A Few Good Men: 28 - Coffey

That's right...IT'S COFFEY TIME!

Todd Coffey - Age 31 - 6 Years MLB Service

How He Became A Nat: Signed a 1-year deal January 24th.

The Raw Numbers:
IP - 59.2
ERA - 3.62
WHIP - 1.257
WAR - 0.4

Key Stat: HR/9 - 0.6. This was the key to any effectiveness he had in the middle innings. Do not allow the big blow (that's what she said). When a reliever gives up a HR, it is most likely a huge momentum swing, either narrowing his team's lead, or putting his team in a bigger hole. Todd avoided giving up home runs (only 4 on the season) and helped keep the Nats alive or ahead at a consistent rate. And when he did give up runs, he avoided crooked numbers, allowing more than 1 run in an appearance only 5 times in 69 games.

Best Game: May 13 against the Fish. A heartbreaking extra-innings loss. But Coffey managed to shine, retiring 7 of the 8 batter's he faced, while bridging the gap to the back end of the pen after a less than robust start from Tom Gorzelanny. (Special mention: Every other game he pitched in... the sprint to the mound is awesome!)

Worst Game: July 20th against the Astros, his only Loss of the year. Called on to pitch the 11th inning in a 2-2 game Todd gave up 3 hits over the course of 4 batters, allowing the Astros to walk off with a 3-2 win.

CapBall Grade: B-. It's hard to show real value as a middle reliever who doesn't close and rarely pitches in traditional set-up innings, but Todd Coffey provided a quality arm to bridge the gap to Clippard and Storen. He didn't have lights out stuff, but that's why he wasn't asked to close. He did what he was asked, and did it fairly well.

2012 Nats Status: Up in the air. If he languishes on the Free Agent market, I can see him returning on a team friendly 1-year deal. But all things considered, the Nats want to get younger and if a younger, more controllable option appears via trade or free agency, Coffey won't be back.

Trade Watch 2011: Todd Coffey

With this morning's post, we're going to discuss the man that has the best bullpen-to-mound trip in baseball: Todd Coffey.

Coffey, or Big Pot as FP likes to call him, seems to have fans everywhere he goes. People love to watch him take the 12-13 second run to the mount in non-crucial game situations. To start the season, it looked like Coffey was one of the better bullpen pickups by Mike Rizzo to replace some of the middle relief talent that the Nats lost in the off season. He finished the first half with a 3-0 record, a 3.28 ERA, and hitters had a .239 BAA when facing him.

Since the Break, though, Coffey hasn't looked so awesome in his appearances. He's 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA and a .438 BAA versus the 20 batters he's faced. Now, during that period, he was put in more "critical" game situations than we're used to, but he certainly doesn't look like the same pitcher that he looked like before. His slider is less devastating; his fastball is not located quite as well.

This tells us two things in regards to the trade deadline, and it's something that we talk about regularly offline. Mike Rizzo waits too long to pull the trigger sometimes. If Coffey had been traded earlier, when his value was at it's highest, the Nats would probably have gotten better prospects in return than with the current Coffey that's shown he may not be able to succeed in big game situations.

In the same token, it tells the organization that maybe the Nats actually can't rely on Coffey except for mop up roles or when down by 10 runs. There's value in that position, but those types of relievers are a dime-a-dozen. Why not trade Coffey for whatever prospects they can get, and bring up any other reliever from the minors that can fill the same roll for a lot less money?

Who are the contenders?: Diamondbacks, Reds, Rangers

What's the return?: Unless something crazy happens, low to mid level (AA and below) talent, probably. It may be similar to a Guzman for Tatusko and Roark type deal.

So, CapBallers, would you trade the sprints from the 'pen for some minor league prospects? Let us know in the comments!

25 in 25: Todd Coffey (#16)

In 10 days, all the Nationals diehards will be preparing to head to Nationals Park on Opening Day. Until then, we're going to predict the 25 man roster. With one catch. We're going to do it one day at a time. This way, we can provide more in depth thoughts on who we think is going to make the roster, why we think so, and what to expect from them in 2011. On the morning of Opening Day, we'll post the real 25-man compared with what we predicted.

Today's 25-man prospective is sprinting in from the bullpen as we speak, Todd Coffey.

Why? He has been there before. He has pitched in the high pressure situations and performed at a high level, something no other member of the Nats bullpen can currently say. Released after a down year in 2010, Coffey is just one year removed from a 2.90 ERA and a 7 K/9 average. His 1.6 WAR over his career is solid for a reliever.

What should you expect? You should expect a fan favorite. Who doesn't love seeing a 6' 4" 250 lbs. pitcher sprint in from the bullpen? I expect this year to be a bounce back year for the 31 year old reliever, as he suffered from a nasty thumb injury for several months last year. Depending on what happens with the 9th inning, Coffey could be called upon to close games as well, providing even more value. I think we could see Coffey return to a sub-3.00 ERA while keeping his 2010 K/9 ratio of 8+ K/9.