Phil Coke, Not the Real Thing?

So, Jim Leyland is not admitting it but with the ongoing  headaches caused by Jose Valverde it appears that the Tigers bullpen is going the closer-by-committee route.

Batters are hitting .500

According to the Detroit News, Valverde has been working with pitching coach Jeff Jones on mechanical issues .

"Part of it was his tempo was a little bit slow and we're trying to speed that up," Jones said. "When you get in a situation like he did where he had a couple of games in a row, it affects your confidence a little bit too.

"I think he's put it behind him and we're going to the World Series and he knows he's going to be a big part of that."

For Valverde, fixing his issues is about repetition and muscle memory to solidify his motion.

"It's my leg. My leg is a little slow and now it feels all right," Valverde said.

"It's timing and everything. I worked out for Jonesy in the last two days and everything's perfect right now."

The question is does Leyland buy it?

And if he doesn't, it seems that he will be turning to his left-handed specialist, Phil Coke who has 7.1 scoreless innings this postseason including two saves against the Yankees.

But there is evidence that Coke is not a credible alternative.

Let's look at the WHIP (Walks + Hits divided by Innings Pitched), a key determinant of the effectiveness of relievers, of the relievers with at least 50 appearances.

Here are the 15 best relievers with a WHIP under 1.00:

Rk	Player	WHIP	GR	Tm	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	Craig Kimbrel	0.654	63	ATL	56	42	62.2	27	7	7	14	116	1.01
2	Fernando Rodney	0.777	76	TBR	65	48	74.2	43	9	5	15	76	0.60
3	Jake McGee	0.795	69	TBR	13	0	55.1	33	13	12	11	73	1.95
4	Aroldis Chapman	0.809	68	CIN	52	38	71.2	35	13	12	23	122	1.51
5	Kenley Jansen	0.846	65	LAD	40	25	65.0	33	18	17	22	99	2.35
6	Sergio Romo	0.849	69	SFG	27	14	55.1	37	11	11	10	63	1.79
7	Casey Janssen	0.864	62	TOR	47	22	63.2	44	18	18	11	67	2.54
8	Jason Motte	0.917	67	STL	58	42	72.0	49	23	22	17	86	2.75
9	Jared Burton	0.919	64	MIN	12	5	62.0	41	21	15	16	55	2.18
10	Grant Balfour	0.924	75	OAK	34	24	74.2	41	21	21	28	72	2.53
11	Darren O'Day	0.940	69	BAL	10	0	67.0	49	17	17	14	69	2.28
12	Ryan Cook	0.941	71	OAK	23	14	73.1	42	18	17	27	80	2.09
13	Ernesto Frieri	0.985	67	TOT	51	23	66.0	35	20	17	30	98	2.32
14	Joel Peralta	0.985	76	TBR	9	2	67.0	49	28	27	17	84	3.63
15	Jon Rauch	0.988	73	NYM	22	4	57.2	45	28	23	12	42	3.59

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/23/2012.

Here are the 13 with a WHIP of 1.500 and above

Rk	Player	WHIP	GR	Tm	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	Mike Dunn	1.773	60	MIA	8	1	44.0	49	31	24	29	47	4.91
2	Rhiner Cruz	1.709	52	HOU	26	0	55.0	65	38	37	29	46	6.05
3	Manny Parra	1.653	62	MIL	8	0	58.2	62	39	33	35	61	5.06
4	Phil Coke	1.648	66	DET	11	1	54.0	71	28	24	18	51	4.00
5	Clay Hensley	1.579	60	SFG	14	3	50.2	50	30	26	30	42	4.62
6	Heath Bell	1.555	73	MIA	41	19	63.2	70	38	36	29	59	5.09
7	Carlos Marmol	1.536	61	CHC	47	20	55.1	40	24	21	45	72	3.42
8	Ryan Webb	1.525	65	MIA	21	0	60.1	72	30	27	20	44	4.03
9	Jonny Venters	1.517	66	ATL	12	0	58.2	61	23	21	28	69	3.22
10	Jose Veras	1.507	72	MIL	17	1	67.0	61	29	27	40	79	3.63
11	Jamey Wright	1.507	66	LAD	22	0	67.2	72	35	28	30	54	3.72
12	Logan Ondrusek	1.500	63	CIN	20	2	54.2	51	23	21	31	39	3.46
13	Lucas Luetge	1.500	63	SEA	16	2	40.2	37	20	18	24	38	3.98

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/23/2012.

You can see that Coke had the fourth worst WHIP of all relievers with at least 50 appearances and it's not because of lack of control.

Let's take a look at Coke's ever-increasing batting average against:

Year	G	PA	AB	R	H	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	12	52	50	1	8	2	14	.160	.192	.200	.392
2009	72	238	211	34	44	20	49	.209	.274	.393	.668
2010	74	279	244	29	67	26	53	.275	.350	.348	.699
2011	48	474	423	64	118	40	69	.279	.345	.383	.728
2012	66	245	219	28	71	18	51	.324	.375	.479	.854
5 Yrs	272	1288	1147	156	308	106	236	.269	.332	.388	.720
MLB Averages								.259	.326	.408	.734

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/23/2012.

It is not just an increasing batting average against that speaks to concerns about Coke, a quick look under-the-hood shows that the lefty struggles against right-handed batters.

Split	AB	R	H	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs RHB as LHP	101	20	40	10	21	.396	.446	.604	1.050
vs LHB as LHP	118	14	31	8	30	.263	.313	.373	.685

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/24/2012.

Of course, thus far in the postseason it's been different for Coke: overall batters are hitting .154 against him with lefties and righties each hitting .154 (2-for-14 with one walk). 

If that's the pitcher that faces the Giants, you can assume that Leyland will have a Coke and a smile.