Singing the Praises of Justin Miller and Brandon Medders

Giants’ middle reliever Justin Miller was placed on the 60-Day Disabled List yesterday to open a space on the 40-man roster for Randy Johnson, who is ready to come off the 60-Day DL and pitch in relief.  Miller’s reported injury is elbow soreness, and reading between the lines of today’s reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle, it sounds like his elbow really is bothering him.

Miller had a great year for the Giants.  He pitched 56.2 innings over 44 appearances with a 3.18 ERA, which is pretty terrific for a guy at the bottom of your pitching roster.

The Giants invited both Miller and Brandon Medders to Spring Training after both were non-tendered by their previous teams (the Marlins and Astros, respectively) because they were arbitration eligible. Medders has been roughly as good as Miller this year, pitching 60.2 innings over 54 appearances with a 3.26 ERA.

Medders’ and Miller’s success at the bottom of the Giants’ bullpen has been huge for the Giants this year.  They’ve eaten up a lot of innings, which has kept the higher paid relievers fresh, and they’ve kept the Giants in ballgames all year long, even if the Giants’ offense has not often been able to take advantage of it.

Pursuing the best non-tendered middle relievers has quietly become a very important part of filling out bullpens throughout baseball.  Every year numerous talented middle relievers get non-tendered due to the amount of money their previous team would be forced to pay them if they are allowed to go through the arbitration process.

The teams that can effectively select the best of these non-tendered players can fill out their bullpens with quality arms at very affordable prices.  For example, both Miller and Medders have pitched as well for the Giants this year as Bob Howry; Miller’s and Medders’ combined salary this year was probably around $1 million, while the Giants are paying Howry $2.75 million this year.

San Francisco is a popular place to play among ballplayers, which gives the Giants a slight advantage over teams.  However, I suspect that an equally important part in snagging the best non-tendered arms is identifying the ones you like quickly and then giving those players the hard-sell.  Having been non-tendered, these players are likely willing to play anywhere they think they’ll get a real shot at making the major league roster, and a team that makes them feel wanted is going to have an advantage.

There is a great deal of luck involved, given that middle relievers tend to be inconsistent from year to year.  However, neither Miller nor Medders had a season this year that was especially out of line with their past performances (Medders is having his best all-around season this year, but one has to factor in that he had previously spent his career pitching his home games in Arizona, a much tougher place for pitchers than San Francisco).

It will be interesting to see whether the Giants resign either Miller or Medders for 2010.  Both signed so cheaply this year, that even $1 million contracts for 2010 would constitute substantial raises and still be relative bargains for the Giants, at least based on their 2009 performances.  Of course, they will again be eligible for arbitration, which means likely non-tender unless they sign 2010 contracts right away.