We are headed into murky territory for the < 500 series, as I’m not sure I have anywhere near 500 words to say about the players left to talk about. Still, I’m going to press on for at least a little longer. The upside is that if these posts are short, the possibility exists that I may get more than one per day done.
Tony Watson was excellent for the Pirates last year. He struck out a ton of hitters, he had a microscopic ERA, and he did most of his work in the seventh inning or later in close games. The Pirates had bullpen issues last year, but those issues mostly existed in getting the game to Tony Watson and Mark Melancon. On the occasions that the Pirates’ rotation got them deep into the game or that the Pirates could rely on a John Holdzkom to bridge the gap between the starters and the back of the bullpen, the Pirates were fine.
There really isn’t much more to say about Watson: he’s been excellent for about a year and a half now, and while he’s more successful against lefties, he was good enough against righties that the platoon split doesn’t really matter. If something were to happen to Mark Melancon, the Pirates would likely turn to Watson to close, and there’s no reason to think that he couldn’t handle that situation.
There is one caveat, and it’s one I wrote about at the All-Star Break last year when Watson made his first All-Star team. It goes like this: Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan, Jason Grilli, Ernesto Frieri, etc. etc. ad infinitum. A lot of relievers burn bright and burn out out quickly, and when relievers burn out, the Pirates tend to just go and find more relievers. This sounds harsh, but it’s reality. I’m not saying Watson will burn out, I’m just saying that he’s already 30, his minor league and early big league career doesn’t create a great pedigree, and counting on relievers for anything unless they have a long established pattern of performance and health isn’t something anyone should be doing (this goes for Mark Melancon, too, though he’s got a performance history that goes back to 2010, at least).
Anyway, that’s a bit of a dark and pessimistic view of Watson. He was great last year and while I don’t expect a sub-2.00 ERA again this year, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be great again in 2015. Unless he’s not, of course, but we can worry about that if or when it happens.
<500 is an ongoing series previewing 2015 for each key Pirate in fewer than 500 words
Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
