Logan Henderson Ready for Bullpen Duty?

[rickh150]

While we shakily trot out Yoho in a four run lead in the ninth….against the Cubs mind you, I am getting more frustrated with how guys that have pitched very well for us…namely Henderson… have been used.  With Logan, why is he pitching all these innings in the minors? Wasn’t the story that he was hurt last year and that he had to be limited this year? It isn’t August and he is well past last year’s total (81.1 IP) throwing just shy of 100 innings? Starts regularly!  Cortez and Patrick are seemingly ahead of him in the SP pecking order, why not use him in the pen?  He could throw multiple innings here or there, as well.
 

Ala other past SP  turned RP briefly in Brewers seasons past, I think it’s time for Henderson (or Patrick) to help our pen. They were pretty good up here to waste(?) innings in AAA.

 

 

[BrewerFan]

I mean... one of the question marks is he's a 2 pitch pitcher with a good Fastball... but without great velo and a good slider.

I could see him being 95-97 out of the pen and then the slider.

But my guess would be is it's too early, they wanted him to keep developing and that will happen later in the year. It's not like our BP is falling apart, but that's a move I would expect to happen in the near future.

 

I'm still really hoping they don't deal him for a rental, but... that's where I think this could be headed. 

[umphrey]

They probably wanted to keep him for SP depth. Or maybe they have him marked for trade talks and don't want to risk talking his value if he moves to BP and gets blown up once or twice. 

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Logan is a prime candidate for relief innings with the Brewers. SP depth is hardly a concern at this point.  It just makes so much sense to limit his innings this year and get more major league exposure.  Then have him start again in spring training next year.

[Brian]

Here is a little assessment I came across of Logan Henderson if interested. 

https://fantraxhq.com/fantasy-baseball-stash-logan-henderson/

[BlazingGunz]

I think he is a prime candidate to be in the pen, if with us through the deadline.   Keep Myers stretched out in AAA  - bring Henderson in to the pen.   Uses his 2-pitch mix in the bigs where he is going to be successful. 

[BrewerFan]

8 hours ago, BlazingGunz said:

I think he is a prime candidate to be in the pen, if with us through the deadline.   Keep Myers stretched out in AAA  - bring Henderson in to the pen.   Uses his 2-pitch mix in the bigs where he is going to be successful. 

I mean, you'll have Myers, Patrick stretched out(you may also have Cortes back in the rotation). Ashby and Hall can throw 45-50 pitches pretty easily. It's shaping up to a pretty good situation to handle the 19 games in 18 days(I believe that's what it is). 

Ashby...I'm thinking is going to be used both in late inning high leverage situations and in a multi inning role in the playoffs. I

I still would like a reliever you can slot in ahead of Mears, but I'm not sure who that'd be. 

 

In either scenario, I think Henderson to the pen makes a LOT of sense. He's really pretty similar to Freddy Peralta as a young prospect. The FB, not having a full repertoire. Not sure his FB is as good as Peralta's when he came up, but he's got a better #2 pitch. 

It's a helluva luxury to have. 

[CheezWizHed]

Not a bad idea.  He can have the Woodruff/Burnes BP treatment and roll back into starting. 

[FVBrewerFan]

Gasser is another candidate for BP duty.  They need another late inning reliever, preferably LH, and Gasser could be a perfect fit.  Ashby is a bit wild for a setup man type role, I think he has the perfect role right now.

It is time though, after the trade deadline they need to add Henderson to the BP, and Gasser when he's ready.  Not sure there's a role for Patrick.

[snoogans8056]

4 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I mean, you'll have Myers, Patrick stretched out(you may also have Cortes back in the rotation). Ashby and Hall can throw 45-50 pitches pretty easily. It's shaping up to a pretty good situation to handle the 19 games in 18 days(I believe that's what it is). 

Ashby...I'm thinking is going to be used both in late inning high leverage situations and in a multi inning role in the playoffs. I

I still would like a reliever you can slot in ahead of Mears, but I'm not sure who that'd be. 

 

In either scenario, I think Henderson to the pen makes a LOT of sense. He's really pretty similar to Freddy Peralta as a young prospect. The FB, not having a full repertoire. Not sure his FB is as good as Peralta's when he came up, but he's got a better #2 pitch. 

It's a helluva luxury to have. 

I think we should start stretching Ashby out by piggybacking him with Miz's pitch count restriction.

Henderson taking his spot for long relief would be nice.

[Outlander]

Wouldn't mind seeing Henderson, could use somebody better than McGee/Yoho at the bottom and Grant Anderson is starting to look a little shaky.

[BrewerFan]

24 minutes ago, snoogans8056 said:

I think we should start stretching Ashby out by piggybacking him with Miz's pitch count restriction.

Henderson taking his spot for long relief would be nice.

I was kinda thinking about that. Even going the other way with it. Ashby starts and Misiorowski comes in. Look to get 3IP out of each. I'd imagine teams would still go with a LHed heavy lineup to start with, unsure when Mis would come in. The problem with that is it'd really stress your BP. So... I may even try and go through this stretch and then sit Misiorowski down for a couple starts. Maybe he gets a tight calf and needs a short DL trip. 

He's so nasty with that FB and his extension, it's just about being smart with him and not overworking him...which they're doing a good job at. 

[Underachiever]

Calling @sveumrules. How does the Brewer bullpen WPA look currently? I remember you posting about a month ago that the entire pen had a +WPA. Is that still true? 

[sveumrules]

1 hour ago, Underachiever said:

Calling @sveumrules. How does the Brewer bullpen WPA look currently? I remember you posting about a month ago that the entire pen had a +WPA. Is that still true? 

Splits for current bullpen look like this...

Megill (37 IP)
54 ERA- | 64 FIP- | +1.14 WPA

Uribe (51 IP)
52 ERA- | 79 FIP- | +0.90 WPA

Koenig (43 IP)
91 ERA- | 90 FIP- | +0.83 WPA

Hall (28 IP)
47 ERA- | 91 FIP- | +0.68 WPA

Ashby (30 IP)
50 ERA- | 70 FIP- | +0.57 WPA

Anderson (51 IP)
77 ERA- | 93 FIP- | +0.41 WPA

Mears (40 IP)
71 ERA- | 69 FIP- | +0.11 WPA

McGee (7 IP)
63 ERA- | 59 FIP- | +0.01 WPA

Kind of hard to complain too much when you're eight of eight across the board on run prevention, peripherals and WPA. Obviously McGee is a tiny low leverage sample out of the shuttle spot, but the other seven regulars have been pretty solid all year. Mears WPA was higher a week ago, but -0.58 between his 07/22 and 07/25 outings knocked him down a bit.

Overall the bullpen's +2.82 WPA is 11th in MLB this year, well behind the historic +24.87 WPA they posted from 2023-24, but a lot of that is a function of the rotation (+5.62 WPA | 4th) and lineup (+2.06 WPA | 6th) chipping in far more than they did from 2023-24 with a more middling +2.89 WPA (14th) from the rotation and -4.76 WPA (16th) from the lineup the last two years.

[Underachiever]

You always come through @sveumrules. Thanks

[sveumrules]

9 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

You always come through @sveumrules. Thanks

Yeah, I'd guess McGee is just the placeholder until Cortes comes up at this point.

Maybe they'd consider Henderson for the extra spot in September or if needed between now and then, but with guys like Myers, Patrick, Payamps, maybe even Gasser by then among the other internal options and Logan struggling of late as he's already 17 IP over his previous career high I would think it's kind of a long shot we see him in Milwaukee again this year.  

[sveumrules]

re: Logan's recent struggles...

Henderson got bombed for 5 ER in his first AAA start, but after that he locked in from April 3rd through June 13th pitching 39 IP in AAA with a 0.92 ERA | 2.60 FIP to go along with his 21 IP of 1.71 ERA | 3.05 FIP work in MLB during that same stretch.

Since June 13th? 34 IP of 5.77 ERA | 4.95 FIP.