REBUILT BULLPEN PLAYING KEY ROLE FOR BLUE JAYS
Relievers carrying the load with Toronto reeling off the wins since the all-star break
Vladdy Guerrero probably isn't seeing his pitch of choice quite as often these days. For the longest time, his bat has carried his ball club.
But that's no longer quite as necessary.
Since the all-star break and what turned out to be a very busy trade deadline, the Blue Jays' pitching has done some catching up.
Guerrero is still hitting bombs, of course. But since July he's hitting a closer to the league average .256.
Manager Charlie Montoyo flipped him in the lineup with Marcus Semien on Wednesday night in Anaheim, hoping he would have a few more baserunners on in front of him and maybe that would get him recharged. But Montoyo isn't about to complain about the production he's got from his first baseman to date.
Going into the break, the Jays' pitching staff sat 12th in the majors in pitching with a team ERA of 3.99.
In the 25 games since the break, Jays pitchers have jumped six spots and now sit sixth in the majors in overall pitching performance.
Obviously there have been a few key additions, starting with the addition of Jose Berrios.
But it hasn't just been the starters, though they have more than held their own.
The bullpen, the blight of the early part of the season and a group that's still banged up with injuries, has found some consistency thanks to some key additions this past month.
Trevor Richards showed some of that on Tuesday night, coming out of the pen and giving Montoyo two big innings when starter Ross Stripling had to be removed early due to an oblique strain that has landed him on the injured list and will cost him at the minimum one start going forward.
Richards stepped in and was followed to the mound by Adam Cimber for two more scoreless innings, earning the Jays a split in the doubleheader after a loss in the opener.
Cimber and Richards were unavailable on Wednesday night, but that's two of the more important arms the Jays have brought in over the past month to bolster an ailing and oftentimes ineffective bullpen.
Cimber arrived June 29 as part of the Corey Dickerson trade with Miami.
Richards came aboard just over a week later in the deal with Milwaukee for Rowdy Tellez.
Both have been sharp since their arrival, giving Montoyo a level of confidence in his bullpen that perhaps wasn't there earlier in the year.
For Montoyo, the new arrivals in the bullpen — which also include Joakim Soria and Brad Hand, both injured at the moment — have righted the ship down in the pen and developed a good chemistry among the relievers that's vital to success.
“They never know when they will take the ball, but when you have good guys, you're going to have great chemistry,” Montoyo said. “Otherwise people get upset. `Why am I not pitching a second inning here? Or a third? Or why am I pitching in the seventh inning?'
“But we don't have that,” Montoyo said. “We have guys, whenever you call on them, they are ready to pitch. That's what we got. Cimber, Richards — all of those guys will pitch at any time and that's great to have.”
It's been only a month with this re-made bullpen, but already that chemistry has developed.
“When you get good people the chemistry happens faster,” Montoyo said.
“We have good people. Not just good pitchers, but quality teammates and good people.”
As good as the pen has been of late, it stands to get a lot better when the likes of Soria and Tim Mayza, one of the more reliable relievers from the early going, get back from injury.
Montoyo is optimistic that both could be making their return when the Jays get to Washington next week.
“Him and Mayza are both on about the same schedule for return,” Montoyo said. “Washington maybe. We'll see.”
Richards, coming off his first win and his fifth consecutive scoreless appearance, says there's a groundswell of confidence in that pen right now.
“If you come in and have success, then everyone kind of feeds off each other,” Richards said of all the success the newcomers have had.
“I'm a firm believer that if one guy goes out there one night and does one thing, then the next night, a different guy is going to try to do better. It's an internal competition where we feed off each other and just keep rolling.”