Sean Doolittle is gone - signed with the Reds with his spot in the bullpen taken up by Brad Hand. I liked Doolittle. He was very very good in those first 70 games with the Nats, then not so good in the last 70 thanks in most part to injuries that have been his bugaboo throughout his career. Last year he was downright awful and Brad Hand is very very good and more importantly more reliably healthy. It's a pretty clear choice. Although at 1.5 million Doolittle could be a huge bargain.
Interestingly enough peak Doolittle is just as good, if not better than Hand
Peak Doolittle years
69 IP, 0.957 WHIP, 0.5 HR/9, 7.8 K/9
62.2 IP, 0.734 WHIP, 0.7 HR/9, 12.8 K/9
51.1 IP, 0.857 WHIP, 0.9 HR/9, 10.9 K/9
45.0 IP, 0.600 WHIP, 0.6 HR/9, 12.00 K/9
But you see I'm already looking at a 45 IP season and this is across 8 years from 2013-2020. Hand wasn't quite as dominant in his four years as a reliever (he was a part time starter for Miami before settling in full-time as a reliever) but pitched 89, 79, 72, innings in his first three relief seasons (2016-2018) He did have a "tired elbow" in 2019 which cost him about a month of time and reduced his IP to 57 but it didn't seem to effect his pitching and he was perfectly fine last year. If the Nats are to be competitive they need this kind of expected performance.
Doolittle, while breaking down, was used pretty judiciously by Martinez in 2019s playoffs and he was very good in his performances throwing 10 innings of around a 2.00 ERA and he was almost perfect in 2017.
The last point is of interest to me because I wonder how much Doolittle is liked by the Nats fanbase. There is certainly a bunch of online Nats fans who love him. He's an outspoken liberal in a sports world that is full of mostly quiet conservatives. He was also very fan forward in terms of interactions and getting out into the community. Stats wise there's a lot more positive than negative.
However that's also the case (the latter point) with Tyler Clippard. He's by far the best reliever in terms of career value that the Nats have ever had. He literally threw 450IP of 2.64 ERA ball He never had a bad season. And yet whenever I bring him up there are one or two guys (out of the few that comment here) that want to make it clear they didn't like him and didn't think he was good. If you don't think Clippard was good - can you think any non-dominant relief pitcher is good?
Good luck to Doolittle. I hope he gets healthy and if he does Cincy has a steal (which I'm sure they'll trade later in the season)
13 comments:
On your last question: I like Doolittle. Probably liked Clip more. I don't know why some people didn't like him but I don't think they're representative. He was fun to watch and showed up when the Nats were turning things around from truly awful.
I love Dooooo and I wish him the very best. Part of that may be my liberal bias and I really like the work he and Eireann do for the communities they are a part of. In terms of on-field performance, I think I like Clippard a little bit better. I felt with Clippard there was less likelihood of the wheels falling off in an outing and the durability was there more-so than Doo.
I like Doo a lot for the non-performance reasons you listed. He and his wife seem like really good people. But I don't really think that's driving most of difference here.
Doo was a closer (saves in 46% of his appearances with the Nats and finished games in 79% vs 8% and 21% for Clippard respectively), and he was on the 2019 team that won rings. That's going to buy a lot of attention and goodwill even if he never made a public statement about anything cultural or political.
I definitely have/had positive feelings towards Clippard. I was glad he was a Nat, I felt excited and confident when he came in to pitch and I liked his look with the goofy glasses. But I think he runs up against the ceiling for how much emotional attachment a fan base can give to a reliever outside of dominant closer.
I mean, how many non-closer jerseys would you see at any ballpark? I feel like peak Clippard would have to have been be top 5 in MLB. And my guess is that Doolittle is probably more of a middle-of-the-pack closer by jersey sales, but that a middle-of-the-pack closer >> top non-closer.
Maybe it's not fair, and I get the argument that Clip wins on lifetime regular season value and it's not close, but I also don't think it's surprising.
I think Clippard's issue was there were a couple years where he started out poorly - gave up home runs in key spots, blew some saves (he seemed to have a lot of the "blown save, win" outings). So people would get down on him and speculate whether he was hurt. Then he'd settle in and get back to being quietly good. Over the course of the season, he'd end up with great numbers. But relievers being what they are, you don't way that much attention when they're doing well outside of the closer role. And it was hard for people to get over that early-season impression.
Doolittle was the opposite - good at the start of the year, and then would break down. The fans were more forgiving of that, particularly when he did in fact go on the DL with something.
@Carl
I'm not sure if that explains it, though. One of the most beloved Nats is exactly like Clippard: Ryan Zimmerman. Starts the season relatively slow, but come June we all knew he'd be raking
I loved both Doo and Clip. I hold nothing against Doo for his outspoken liberal politics. Everyone has a right to their political view and opinion. I thought both of them were very fan-friendly but Doo was probably more so than Clip.
Clippard's glasses vs. Doolittle's Star Wars Light Saber? Doo won the goofiness competition hands' down.
I was not aware of the Clip hate. I always loved the guy. Especially in hindsight when our bullpens were a brownfield.
I also can't remember, did he part non-amicably with the Nats? I'm sure it was a money thing once he escaped arbitration. And I know he cashed in for a few years post Nats. Good for him.
I only ask because there have been times where I see his name on free agent lists and wonder why we don't sign him again. Like right now. I bet he could be signed for 1-2 million on a one year stint.
I was lukewarm on Doo as a pitcher but he really stepped up when we needed him in 2019. Not a fan of his politics, but more so the outspoken manner he talked about politics. That goes both ways. I'd rather not know whether a ballplayer (or actor) is liberal or conservative. It injects something unnecessary into a game that is supposed to be a respite from our world's problems, IMO.
Considering how much casual homophobia and transphobia seeps out of some players when the mics are left open too long, Doo was a welcome change. Loved him as a pitcher. I hope he has a good tour with the Reds.
Clippard was also a favorite.
I only remember one person from the comments section who was passionately anti-Clippard.
Clippard is definitely one of my favorite Nats relievers. Though I did go to a game in 2014 where he was on for the 1-run save, and the first batter (Gregorius) hit a homer. It was all good though - the Nats walked off in the 11th with a solo homer from LaRoche!
@139 - I agree, why hasn't Clippard been on our radar since he left? Sometimes I wonder if it's personal with GMs. Ever notice how we usually target guys who Rizzo scouted or signed himself? I bet we never bring back Kintzler, no matter how good or cheap he is because of that whole suspected bad blood a couple years ago. Seems silly to me, honestly.
@G Cracka X - I was at that game too! I remember because it was the first time my girlfriend (now wife) went to a game together. Told her she had to go a lot more because she's good luck. "It's your civic duty, babe." Lol
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