BCB Community Report Card: Bullpen Grade & Catcher Vote

The Report Card

The votes are in for the bullpen, and the community has given them a B-. This one had a variety of responses, going as high as A+ and as low as D-. There wasn't much agreement on what to vote for the agreement, though most people voted in the B range. The higher grades make sense since the rotation had some better stats and performances than the rotation. Some pitchers, like Brandon Kintzler and Jim Henderson, had great seasons that brought the stats for the bullpen up. At the same time, other pitchers, like Mike Gonzalez, brought some of the averages down. That also helped contribute to the wide variety of opinions on the bullpen.

Here are some of the opinions of the community:

aaronetc - Brewers relievers allowed 32% of inherited runners to score. That’s third worst in the NL — only the Nationals and Phillies allowed more. Also third worst in blown saves and save percentage. That’s a D to me, but I’ll call it a D+ because of how well they pitched when being called on to mop up every single game in May.

GoldenFrank - Gonzalez aside, overall I felt confident about the bullpen’s ability to hold a lead, or not let a game get out of hand. Axford had a very nice streak in there that helped DM be able to trade him. Gorzelanny completely outperformed his peripherals and did so all year. The regression came a bit when he was a spot starter. Overall he did a good job but I don’t expect him to be nearly this good next year. Henderson had a good year, but was a heart attack closer for sure, especially at the end. Ultimately, Gonzalez(or RRR depending on your opinion) takes this team from a B to a B-.

munchtime - B+ for the overall effort here. We all remember the dumpster fire the bullpen was early in the season, but the Brewers actually got some strong performances from unlikely sources. Their peripherals could be better, but ultimately they were good at run prevention. That’s a good skill for a bullpen to have.

Next Vote: The Catchers

Our next group up is the catchers, as we bridge the gap from the pitching to the position players with the position that deals with pitching, hitting, defense, and game strategy. This may be the easiest vote of all of the votes, as there are only two players to really look at, and the position didn't face some of the inconsistencies that the other positions faced. Let's look at the only two key players for the position:

Stats only include time at catcher.

What do you think? How did the catchers perform? Vote in the poll below, and then leave your thoughts in the comments below. The vote will remain open until 3 pm tomorrow, when we will recap the vote and open the vote for the next position.