Matt Herges

2013

There was no outlook written for Matt Herges.

2010

Herges joined the Rockies midseason as bullpen reinforcement. He dominated the competition while pitching in the minors, posting a 1.96 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 18.1 innings, earning him a spot start when Aaron Cook fell to injury. The Rockies' bottom part of their bullpen consisted of a lot of retread parts like Herges. He filed for free agency and will probably find work somewhere, perhaps with the Rockies again, but might have to sign another minor league deal to do it.

2009

Herges' walk, strikeout and home-run rates were all essentially the same in 2008 as they were the year before. His BABIP jumped from an unsustainable .213 to a fluky .347, taking his ERA with it. Relievers' numbers are simply too variable to be predicted outside of the performance of an elite few. Herges' projection above is realistic, but the error bars around it are very, very wide, and his end stat line is somewhat out of his control.

2008

The Rockies signed Herges to a minor league contract in 2007 and by midseason he was playing a vital middle-relief role. The 37-year-old Herges pitched 48.2 innings with an impressive 2.96 ERA and 1.007 WHIP. He re-signed with the Rockies in the offseason and will fill the same role, however he'll be 38 and a repeat performance is far from guaranteed.

2007

Herges got smacked around trying to be an elder statesman in the Marlins bullpen, and hopefully for Florida's sake the only lessons he passed along were how not to give up hits like him. He'll be lucky to find a spring NRI this offseason.

2006

How does one go from 23 saves for the Giants in 2004 to a spring NRI in 2006 if he's lucky? Check out those WHIPs for the last two years, even when he closed for the Giants. Herges is a long shot to close anywhere at Triple-A this season, much less the bigs.

2005

Midway through the 2004 season, Herges lost his closing job to Dustin Hermanson. In middle relief, he lost his confidence and struggled, falling into a pattern of sitting for long stretches. If he can regain his confidence and settle into a role as a set-up man, he could be worthy of fantasy attention, but with the Giants' offseason signing of Armando Benitez, Herges will see rare save opportunities in 2005, if any.

2004

Herges throws strikes and gets groundballs, and has been smart enough to spend most of his career in pitchers' parks. Most of his value is with ERA and WHIP, and he's not so dominant to be worth the risk. You want to get the next Matt Herges, not the last one.

2003

Was expected to battle for the closer's spot when the Expos traded Scott Strickland, but instead he lost a few precious miles per hour off his fastball and got smacked around (80 hits, 10 HR in 65 innings). His future success probably depends on finding that heat again, but with Herges at 33, don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen.