I publicly begged for Edwar Ramirez to get the call up from Triple-A. I saw that 102/22 K/BB ratio in 56.2 IP and I cried every time Scott Proctor walked the leadoff hitter.
So it'd be dishonest of me to pretend I'm not disappointed by Edwar's major league showing.
I know he's only been in the bigs for 19 innings- the smallest of small sample sizes. And while he's struggled with his control his 2.9 K/BB ratio is decent and 13.74 K/9 points toward unrealized brilliance.
I want to put aside numbers for a minute, and think about Edwar's repertoire. Torre has spoken several times Edwar's value as a change-up guy in a bullpen of fastball-slider pitchers.
So who has Torre used Edwar to pitch behind? Click the jump to find out...
| Starter | Previous Pitcher | Results | Opponent |
| Wang | Proctor | 1IP 0H 0BB 3K | Min |
| Pettitte | Pettitte | 1.1IP 2H 1BB 1K | TB |
| Mussina | Mussina | 0IP 1H 4BB 0K | LAA |
| Hughes | Henn | 2.1IP 1H 0BB 3K | BAL |
| Wang | Chamberlain | 2IP 0H 0BB 3K | DET |
| Mussina | Villone | 2IP 4H 1BB 4K | LAA |
| Clemens | Clemens | 1IP 0H 1BB 1K | DET |
| Mussina | Mussina | 1IP 1H 1BB 1K | DET |
| Wang | Chamberlain | 0.2IP 0H 0BB 1K | BOS |
| Pettitte | Pettitte | 1.1IP 3H 0BB 3K | TB |
| Hughes | Chamberlain | 1IP 0H 0BB 1K | SEA |
| Pettitte | Bruney | 0.2IP 0H 0BB 0K | KC |
| Hughes | Hughes | 2IP 2H 0BB 5K | TOR |
| Mussina | Mussina | 0.1IP 0H 0BB 0K | TOR |
| Wang | Wang | 0.2IP 0H 1BB 2K | BOS |
| Hughes | Hughes | 1IP 3H 0BB 1K | BAL |
| Wang | Wang | 0.1IP 1H 0BB 0K | TOR |
| Hughes | Veras | 0.1IP 2H 0BB 0K | TOR |
Several things leap out at me:
First, Edwar seems to have had his worst outings in relief of Hughes. It could be that the still-recovering Hughes fastball looks too much like Edwar's fastball.
Also, as Edwantsacracker pointed out to me while we were discussing this post, Edwar's changeup looks a lot like a Mussina fastball.
There are other factors to consider, though.
Second, Edwar has faced Toronto 4 times in the last two weeks. This weeks the Jays have owned him. There could be an issue of overexposure here.
Third, and related to overexposure, Edwar has been called on nine times in September already. Compared to three appearances in July and six times in August. Twelve appearances a month would put a pitcher on pace for a Proctor-esque 72 games. 50 games (8/month) might be more realistic for a two pitch pitcher like Edwar.
If he can make an adjustment to compensate for that, he'll be able to fulfill his potential.
I think Edwar has a place in the 2008 pen. With proper usage (not matching him up against the same clubs too often, trying to watch who pitches immediately in front of him) I think Edwar could be a number 3 bullpen guy.