Pat Andriola: Don’t underrate Robert Manuel

Pat Andriola is a writer for the Hardball Times as well as being a Mets fan that has contributed to various Mets Web sites on the Internet.

Relievers, like closers, aren’t found. They’re made. And while it may have seen like one of those waiver claims made just for the sake of claiming someone, picking up Robert Manuel on November 20th was a move that Red Sox nation should be thrilled about. Although Manuel has thrown under five innings in the big leagues and will be turning 26 come July, he could be a valuable asset to the Red Sox pen.

Manuel, a big (6’3) right-hander, was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2005 by the New York Mets. As a twenty-one year old he pitched extremely well as a reliever and spot-starter in both Rookie and low-A ball, posting a 2.04 ERA in 61.2 innings combined (most in the Rookie league). What was most impressive was his outstanding 54:4 K:BB ratio. Those numbers stuck out, and in 2006 the Mets dealt Manuel to the Reds for left-hander Dave Williams. Manuel continued to pitch well, throwing 48 innings in A-ball while maintaining a 3.43 FIP, walking just .75 batters per nine innings.

In 2007, Manuel turned twenty-three years old, and it seemed like his age, skill set, and past performance meant he could jump to Double-A. Instead, the Reds had him throw 98.1 innings in High-A Sarasota, where he once again dominated. He walked just 2 batters per nine and started eleven of his thirty-three games. His FIP was 2.47, and his K:BB ratio of 93:22 was great once again.

Manuel would stop starting games entirely after 2007. In ’08 he once again started in Sarasota as a twenty-four year old, but after just over seven innings was finally brought up to Double-A. It was there, for Chattanooga, that Manuel would have his best professional season to date, striking out 92 batters in 77 innings while walking just fifteen. His FIP stood at 1.85 and he held a crazy low 1.40 ERA. Robert Manuel was doing something right.

In 2009, the Reds didn’t decide to bring Manuel to the big club. Instead, they sat him in Triple-A, where he unsurprisingly owned hitters once again. In 46.2 innings he struck out 38 and walked 10 (a bit of an increase) for a FIP of 2.90. Manuel saw roughly four innings of MLB time in early to mid July before being sent off to the Mariners for Wladimir Balentien, a player who had 122 minor league homes under his belt by age twenty-three but had fallen out of favor in Seattle. J.J. Cooper of Baseball America wrote the following about Manuel upon being dealt:

Manuel’s success seems to come from the late life on his fastball. It seems to jump away from opponents’ bats. He has a compact delivery that allows him to hide the ball which adds to his deception. He also throws a slider and a changeup, but neither is a plus offering…

When scouts and players see Manuel throw, they don’t have a good explanation of why he’s effective, but he has shown that he can get batters out at the upper levels of the minor leagues. He doesn’t profile as more than a handy righthander to have in the pen, but he has a chance to fill that role inexpensively for the next couple of years.

And so Cooper summed up Manuel extremely well. He was a pitcher who had done nothing but succeed in the minors and would be stuck in a bullpen somewhere, probably to continue said success. However, after throwing nineteen more innings for Seattle’s Triple-A club before the year ended, Manuel was inexplicably put on waivers this off-season and claimed by the Sox a few weeks ago.

Is Manuel the next coming of Papelbon? No. His stuff probably isn’t good enough to make him a lights out force out of the pen in the big leagues. However, as long as he’s able to get strikeouts and avoid walks, Sox fans should be wary to overlook this guy, and instead be anxious to give Theo a nice pat on the back for this one. He deserves it.