Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRedChief
Hey DJ and or others in the know, that Seth Elledge looked like he had fantastic stuff. Was it just a good day for the guy or can he pitch like that consistently?
Edit from a tweet:
acquired him in a trade with the @Mariners for Sam Tuivailala.
Elledge averaged greater than 10 K/9 in his time in minors.
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He was a 40 man acquisition. Tui was out of options, we had a 40 man crunch and Elledge was still a year away from needing to be added to be protected from the Rule 5 when the deal was made. It cleared both a 25 man and 40 man spot for the upcoming offseason.
I felt at the time like the Mariners had unnecessarily slow-played him and he was ready for a jump in competition. Then he was super mediocre in AA and kinda made me look dumb.
I've sorta felt like he can be another Maness/Thompson sort of 7th inning bridge reliever. My guess is, like those guys, he'll get in trouble if he elevates at all. Typical sinker/slider reliever who can get outs if he can keep hitters from being able to spit on his slider (which they'll be able to do if he's elevating his sinker; location will telegraph the pitch).
Every team has a few guys like this and they'll pitch for 5 years, give you two completely confusing really good ones (think Mitchell Boggs in 2012), then one day they'll have a bad outing...then another...then another and that'll be that.
Fine guy to have - they'll probably get some mileage out of him and if he, Gallegos and Hicks can give you 3 years of steady back end relief, you're probably in pretty damn good shape. Especially with guys like Fernandez and the inevitable Alex Reyes: wild-ass reliever carnival ride.
I prefer Woodford as a long-term asset who's as likely as not to end up in the 'pen and Kodi Whitley as a true jam reliever.