08-21 73 9 3 0 0 0 11 0 111.0 107 59 56 53 81 13 4.54 4 2 0 MIL
9 Ray King 2000-04-30 2001-06-18 71 3 2 0 0 0 17 0 54.0 36 16 13 22 47 4 2.17 1 3 0 MIL
10 Mitch Stetter 2007-09-01 2009-06-15 68 6 1 0 0 0 14 0 52.0 27 18 18 31 61 4 3.12 8 6 0 MIL
11 Matt Wise 2004-05-11 2005-08-02 66 5 4 0 0 0 15 0 96.0 69 43 41 33 79 8 3.84 4 3 0 MIL
12 Juan Acevedo 2000-04-05 2000-09-29 62 3 7 0 0 0 18 0 82.2 77 38 35 31 51 11 3.81 1 3 2 MIL
13 Jeff Bennett 2004-04-06 2004-10-03 60 1 5 0 0 0 20 0 71.1 78 43 38 26 45 12 4.79 2 6 0 MIL
14 Graeme Lloyd 1993-04-11 1994-04-13 58 3 4 0 0 0 13 0 65.1 65 24 20 13 34 5 2.76 4 4 0 MIL
15 Chris Spurling 2006-09-09 2007-09-29 56 2 1 0 0 0 21 0 60.0 75 39 34 18 31 9 5.10 2 4 0 MIL
16 Mark Knudson 1986-09-06 1991-06-30 56 5 5 0 0 0 26 0 136.0 149 70 59 33 65 19 3.90 2 4 0 MIL
17 Carlos Villanueva 2006-05-23 2007-08-18 55 7 3 0 0 0 9 0 91.2 80 50 48 38 84 14 4.71 4 3 0 MIL
18 Jorge de la Rosa 2005-04-06 2006-05-23 53 4 2 0 0 0 17 0 61.0 62 37 35 50 60 2 5.16 1 8 0 MIL
19 Mike Adams 2004-05-18 2004-09-30 46 2 3 0 0 0 13 0 53.0 50 21 20 14 39 5 3.40 2 2 0 MIL
20 Jayson Durocher 2002-06-11 2003-06-13 45 3 1 0 0 0 10 0 55.1 36 22 19 23 51 7 3.09 3 3 0 MIL
21 Jose Mercedes 1994-05-31 1998-04-14 43 3 3 0 0 0 10 0 72.0 72 47 44 39 35 16 5.50 2 3 1 MIL
22 Justin Lehr 2005-07-21 2006-05-22 39 3 2 0 0 0 13 0 50.1 56 35 30 25 35 6 5.36 2 2 1 MIL
23 Jose Cabrera 2002-04-02 2002-09-25 39 2 4 0 0 0 8 0 48.0 57 37 35 14 36 14 6.56 6 2 0 MIL
24 Bryce Florie 1996-08-02 1997-09-20 39 1 2 0 0 0 11 0 53.0 61 39 33 34 34 6 5.60 1 5 1 MIL
25 Chris Smith 2009-06-10 2010-06-09 36 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 47.1 42 21 21 19 37 11 3.99 3 1 0 MIL
Rk Strk Start End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Tm
26 Jay Aldrich 1987-06-05 1989-05-31 36 3 1 0 0 0 12 0 65.1 74 34 33 17 24 9 4.55 2 1 1 MIL
27 Rocky Coppinger 1999-07-19 2001-10-04 34 5 3 0 0 0 12 0 44.1 44 25 24 30 42 8 4.87 0 1 0 MIL
28 John Morris 1969-04-09 1971-07-09 34 3 1 0 0 0 11 0 68.0 65 28 26 26 37 6 3.44 2 7 0 SEP-MIL
29 Curt Leskanic 2000-04-04 2000-06-28 33 0 2 0 0 0 11 0 36.1 29 14 14 29 34 5 3.47 2 4 0 MIL
30 Jerry Augustine 1975-09-09 1979-05-31 33 5 3 0 0 0 12 0 51.0 45 15 13 15 26 2 2.29 2 1 1 MIL
31 Tony Fossas 1989-06-04 1989-08-19 32 2 2 0 0 0 9 0 38.1 37 19 16 15 31 2 3.76 1 1 3 MIL
32 Jaime Cocanower 1983-09-07 1986-07-12 32 1 1 0 0 0 10 0 74.2 62 38 29 55 32 3 3.50 3 12 0 MIL
33 Jerry Bell 1971-09-06 1973-04-07 31 4 3 0 0 0 12 0 67.0 50 18 16 36 24 1 2.15 2 4 0 MIL
34 Shane Nance 2002-08-24 2003-09-28 30 0 2 0 0 0 6 0 30.2 38 19 16 14 30 6 4.70 1 1 0 MIL
35 Will Cunnane 2001-04-03 2001-07-24 30 0 2 0 0 0 6 0 47.2 59 28 25 21 33 5 4.72 2 0 0 MIL
36 Bob Wickman 1996-08-24 1997-05-21 30 5 2 0 0 0 9 0 41.2 39 23 19 19 35 7 4.10 1 2 0 MIL
37 David Weathers 1998-07-01 1999-04-05 29 5 1 0 0 0 9 0 51.1 47 23 18 14 45 4 3.16 2 2 1 MIL
38 Bronswell Patrick 1998-05-18 1998-09-22 29 3 0 0 0 0 8 0 58.2 57 32 31 24 41 7 4.76 0 2 0 MIL
39 Kevin Wickander 1995-08-30 1996-06-12 29 2 0 0 0 0 8 0 31.1 27 16 14 20 21 2 4.02 0 2 0 MIL
40 Skip Lockwood 1969-08-27 1973-09-22 29 3 3 0 0 0 16 0 84.0 80 32 30 20 46 8 3.21 2 1 0 SEP-MIL
41 Matt Kinney 2003-04-24 2004-08-05 28 3 1 0 0 0 11 0 41.1 41 13 13 10 40 4 2.83 1 2 0 MIL
42 Jim Colborn 1972-04-19 1973-04-14 28 2 0 0 0 0 7 0 63.2 59 21 20 24 45 3 2.83 1 3 0 MIL
43 Manny Parra 2007-07-20 2010-05-23 27 1 4 0 0 0 8 0 48.1 54 25 22 15 48 7 4.10 2 4 0 MIL
44 Scott Linebrink 2007-07-27 2007-09-28 27 2 3 0 0 0 4 0 25.1 27 14 10 11 25 3 3.55 0 2 0 MIL
45 Earl Stephenson 1972-04-18 1972-09-30 27 1 0 0 0 0 6 0 40.0 34 15 14 19 17 3 3.15 1 5 0 MIL
46 Chris Narveson 2009-06-15 2010-04-24 26 2 0 0 0 0 7 0 38.1 46 24 21 17 33 5 4.93 2 3 0 MIL
47 Rick Helling 2005-07-28 2006-09-09 26 1 0 0 0 0 6 0 37.1 24 12 11 14 31 4 2.65 1 0 0 MIL
48 Steve Woodard 1998-04-03 2000-07-22 26 2 1 0 0 0 8 0 51.2 42 20 17 17 37 3 2.96 2 4 2 MIL
49 Ray Sadecki 1976-05-14 1976-08-14 25 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 23.1 26 13 11 14 19 2 4.24 1 0 0 MIL
50 Bill Champion 1973-04-06 1973-08-19 25 4 3 0 0 0 5 0 70.1 65 26 26 32 38 6 3.33 1 5 0 MIL

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/13/2010.