Dan Wheeler and Jon Brett

was formely known as Joan Brett (pre-surgery)

Jon Brett and Troy Percival were seen skinny dipping in the fountain of youth. Jon knows nothing about baseball or life for that matter. We should out him at high noon.

he has done a pretty decent job this year.

I tend to evaluate relievers more based on an appearance by appearance basis than on rate or cumulative stats because they get so few innings that stats are easily skewed by very few performances. So, for example, Wheeler has given up 6 home runs in his 40 innings, but they were concentrated in just 4 games. In the other 42 appearances he gave up no home runs.

It is interesting that 3 of those games were against the Yankees, which may accentuate the perception that he has pitched poorly. Early in the year he gave up a HR and 4 runs in a 7-2 loss to NY, but he did it in the 9th inning turning a close game into a rout. And then he repeated the crime on July 29 when he gave up 2 HRs and 2 runs to NY again in the 9th inning turning a 4-2 deficit into a 6-2 deficit. That certainly would irritate fans. He also allowed a HR and 2 runs in an 8-6 TB win vs. NY, but he blew a save in the 8th inning in the process. The other 2 HRs were vs. Chicago in a 12-2 loss.

But generally, in high leverage situations, teams are not hitting him well (.196/.226/.353). He has a fine K/BB rate and if we want to consider results at all, in most of his appearances he has not allowed any runs (39 of 46 times) and often no hits or walks either.

Actually, I doubt your friend’s opinion in this matter deserves any response at all beyond a shrug and moving to another topic like the weather or the existence of unicorns. But it is kind of fun to look at the realities of an oft-maligned (sometimes legitimately) reliever.