Arden Zwelling

I think that now is the time to just lessen the leverage for Jeff Hoffman.

And I don't think that that means that he isn't going to throw in the ninth inning again.

Because I think just with the way this bullpen is set up, he's going to have to be.

I don't think you can...

shield him from the ninth inning long term but i do think that this is an opportunity uh to shift to more of a committee approach in the ninth and i think that means that louis varlin gets opportunities in the ninth and i think that means tyler rogers and against the right pocket of lefties mason fluarty and maybe on certain days braden fisher and

I think there's an opportunity here just to operate the bullpen a bit more progressively and to call all of the above into John Schneider's office ahead of Friday's game and tell them, hey, you all need to be ready to go anytime from the sixth inning on.

and we're going to throw you wherever the best matchup for you presents itself.

And that could be in the seventh, that could be in the eighth, that could be in the ninth.

We are no longer working with a capital C closer.

It could be anyone, including Jeff Hoffman.

It could be Jeff Hoffman in the ninth, but I think that

Um, John Schneider, Pete Walker are just going to have an easier time navigating the end of this ball game and they're going to have to deal with fewer landmines if they just have the flexibility to potentially use Jeff Hoffman earlier, um, in, in a game in a different leverage spot.

And if Louis Varland is not needed earlier in the game, which there are a lot of very Louis Varland-ish spots where he can really tackle some leverage earlier in games.

But if he isn't needed, he could pitch the ninth in certain situations until Hoffman just gets things under control with his super wacky year of extremes.

It's just been such a season of extremes for him because it's either he's walking guys and giving up like these maddening dinks and dunks and giving up homers or he's striking everybody out and there's just nothing in between.

And that's why you get some of these stats that you're referring to, right?

Like despite the high walk rate and the amount of batters that he's walked, he still has a 31.6% strikeout minus walk rate.

which is eighth highest among qualified relievers.

And that is a very predictive statistic.

That's because the strikeout rate is over 40%, which is wild.