Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

by JK in CBus on Jun 21, 2007 9:48 PM EDT Comment 14 comments

Casually reading articles around the internet I came across this quote Shapiro was credited with on the Indians official website.

'Who knows? Maybe Raffy Perez goes back there. Maybe we give Adam Miller a look there. Maybe Tom Mastny gets back in sync, and he becomes that guy'

This comes from Anthony Castrovince's latest notes column linked here.

I was trying to remember an example of such a high profile Indians prospect pitcher in recent years transitioned to the pen and all I could remember was Tavarez, and he's not even close.

This seems very surprising, but he's definitely an intriguing option for the pen and maybe fits better there this year with some of the injury issues he has had so far this year. It is nice to see the team taking win now stances in their thought process, and hopefully it makes for a very interesting month regarding roster moves.

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Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

It's a great way to slowly increase his innings against major league hitting.

by nickjs21 on Jun 21, 2007 10:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

I would not be surprised if he ends up on the roster ala FRod in 2002, just in case we need a flamethrower in the playoffs.

by talonk on Jun 22, 2007 12:18 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

If he's healthy, hell yes. He would have been up already with a couple of starts under his belt (Stanford).

by BoDiaz1974 on Jun 22, 2007 12:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

I don't think so.

by mkwng on Jun 22, 2007 9:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

Oh of course he would have started instead of Stanford had he been healthy. Absolutely.

by Jay on Jun 22, 2007 7:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

Papelbon

by notsince48 on Jun 22, 2007 9:03 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

Papelbon was several years older when he moved to the bullpen, there's not that much of a parallel.

by Ryan on Jun 22, 2007 9:14 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

In what way do you think the age difference (22.5 vs. 24.5) plays into this?

by Jay on Jun 22, 2007 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

2 years closer to being out of the injury nexus.

I really think this is a bad idea, even worse than the Carmona experiment. Fausto at least had no injury history when he went to the bullpen. Miller's had a serious injury scare already, and has never pitched in relief before. And at least Papelbon made the move right at the beginning of the season, when there was time to get him acclimated to the role.

Also, if he limits his innings this year thanks to relief stints (he's already behind schedule thanks to the finger injury), it's going to take two more seasons to get him stretched out to making 30 starts in the majors. CC Sabathia will probably be gone after 2008.

I just think it would be a horrible developmental move for the Miller and the franchise. If you want to turn a starter into a reliever for the stretch run, try Paul Byrd.

by Ryan on Jun 23, 2007 2:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Byrd or Cliff Lee!

Hello Ryan,

I can see your point, and I think it would be a bit risky - I'd rather Miller be used as a starter if at all possible.

After all, Miller's IP will already be lowered because of his time on the DL, enabling us the ability to use him late in the season and even into the postseason if necessary because of that DL stint.

In addition, we have other power-arm bullpen options to consider - Mujica, Sipp (presuming he returns and can pick up where he left off,) even Jensen Lewis now. I'm not sure we'd have to resort to using Miller, who has had a serious injury in the past, in a role he is not accustomed to just to shore up the bullpen.

As you imply, what if it would take that long to get Miller stretched back out as a starter again? Even worse, what if some serious injury occurred from Miller being used out of the bullpen, like say, TJ surgery being needed - Miller might not be back until 2009 at the earliest, and unless the Indians can come to some agreement with CC, we'll have no #1 starter to lead the rotation at that point (Carmona would probably be the closest one, but I think he'd fit better into the #2 spot in the rotation, with a Sabathia or Miller ahead of him in the rotation.)

Like you said, turn Byrd or even Cliff Lee into a reliever before turning Miller into one; his injury history makes me leery of changing roles on him, not knowing how his arm will take to the change in routine. While the bullpen experience would be good, just like it was with the Twins' Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano, can he stay healthy during this change? I'm not so sure I want to risk finding out.

Just my 2 cents. :-)

Go Tribe! :-)

by indiansfan on Jun 23, 2007 3:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Byrd or Cliff Lee!

I also like Lee out of the bullpen over Byrd. The notion of Adam Miller coming out of the bullpen also makes me uneasy.

-Erik

by drerikbrady on Jun 26, 2007 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

I'm thinking more Billingsley.

by nickjs21 on Jun 22, 2007 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

The most interesting excamples of this that I can think of are Adam Wainwright and Eric Gagne. Gagne was moved to the bullpen after having little success as a starting pitcher, while Wainright was moved to the big league club because of a desperate need for a bullpen arm. When Isringhausen was injured, Wainright was their only real option to close. The Cardinals intent all along was to have Wainright step into the rotation the following year, presuming they lost some of their pitchers to free agency (Suppan, Weaver, and Marquis.)

by Roger Dorn on Jun 22, 2007 10:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Miller In The Pen? Yes, that Miller

Latest is that Miller will start Monday's game (Buffalo), pitch an inning, and work his way back into the rotation from there, increasing his pitch counts. He'll be in the rotation there soon enough.

There's no doubt he's in the plan to contribute to the parent club later this year in some role. We'll be in a playoff run and he's one of the better pitchers in the whole system. I think a lot of it will depend on how the starting 5 fares over the summer. If Lee, Westy and Byrd pitch close to what's expected of them, Miller will likely see time in the Cleveland pen come September. If someone goes down or completely flops, he'll step into the ML rotation.

by mcrose on Jun 23, 2007 10:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs