Leo Nunez Sucks
August 29, 2010 in Featured, Spotlight by jonnylons
No way of getting around it, Leo Nunez just plain sucks.
Sure, the kid is young, has a decent fastball and 29 saves. Problem is, he is no where near a consistent closer and every save opportunity he gets is a thrill ride – and not a fun one where you get off buzzin’ but instead the kind where you get off and puke and wonder why your back hurts. You want your mommy and you cry and want your money back, too.
Leo Nunez is responsible for the oil spill in the gulf, the ozone layer deteriorating, and the Marlins’ dip away from the postseason. Ok, maybe the first two are an exageration, but you can argue the last one is not.
You’ve got to wonder what the Marlins’ brass sees in this kid. Edwin Rodriguez keeps dumping him onto the mound in the 9th during close games. He has shown no ability to get outs consistently or even to be consistent with his control. In fact, of the 37 save appearances, he has made 29 saves. That means 8 blown saves. The Marlins lead all of baseball with 23 blown saves. Think about that.
Take half of that number – 12.5. Ok, 12. Add that to the Marlins win total. Where does that put them? You’re damn right, ahead of the Braves, that is for sure.
Now, 8 blown saves out of 37. That means Leo Nunez has almost a 22% failure rate on the season. Now, of the team’s total blown saves, 23, Nunez accounts for 35%.
Let’s face it, that just sucks.
It isn’t that he only has 8 blown saves, but even of his 29 saves there have been some which could have gone the other way, too. Sure, in 53.1 innings, he has only 16 BBs and 58Ks. Solid numbers. He also sports a 3.38 ERA – but that was before giving up 2 home runs to the Braves today. Still, even that number has come down from last year – his ERA was 4.06. He also came into this game only giving up 3 home runs while giving up 13 last season. He even has improved his ground out to air out ratio. Last year it was .91 (meaning more air outs to ground outs – 78:66). This year it is 1.91 (32:59). His WHIP is respectable (1.29) vs. last year (1.25) and he has only given up 53 hits in 53.1 innings.
The problem goes beyond the stats though and into Nunez’s mind. If you watch him come out to the game, he is a wreck. He is chewing his gum faster than a crack fiend, and is sweating like a “woman of ill repute” in church (hey, this is a family site!). What’s worse is, he usually hasn’t thrown a pitch by this point!
Nunez would be a terrific set up man. He can come in, throw his stuff around and if he does any damage, the Fish will at least have a chance to clean it up on offense. There is also no pressure. He is not the last one to take the ball. Clearly, he is not the right choice for the Marlins to end games. They need someone who can throw strikes and be a calming presence at the end of games. Whomever that is, it sure isn’t Hanley’s buddy, Leo Nunez. Get him out of there and NEVER let him close again.
Unless it is for the Phillies, Braves, Mets, etc.
Loading ...
your an idiot. nunez is good your eating your words now aren’t you. stop trying to act smart by tossing percentages in there where you just divided the number of blown saves by his attempts and then divided the number he blew by the total number blown. you dont know what your talking about! how about elaborating on the types of pitches he struggles with or being more specific with what he needs to do to get on track. either way this guy is good and your ignorant.
Thanks for your passionate response. Spell check aside, I think you make a fair request. The reasons why Nunez sucks is because he would stay away from using his fastball and instead get cute with his breaking pitches. The other night, however, he was locating his slider in the lower outside corner and using it effectively. Any hitter in the bigs can tatoo a fastball – it is the speed differential that keeps them off balance. But to underscore your point, yes, Nunez has done a better job of mixing up his pitches and changing speeds. That said, he has to rely on his fastball to set up his other pitches while last year, he was doing the opposite. He still looks like a nervous wreck out there and does not exude the confidence you want in a closer like, say, Brian Wilson. I am hardly eating my words. More like waiting to see when he loses it again. I hope I am wrong though and would gladly eat my words. But don’t deny that Nunu was not a part of the 27 blown saves from last year. That is being ignorant.