Rob Neyer on Bierd

by joet on Mar 18, 2008 7:57 PM EDT

"Anyway, there aren't any Josh Hamiltons out there this year, and there probably aren't any Joakim Sorias, either. Most years, not a single Rule 5 draftee makes a significant contribution. Will any of this year's? Teams generally don't leave promising young hitters or starting pitchers exposed, which means we're basically looking at relievers who were way, way down on the organizational depth charts, often because of shaky control.

I do like one guy: Baltimore's Randor Bierd, a Dominican right-hander who spent most of last season in the Double-A Eastern League and, including a short stint in Class A, struck out 81 batters and walked only 16. According to Baseball America, he throws a low-90s sinker and a hard slider, and I don't see any obvious reason why he can't at least survive with the Orioles for six months, after which he's theirs to keep."

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Bierd

Bierd seems to be getting a lot of positive press which can only mean he'll suck balls and be waived in June.

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Mar 18, 2008 8:22 PM EDT reply actions

we better keep him

I will be legitimately pissed if we let him go, even if he sucks this year. And i hate how trembly says they need a "long reliever", these guys throw baseballs all the time and throwing more innings that you are used to will not mess up a pitcher. They put these strange confines relief pitchers, it confuses me.

by Reddrummer9187 on Mar 18, 2008 10:45 PM EDT reply actions

I'm with you.

I have no idea why they decide on these things. I have a sneaking suspicion though - given the way they tend to ignore empirical data - that it's based more on their "fly-by-their-fucked-up-ass intuition", as Rawls on The Wire would say, than any actual method.

"Indeed"

by Jonnypops on Mar 18, 2008 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions

curious

they also typically say it about guys who, at one point in time, were starting pitchers. If the conditioning's there, they can throw more. End of story.