SB Nation - Josh Rupe

Josh Rupe clears waivers, becoming a starter

Adam J. Morris — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:10:25 -0000

Josh Rupe has reportedly cleared waivers, and the Rangers going to send him to extended spring training so he can stretch out his arm before heading into the rotation at AAA Oklahoma.

I can only assume, based on the last reliever-turned-starter, that if Rupe succeeds in the rotation, he will be promptly stuck back in the bullpen.

This will be an interesting few months for Rupe...he'll be a minor league free agent after the season if the Rangers don't add him to the 40 man before the end of October, and I'm not sure what he'd have to show in Oklahoma for the team to decide to do that.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:26:26 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

He may not be so good at high fives, but Todd Coffey's other skills made up for it yesterday.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while playing D&D with Vin Diesel.

Jeff Suppan surprised many of us with a solid performance yesterday, but how much weight do you put on it? Tom H. called yesterday Suppan's "Redemption Day." Two-Fisted Slopper called Suppan's outing a "great success."

With that said, Citi Field is already being credited as one of baseball's greatest pitcher's parks. Buster Olney and Ryan Braun both noted how hard it is to hit the ball out. It's likely not a coincidence that the two teams averaged less than three runs per contest this weekend despite starts from Jeff Suppan, Livan Hernandez and Nelson Figueroa.

For context, Nelson Figueroa pitched at about the same level as Jeff Suppan yesterday, and after the game he was designated for assignment.

A couple of other Citi Field tidbits: Here's Brian Anderson's view from the broadcast booth and Cute Sports' rundown of complaints about the views from the visitors bullpen and radio booth.

There were, however, no complaints about the performance of Todd Coffey. Coffey recorded eight outs for the save yesterday. Even though a pitcher who completes the last three innings of a win is awarded a save regardless of the score, Coffey's 2.2 inning save yesterday was the 17th longest save since the start of the 2008 season, and the longest in a game decided by less than four runs. Michael Hunt thinks the Brewer bullpen may have reached a turning point. Certainly, Trevor Hoffman's projected Sunday return won't hurt.

So, having salvaged one win in New York, the Brewers move on to Philadelphia, where they're not looking to avenge their 2008 playoff defeat. That's a good thing, because trading a playoff series loss for a win in April wouldn't be fair anyway.

Jason Kendall might get more than his usual day off this week, as it's being reported that he's playing with a sore arm after being hit by a foul tip over the weekend. I don't think anyone around here will be too upset if Mike Rivera gets a few extra starts.

For some, though, it's a story when their arm isn't sore. Mark Rogers hit 97 on the gun in his second outing back with Brevard County. He's on a 50 pitch limit for the first half of the season, but has pitched two trouble-free outings. (h/t FanShot)

Across the league:

Angels: Vladimir Guerrero has a torn pec muscle, will miss at least a month and may not play the field again in 2009.
Astros: Scheduled a press conference for tonight and are expected to announce they've picked up Cecil Cooper's option for 2010.
Blue Jays: Placed Michael Barrett on the DL with a torn muscle and possible fracture in his shoulder.
Braves: Designated Blaine Boyer for assignment.
Mets: Placed Brian Schneider on the DL with a strained muscle in his back.
Nationals: Placed CF Roger Bernadina on the DL with a broken ankle and Cristian Guzman on the DL with a hamstring strain. They also designated Wil Ledezma and Steven Shell for assignment and signed Ryan Zimmerman to a five year deal worth $45 million.
Padres: Placed Walter Silva on the DL with a forearm strain.
Rangers: Designated reliever Josh Rupe for assignment.
Red Sox: Brad Wilkerson, who had been playing in AAA Pawtucket, has decided to retire.
Twins: Designated Phil Humber for assignment and claimed Juan Morillo off waivers from the Rockies. Humber was considered a key part of the deal that sent Johan Santana to the Mets.

This is small sample size in all of its glory, but there's a lot of early talk about home runs flying out of New Yankee Stadium, and phrases like pitcher's nightmare are being thrown about. Maybe someone is already doing this, but it certainly doesn't look like it: If you can design a system that analyzes new ballparks and estimates their park factor before they open, you might be in line to make a lot of money.

Oh, and Mr. Met has an office at Citi Field.

Drink up.

Some more fun stats

Adam J. Morris — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:31:09 -0000

Josh Rupe, since the 2008 ASB:

41 IP, 32 walks, 26 Ks, 7 homers, 7.46 ERA

I'm suspecting the slagging his arm took in the first half of the season has ended up doing some damage.

Because he was terrible after the break last year, was terrible in spring training, and has been terrible so far this year.

Turnbow out of the bullpen mix

Adam J. Morris — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:32:06 -0000

Evan Grant has an update on the pitching situation, with Ron Washington saying he wants Josh Rupe and Kris Benson on the Opening Day roster, and Derrick Turnbow appearing no longer being part of the equation:

The Rangers also communicated to Turnbow, who could ask for his release Tuesday under the terms of his minor league contract, that he was unlikely to make the Opening Day roster. They’ve asked him to stay with the organization, but the next decision is Turnbow’s.

The bullpen situation

Adam J. Morris — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:45:33 -0000

Okay...Eddie Guardado has signed a minor league deal. The reality, though, is that he's going to end up on the 25 man roster unless he gets hurt. He's a lock for the bullpen.

At this point, you have to figure there will be a 7 man bullpen, and barring injury, four spots are pretty much locks:

Frankie Francisco

Eddie Guardado

C.J. Wilson

Josh Rupe

I have to think that both Derrick Turnbow and Willie Eyre are more likely than not to end up making the bullpen, although neither is a slam dunk (although I still think that if Eyre wasn't close to a lock, he wouldn't have been put on the 40 man roster).

If Turnbow and Eyre both stick, you have to figure that the last spot is going to go to a true long-man type. Dustin Nippert seems to be the most likely to end up there, although if Scott Feldman moves to the pen (which would only seem likely if Ben Sheets get signed), he'd probably fill that role. Kason Gabbard also would seem to be in the mix for a long man spot.

I realize that this isn't an awe-inspiring bullpen. But the interesting thing about bullpens is that most of the ones that end up doing really well have some guys pop up out of nowhere. Really, that's what makes bullpens so unique...you can often times dig up a guy as an NRI or as a fringe prospect who can have some things click in the pen and become a quality reliever.

Look at the 2004 team, that had a bad rotation and an outstanding bullpen. You had Francisco Cordero, whom everyone expected would do well; Carlos Almanzar, an NRI; Frankie Francisco, a guy who wasn't even on the radar after being picked up from Chicago the season before via trade and posting a 7+ ERA in AA; Brian Shouse, a 35 year old LOOGY with one good major league season under his belt; and Ron Mahay, a former NRI and converted outfielder who had kicked around the league for a while.

Those guys logged 60% of the bullpen innings for the Rangers in 2004, and were the reason that the bullpen was arguably the best in the A.L. that season. Having guys show up and put it together -- Almanzar and Francisco, in particular -- was the key.

If you are looking for the 2009 version of Almanzar, it may well be Turnbow. The conventional wisdom on Turnbow was that he had one great season with the Brewers and has sucked ever since. The reality is that his peripherals really haven't been terrible, despite some mediocre numbers, and if he's healthy, he's a reasonable bounce-back candidate.

And the 2009 version of Francisco? There are a lot of possibilities, really, due to the high number of live arms the Rangers have hanging around. John Bannister is generating a ton of buzz, and while I don't think he's much of a candidate to make the team out of spring training, he, like Francisco c.2004, has limited experience above A ball and will likely start the season in the minor league pen, but also like Francisco, could end up coming quick if things click for him.

Guillermo Moscoso is a possibility as well, a guy like Bannister who has had injury problems but appears to have put them behind him. The organization says they are going to look at him in the rotation, and he supposedly has expressed a strong preference for staying in the rotation rather than pitching out of the pen, but his arsenal could well be best suited for a bullpen role.

And there's also Thomas Diamond...everyone knows his story, big guy, big arm, underwent T-J surgery in 2006. He's largely fallen off the radar, but if he can get a reliable offspeed pitch going this spring, he could be someone who slides into a setup role and produces immediately.

Plus, as has been discussed before, Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz are on the fast track, and either or both could end up pitching at TBIA, either in a rotation or bullpen role, before the season is up. While their futures lie in the rotation, I could definitely see one of them -- particularly Feliz -- in a Joba-esque setup role while being groomed for the rotation going forward.

In any case, I think the bullpen picture is starting to come into focus. I'm not expecting a repeat of 2004 or 2007, when the bullpen was dominant and carried the pitching staff. But I do think an improvement over 2008 is likely, and there are some interesting pieces there that create the possibility of something really nice happening out there in 2009.

DeRosa to the Indians

Adam J. Morris — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:46:12 -0000

Mark DeRosa has been traded to the Indians for three minor league pitchers -- Jeffrey Stevens, Chris Archer, and John Gaub. He apparently is going to play third base for the Indians.

The Cubs were moving DeRosa to clear out some room to afford Milton Bradley, who they are apparently about to sign. But I'm sitting here trying to figure out why the Rangers weren't involved in this deal.

Stevens turned 25 in September, and is a righty reliever who the Indians got in the Brandon Phillips trade. He supposedly can get his fastball up to 95, and has put up some nice strikeout numbers in the upper minors the past two years. He seems like someone who is a decent bet to be a contributor in the bullpen for a major league team at some point.

Chris Archer turned 20 in September, and was the Indians 5th round pick in 2006. In the Sally League this year, he put up a mediocre ERA while striking out, and walking, a bunch of guys. He supposedly can throw in the low- to mid-90s, depending on which report you read.

John Gaub is a 23 year old lefty who struck out a bunch of guys in a relief role in the Sally League last year...but then, he's a 23 year old in the Sally League, so that doesn't mean a whole lot.

Actually, sitting here and reading the reports on these guys, it isn't as bleah a package as I initially thought. Gaub isn't anything of note, but Stevens is someone who can probably contribute in a bullpen role right now, and Archer is a live arm with major control problems but some ability.

An equivalent package from the Rangers would probably have been something like...I don't know...Josh Rupe, Michael Kirkman, and Ryan Turner. Although Archer is probably better than Kirkman...maybe Omar Poveda instead of Kirkman.

Given that DeRosa will be a free agent after this season (albeit a free agent who has a good chance of fetching a sandwich pick if he leaves), would you have been willing to part with Rupe, Poveda and Turner to get DeRosa?

That's a hard one, for me.

Is the Rangers 2009 pitching staff already set?

Adam J. Morris — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:21:02 -0000

One of the things that I was thinking early in the offseason was that the Rangers were going to have some interesting decisions to make in regards to their 2009 pitching staff.

But with the team cutting loose Kam Loe and Wes Littleton, that isn't necessarily the case...in fact, I'm starting to think that, barring injuries, we can probably pretty well identify the 12 man pitching staff right now.

Start with the rotation...Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla are both locks, unless they are traded, which is possible but not probable. There is a group of pitchers who are considered to be vying for the next three slots, but if everyone is healthy, it seems that Matt Harrison, Brandon McCarthy, and Scott Feldman (who is out of options) will almost certainly end up rounding out the rotation.

In the bullpen, Frankie Francisco, Joaquin Benoit, and C.J. Wilson are locks. Josh Rupe and Willie Eyre would appear to be near-locks. Dustin Nippert is out of options, and seems to have impressed enough folks towards the end of last season to get the nod as the long man.

That leaves one spot, probably for a lefty, and that second lefty will probably be either a veteran Guardado-type picked up on a one year deal, or a Rule 5 pick.

Now, things could end up changing...for example, Padilla or Millwood could get moved. But I suspect one of those two would be dealt only if the Rangers made another deal for a young pitcher they felt could be plugged into the rotation immediately.

And someone will end up getting hurt, which would open up a potential rotation spot for Nippert, Eric Hurley, or maybe a dark horse like Tommy Hunter or Derek Holland. Warner Madrigal could end up sticking in the pen in a setup role, particularly if Eyre, Benoit or Francisco go down.

But overall, the only real mystery, to me, as to the 2009 pitching staff is who the 2nd lefty will be.