Counter thought - at some point they decided Oviedo was going on the 60 day DL (yesterday, a week ago??). Is this a 'serious' pickup or a 'what the heck we have room' pickup who could be DFA'd just as fast and 'hope' he clears so they can send him to AAA (and I admit at his age he may be able to refuse the assignment - my apologies for not knowing or researching). If this is just another DFA and hope then there is no real risk. I do agree with others if this is NOT the case, I just don't see who will or should get bumped from the opening day roster for him.
This isn't a bad pickup, especially since it is for nothing. Lawrence is an OK groundball pitcher, but does not have an exceptional groundball rate, which is a must to do high-leverage work at Coors without superb swing-and-miss stuff. My suspicion is that he may have been overdoing it, trying to get groundballs more often than his stuff will allow. Tyler Rogers likes to work his sweeper up in the zone and isn't all that concerned with getting groundballs on it. It runs almost like a cut fastball from that arm slot. I think if Lawrence gets out of Coors and just lets his stuff play, he will be pretty good. We will see though if Marin has any idea what to do with a submarine pitcher... though keep in mind that Strom has been around for ages and has worked with submarine pitchers before, I think.
You are preaching to the choir on this one, but that has been Littlefield's MO since he arrived. He is completely unconcerned with options when it comes to depth, and so he spends 4 months of every season rearranging his bullpen to and from the waiver wire. It is the major reason why he never has a good bullpen. This is why Huntington was always able to put together a good bullpen. He always had 5 or 6 guys with options whom he could move around as their play and situations warranted.
If you are going to pick up a guy with no options though, Lawrence is a much better "experiment" (to use your correct term) than de Geus or Mayza or one of the half dozen other pieces of riffraff Cherington has collected this offseason.
Our bullpen candidates are very deep right now, surprising that Ben wants to take a flyer and a roster spot in Lawrence. There is a dude named Tyler Rogers that is nearly unhittable with the submarine, so I'll keep an open mind on Lawrence. Second coming of Teke?
Counter thought - at some point they decided Oviedo was going on the 60 day DL (yesterday, a week ago??). Is this a 'serious' pickup or a 'what the heck we have room' pickup who could be DFA'd just as fast and 'hope' he clears so they can send him to AAA (and I admit at his age he may be able to refuse the assignment - my apologies for not knowing or researching). If this is just another DFA and hope then there is no real risk. I do agree with others if this is NOT the case, I just don't see who will or should get bumped from the opening day roster for him.
This is Cherington's Chad Bradford!
I'm guessing BC watched Moneyball 100+ times over the winter and is all in on flawed players that still have value.
I'm praying that he has the Jonah Hill character on staff.
The most interesting thing about Lawrence is that he’s managed to be good at times while more often being bad on a biblical scale.
This isn't a bad pickup, especially since it is for nothing. Lawrence is an OK groundball pitcher, but does not have an exceptional groundball rate, which is a must to do high-leverage work at Coors without superb swing-and-miss stuff. My suspicion is that he may have been overdoing it, trying to get groundballs more often than his stuff will allow. Tyler Rogers likes to work his sweeper up in the zone and isn't all that concerned with getting groundballs on it. It runs almost like a cut fastball from that arm slot. I think if Lawrence gets out of Coors and just lets his stuff play, he will be pretty good. We will see though if Marin has any idea what to do with a submarine pitcher... though keep in mind that Strom has been around for ages and has worked with submarine pitchers before, I think.
No options. How many experiments can you run in the majors at one time? Are they running a research lab or trying to win games? Oh . . . never mind.
You are preaching to the choir on this one, but that has been Littlefield's MO since he arrived. He is completely unconcerned with options when it comes to depth, and so he spends 4 months of every season rearranging his bullpen to and from the waiver wire. It is the major reason why he never has a good bullpen. This is why Huntington was always able to put together a good bullpen. He always had 5 or 6 guys with options whom he could move around as their play and situations warranted.
If you are going to pick up a guy with no options though, Lawrence is a much better "experiment" (to use your correct term) than de Geus or Mayza or one of the half dozen other pieces of riffraff Cherington has collected this offseason.
Our bullpen candidates are very deep right now, surprising that Ben wants to take a flyer and a roster spot in Lawrence. There is a dude named Tyler Rogers that is nearly unhittable with the submarine, so I'll keep an open mind on Lawrence. Second coming of Teke?