Hector Noesi Down, Brandon Maurer Up

If Maurer didn’t regrow the beard, we are going to have issues.

Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

The title of this post is pretty self-evident. Those two roster moves were made this morning by the club. Noesi sucked last year, and hasn’t really gotten much better this year. Maurer has spent his time in Tacoma after his not-so-impressive stint as the American League Jose Fernandez. What is curious about this move, and the reason I don’t really like it is that Maurer is filling a role in the bullpen. He is taking the Beavan/ Noesi long relief role. Remember how Maurer was a starter in the rotation last time he was in Seattle? Well for some reason, the M’s want him to stop starting in Tacoma and start long-relieving in Seattle.

There are other relievers in Tacoma who could have been called up in replace of Noesi. The aforementioned Blake Beavan, Brian Moran, Bobby LaFromboise are all options. But the team chose Maurer. He isn’t near an innings cap, having pitched less than 100 innings so far this year between Seattle and Tacoma. And probably more importantly, he hasn’t been very good in Tacoma. He struggled with his command and home runs in Seattle. He fixed his home run problem yay! But he has walked almost two more batters an inning in Tacoma, boo!

His FIP is 3.74, but that only looks at his HR numbers, which are actually super low, 0.39 per nine innings, and his 9.06 K/9, which is super high. Also his walks are factored into FIP, bumping it up. More traditionally, his ERA is above 5.00.

So Maurer has limited his home run problem but has only been incrementally better and hasn’t shown the adjustments to the issues he ran into last time he was in Seattle. Totally earns a promotion! I don’t mean to sound cynical, but I would really have preferred Maurer stay in Tacoma and work on the issues he needs to work on, like his command, like his changeup and his approach to left handed batters. Brandon Maurer, mid-rotation starter in 2014 is a lot more valuable to the team than Brandon Maurer, long reliever in 2013. Hopefully this stint doesn’t indicate the long-term plans the team has for Maurer and he is just here to provide relief to a really bad bullpen. Bye Hector Noesi!