Unsung Setup Guy
If I asked you who the best setup men in the American League were, I’d imagine you’d probably rattle off the list of usual names: Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Betancourt, Scot Shields, and Pat Neshek to name a few. It might take you a while before you got to Santiago Casilla, but 2008 has been his coming out party, and he’s quickly establishing himself as a potential relief ace.
Always a guy who could get swings and misses, he’s blowing hitters away with increasing frequency, but more importantly, he’s now commanding his power fastball/slider combination, walking just three of the 62 batters he’s faced this year. With that combination of command and swing-and-miss stuff, he is yet to give up a run in 2008, and his dominance in the 7th and 8th innings is one of the reason the A’s are hanging with the Angels in the A.L. West race so far.
Relievers are fickle by nature, but Casilla’s always had the arm, and he’s showing now that he’s able to pound the strike zone with dominating stuff. If Casilla continues to throw strikes and not get himself in trouble, the A’s will have found themselves another legitimate high leverage weapon to help them win close games.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
Billy Beane must have known that Casilla was ready to step up when he moved Justin Duchsherer into the rotation, and traded Dan Haren for Dana Eveland and Greg Smith. Trading Mark Kotsay for Joey Devine was another smart move. Oakland’s WPA from pitching, both starting and relief, more than makes up for the negative WPA from hitting, putting the As very much in the race for a playoff spot for now. If they’re still there by early July, Billy Beane will probably do a “[bleeping] A-trade” for the offensive help that he needs to stay in the race.