NomosRubber said:
The Inn @ Pawtucket already looks full (Barnes/Owens/Rodriguez/Ranaudo/Wright). Additional moves in the works?
I'd say Spruill is destined for the bullpen. His PCL stint last year was just plain bad (makes you wonder about the DBacks AAA infield defense), but other than that every single sample he's got shows a heavy split or, when he had a strong season, good numbers against both sides of the plate.
Burke Badenhop has a similar tool set as a pitcher and for his career exhibits a significant split favoring RHBs as well. The Sox picked him up last year and saw him produce career best numbers in ERA and FIP despite having the lowest K/9 of his career by a whole K, a jump in his BB/9 over the two previous seasons, and a WHIP still in-line with career numbers.
In fact, Spruill's small 22 inning sample size at the ML level last year saw him post a 2.56 FIP compared to Badenhop's 3.08. For Badenhop last year was only the second time his ERA beat his FIP by a significant amount. It was basically neutral in 2013 for Milwaukee and then in 2012 for Tampa it was a similar ~0.50 runs better to his 2014 season. The entire preceding four years saw worse ERAs than FIPs consistently. Spruill's ERA in the majors was about one whole run worse than his FIP. For hsi entire ML sample (all 33 innings of it) he has also been massively better as a reliever (OPS against of .632) than as a starter (OPS against of 1.065). Obviously incredibly small samples. That was even true in his PCL sample where as a reliever he posted a 3.64 ERA with a .651 OPS against, a K/9 of 8.2, and a SO/W of 3.91. As a starter he had a 7.12 ERA, .832 OPS against, K/9 of 7.1, and SO/W of 3.20. His WHIP as a reliever was also 1.277 versus 1.484 as a starter.
Basically, the Sox probably think they've found a young Burke Badenhop under team control for peanuts, at a time when they feel there is a market or strategic advantage to exactly that kind of pitcher.
I'll add that I find it interesting how Badenhop's two biggest positive gains over his FIP came in the AL East. While it would necessitate further analysis (that would take a ton of time) I wonder if the Sox have analyzed the division-wide track record of sinkerball/high GB% pitchers and found that the AL East, for whatever reason, shows a significant pro-GB pitcher trend. Some reasons could be the smaller than average parks across the division or a more dramatic advantage gained from defensive shifts for GB pitchers (With Maddon being one of the first to go all-in on a wide variety of defensive shifts and the rest of the division adapting faster than the rest of baseball).
Whatever it is, the Sox really seem to think they've found something with GB pitchers the rest of the market is missing. If they're right Spruill could be an absolute steal for someone who in Smith who likely will never sniff AAA let alone the majors.
