Boston » Kyle Martin

The 2017 Roster Recap Compendium

Brett Cowett — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 13:00:33 +0000

During the offseason, we here at BP Boston run a series called Roster Recaps, in which we detail the year that was for every player that graced the major league roster in 2017. Some you might vividly remember (Chris Sale!), while others you’ll struggle to recall what they did (Ben Taylor… ?). For the players in the latter category, we’ve got you covered. If you feel like looking back on some good times, we’ll accommodate you too.

Presenting the full list 2017 Roster Recaps, listed with the authors that wrote them. An asterisk denotes a player who has, as of March 13th, dearly departed the Red Sox. We’ll miss them all terribly.

Catchers

Sandy Leon (Cam Ellis)
Blake Swihart (Jake Devereaux)
Christian Vazquez (Brett Cowett)

Header photo by Winslow Townson — USA TODAY Sports

Roster Recap: Kyle Martin Brings Us To The End

Daniel Poarch — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 14:00:52 +0000

It’s the end of another era here at BP Boston, as we finally, mercifully have reached the end of Roster Recaps. They’re done, finished, gone! It’s been a long, difficult journey, but we finally made it, and we did it together.

This year’s Roster Recap Mr. Irrelevant? None other than right-handed reliever Kyle Martin.

Kyle Martin probably doesn’t deserve to be the Mr. Irrelevant of this series. Relatively speaking, he still has more long-term value for the organization than, say, Rajai Davis or Kyle Kendrick, primarily because he’s still here and he might be able to Do Some Things at some point. As recently as 2017, he was still showing up on some prospect lists for the organization, after all. He might be perilously close to organizational filler, but he’s not quite there yet.

Martin has had some interesting minor league seasons in recent years; his track record prior to 2017 is actually decently impressive. He put up consecutive seasons with a K/BB over 3.00 in Double- and Triple-A in 2015/16, and both FIP and xFIP felt he outperformed his actual runs-allowed numbers in those seasons. His ERA was 4.50 in 2015 and 3.38 in 2016, and his xFIP in each season was a sterling 2.98. Coupled with his nice changeup and solid strikeout numbers, that’s a pretty decent foundation to build off of. There’s some value to a middle-inning guy who can punch some hitters out, even if it’s not necessarily the most exciting thing any of us has ever seen.

That dynamic changed last season, however, as his Triple-A performance essentially dropped off a cliff. His strikeouts went down, his walks came way up, and FIP wasn’t his best friend anymore. He was worse than his previous minor league performance in almost every way, and more or less pitched his way out of a more significant role with the team last year. Martin entered the season as a possible option for middle relief with the major league squad, but instead, he pitched only 2.1 innings across two July appearances before being DFA’d to make room for Carson Smith’s return from the Disabled List. Therein lies the danger of being an eminently replaceable right-handed reliever, I suppose.

What Went Right:

Not much. I guess his 4.38 ERA in Triple-A wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened, and technically, he had a 3.86 ERA with the big league club. That’s about it. This wasn’t a season to write home about.

What Went Wrong:

Martin had his worst minor league season at the exact wrong time, and it effectively removed him from the major league conversation for the season. He struck out fewer batters, walked more, gave up more home runs, and had his second-worst minor league ERA — this time, without a shiny FIP to go with it. He faced 11 major league batters, allowed four of them to reach base, and the only strikeout he had is down below. Not great, Bob.

What To Expect:

Probably not a whole lot. He’ll be in Triple-A yet again, probably for the whole year. If he can return to his 2015/16 form, and if the Red Sox have a plethora of bullpen injuries, he might be able to find his way back to the majors this season, maybe.

The most interesting aspect of Martin’s season could end up being the Rule 5 Draft in December. If he does return to his previous levels of performance, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine a team in need of bullpen help taking a flyer on him. He’s essentially a Quad-A player, but he might be useful to a team that lacks those sort of pitchers. The Red Sox added him to the 40-man roster last year to keep him out of the Rule 5 pool, but they have a plethora of middling righties on the 40-man at the moment, so they might not try to do so again. On second thought, if the Rule 5 Draft is the most interesting thing to expect from your season, maybe you are the right pick for the final Roster Recap.

Au revoir, Roster Recaps. See you next year.

Photo by Aaron Doster — USA TODAY Sports

Four Potential Internal Bullpen Fixes for the Red Sox

Matthew Kory — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 11:00:09 +0000

The Red Sox don’t have a lot more time. They’re 4.5 games behind Baltimore and slipping with the trade deadline bearing down on them. There are holes in the lineup, the bench, and the starting rotation that all need fixing, and there isn’t much inside the organization available to fix those problems beyond what is causing the problems in the first place. That’s not the case with the bullpen though. That’s the one place where there are some internal fixes available. Nice to have one, I guess.

Boston’s pen currently features seven relievers: Craig Kimbrel, Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa, Robbie Ross, Heath Hembree, Tommy Layne and Matt Barnes. We’ll organize them into three tiers. The top tier includes the first three guys on the list. Say what you will about Kimbrel’s increased home run and walk rate, he’s still an elite option. Koji is visibly aging but for now he’s in this class. Beyond the thought of Tazawa facing anyone who has ever been a part of the Blue Jays organization, he’s a rock in Boston’s pen.

Then there’s the next group. That’s Ross and Hembree. Ross has been susceptible to the home run and he still walks more than you’d like, but he’s been effective. Hembree has been, if anything, even better, but he’s such a fly-ball pitcher that the fear of homers raining from the sky is still there. All in all though, two effective if not elite relievers.

Then there’s the back end of Layne and Barnes. Some might put Barnes in the middle tier, but I don’t because he simply walks too many guys. He’s not immune to homers either, though it’s not a huge problem for him. Mostly he’s a competent reliever, but not an option for the back end of pen because he simply doesn’t throw enough quality strikes or, really, enough strikes. Layne is, I’m sure a nice fellow, but he’s really just a guy. The walks are high, the strikeouts league average or a touch below from the pen, and he doesn’t dominate lefties like you’d think a guy with his arm angle would.

When looking to upgrade the pen, it’s this last tier of guys that I’d look to improve upon. You never like to lose talent for nothing, but this team is all in on winning this season and frankly Layne isn’t doing much to help. Barnes could someday move into the second tier if his command improves, but stashing him back in Pawtucket shouldn’t be any kind of impediment to improving the bullpen in Boston right now.

There are two groups from where to draw that improvement. The first is starting pitchers who have flamed out at the major league level. That would be Roenis Elias and Joe Kelly. Kelly is currently hurt, and his groin injury is coming along slowly. If he returns this season, it should be as a reliever in Pawtucket. See if his stuff plays up in a bullpen role and go from there. In the meantime, Roenis Elias represents an intriguing replacement for Tommy Layne, assuming the team needs a lefty-on-lefty only reliever. Elias has been successful against left handers in his career, holding them to a .658 OPS with a 2.67 K/BB ratio. He has some speed on his fastball and deception from the left side, both of which could play up a bit in the pen. It must be acknowledged that taking a starter and making him a situational lefty isn’t exactly squeezing out all the marrow out of the bone, but in this season of Going All In, maybe it merits a shot.

In his last 10 appearances, Light has thrown 12 innings, struck out 13, walked four, and given up six hits and no runs.

The second group is composed of minor league relievers Pat Light and Kyle Martin. Light is likely the better known of the two, having already made his major league debut earlier this season. His fastball sits in the upper 90s and he’s reported to have reached 100 mph at times. He keeps hitters off that heat with a splitter and slider. The overall package can be downright dominating when the command is there, and after an initial bump in the road at Pawtucket after his call up, Light has been dominant. In his last 10 appearances he’s thrown 12 innings, struck out 13, walked four, and given up six hits and no runs. Overall he has 32 strikeouts and 13 walks in 26.1 innings in Triple-A and all with only one homer allowed. He’s spent time in Triple-A and made an appearance in Boston, so it’s unlikely the 25-year-old would be wowed by the lights (sorry not sorry). (Editor’s note: it is indeed Light who got the call to the majors to replace Eduardo Rodriguez on the roster.)

Pat Light isn’t the only one in Triple-A to pitch well out of the pen. Kyle Martin, the Red Sox 9th round pick in 2013 out of Texas A&M University has been putting up numbers that surpass Light’s. His strikeouts are up (11.3 K/9), his walks down (2.3. BB/9), and his ground ball tendencies help keep the homers down as well with just one given up in 35 innings so far this season. Martin does carry a 4.11 ERA, but his K and BB numbers are quite good and he keeps the ball in the park well so his potential as a fifth or sixth bullpen arm isn’t diminished.

None of these guys are the next Kimbrel, but deployed properly they can be upgrades on the current cast. Send Barnes down and see what Light brings you. See if Elias can help get lefties out better than Layne has been able to, or don’t, just bring up Martin instead. There are, believe it or not, options. And options are good, especially if they represent hope and if they don’t cost the team top prospects like Rafael Devers or Anderson Espinoza. If Andrew Miller is available at reasonable cost, consider making the move, but short of that, there are enough problems elsewhere on this roster that it makes sense to use the team’s resources on a position with fewer internal solutions, which, at least for now, rules out the bullpen.

Photo by Kelly O’Connor/www.sittingstill.smugmug.com