Houston Astros: Team should leave lagging lefties off playoff roster

The Houston Astros are on their way to the post season and have decisions to make regarding who they’re bringing with them to October baseball. From designated hitter, to starting rotation, and of course bullpen.

The Houston Astros bullpen is clearly the weak spot on the team as they have the best offense in baseball and a solid one two punch at the top of their rotation in Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel in games one and two of a series.

The biggest question mark has to be which lefty to bring as their lefty specialist. Tony Sipp or Francisco Liriano? I would suggest deviating from standard protocol and taking neither.

There is a big to do about having the ability to bring in a lefty and neutralize the opponent’s big lefty bat. For the Cleveland Indians that would be Jay Bruce, for the New York Yankees that would be Didi Gregorious and for the Boston Red Sox that would be Andrew Benintendi.

But here’s the thing. Your lefty pitcher also needs to be good. If they leave a pitch over the plate, it doesn’t matter that they are a lefty. Gregorious, Bruce, Benintendi and whoever else will go deep because they’re good hitters.

And while yes all three of the aforementioned hitters don’t do as well against lefty pitchers as they do against righties, if the left handed pitcher on the mound can’t throw past 91 miles per hour and is ineffective with location, that lefty on lefty match up does not matter.

If Sipp can’t get guys out on either side of the plate, then there’s really no use for him in the bullpen in the playoffs.

The fact of the matter is that Tony Sipp and Francisco Liriano have had terrible numbers overall this season and, despite being left handed relievers, aren’t even adept at getting lefties out. Here are their numbers against left handed hitters this season.

Tony Sipp has pitched 17 innings against left handed hitters, giving up 12 earned runs for a 6.35 ERA, five home runs and a .246 batting average against with a 1.29 WHIP. What’s weird is that he’s actually better against righties (though not by much giving up 12 earned runs in 19 innings for a 5.68 ERA.)

If Sipp can’t get guys out on either side of the plate, then there’s really no use for him in the bullpen in the playoffs. Especially because here are the guys in the Astros bullpen that have better numbers against lefties than Sipp does in the categories just mentioned. Pretty much everyone.

The only pitcher with 17 innings or more against left handed batters in our bullpen that has a worse ERA against left handed hitters than Sipp is Luke Gregerson. Every other pitcher with that many innings or more in our bullpen has a better ERA against lefty hitters. This is clear evidence that Sipp will not benefit us in the post season simply because he is left handed.

Now the other option is Francisco Liriano. Here are his numbers against left handed batters this season. In 23 innings pitched between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Astros he has given up 13 earned runs for a 5.08 ERA giving up one home run and a .258 batting average against with a 1.17 WHIP.

Once again, only Luke Gregerson struggles more than our left handed pitchers do against lefties. This lefty on lefty matchup does not work if your left handed pitcher can’t get the outs they need on the side of the plate they are supposed to be able to dominate.

The numbers Sipp and Liriano have against lefties barely suffice for a reliever in general much less as the numbers you should have when your one job is to get lefties out.

The team would be better served to play the personal matchups and when going against particularly devastating lefties use Chris Devenski in those high leverage situations since he has the versatility to pitch anywhere in a game and has great numbers against left handed hitters with his ability to pitch inside to them.

Though conventional wisdom says that you should have a lefty in your bullpen, the Astros unfortunately do not have a lefty effective enough against left handed hitters to warrant a spot on the playoff roster.

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One only has to go back to two years ago when the team traded for Oliver Perez before the waiver trade deadline to have another lefty arm in the bullpen alongside Tony Sipp for the post season. Even though Perez struggled in September, the Astros brought him along for the October ride against the Kansas City Royals.

His results in that five game series? Game one he came in for his sole job to get one out off a left handed bat and did so when he got Eric Hosmer to pop out. Game two he came in and gave up a run scoring single to Hosmer, a single to the right handed Kendrys Morales, and a walk to the left handed Mike Moustakas.

His total line for that five game series was 0.1 innings pitched in two games giving up one earned run, two hits and a walk. Does this sound like a helpful contributor?

This is the kind of line that you can expect if the Astros do not trust Liriano or Sipp in any situation other than to get one lefty out.

Next: 2017 post season roster predictions

While it’s standard procedure to have at least one lefty if not more in your bullpen during the playoffs, quality has to matter at some point. And unfortunately Liriano and Sipp at the moment are not quality enough lefties to make the cut for a team chasing their first championship in franchise history.

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