BULLPEN BLUES
Jays relievers cough up lead as Orioles close the gap in wild-card race.
The Blue Jays blew another save Wednesday, losing a two-run lead behind their primary setup man, Jason Grilli, and closer, Roberto Osuna, each yielding a key home run and allowing the Orioles back into the wild-card race.
The Jays were an inning away from crushing Baltimore’s jugular, leaving them gasping for post-season air. Instead, the Jays’ lead is back to one, with the Tigers burning bright.
There are still major concerns for manager John Gibbons if he’s looking to lead this club deep into October. The bullpen that had been such a strength much of the past three months is showing huge question marks. Joaquin Benoit, the seventh-inning man, is gone for the foreseeable future. Grilli, the eighthinning man, has struggled recently, but at 39 years old might be expected to make necessary adjustments to get people out.
Osuna, the closer, has showed signs of hitting a wall, a 21-year-old adjusting for the second straight year to a sevenmonth season. Meanwhile, Rule 5 rookie Joe Biagini has never pitched into a sixth month in any previous pro season. He will be asked to work significant innings in October.
As for the rest of the ’pen, as playoff teams go back to a regular 25-man roster, right-hander Scott Feldman has not been asked by the manager to pitch in a high leverage situation in weeks and has made just one appearance in the past 15 days. The good news for Gibbons is that veteran left-hander Brett Cecil seems to be returning to the form that made him so valuable in late innings a year ago.
That leaves three bullpen spots, one of which will be filled by the Jays starter that is dropped from the playoff rotation, likely Wednesday’s quality starter, lefthander Francisco Liriano. His could be a very significant presence out of the bullpen.
From this moment until the end of the Jays’ run — whenever that turns out to be — the only sure things about the starting outfield will be Kevin Pillar in centre, and if Jose Bautista is not the right fielder he will DH.
Sprinkle in Ezequiel Carrera, Michael Saunders and Melvin Upton Jr. all hoping for playing time. Those three will find time in what Gibbons views favourable pitcher-hitter matchups, or hunches, of which he has many.
Among the three supplemental outfielders, Carrera is the flavour of the day. Since filling in at the top of the batting order for the injured Devon Travis, the 29-year-old Venezuelan has four hits in seven at-bats (.571) with three runs, two RBIs and a walk. The Jays are 36-29 with Carrera in the starting lineup.
“He’s had a great year,” Gibbons said. “Filled in the first go-round when Bautista went down. He performed better than any of us expected. He’s been a big spark for us. He’s one of those guys, he’s taken that role, he likes the role and he’s capitalized on it. A lot of those guys get those opportunities and they don’t take advantage of it. He’s taken advantage of it. He was good for us last year as well.”
In his two seasons with the Jays, Carrera’s performance has showed short bursts of playing time is better rather than considering him for the everyday role in one of the corner outfield posts. The more he has played consecutive games the less effective he has become. But as long as young second baseman Travis is out of the lineup, with a reoccurrence of his left shoulder pain, Carrera is the best option at leadoff.
In fact, Carrera brings many of the same assets to leadoff that last year’s first hitter, Ben Revere, did in the season’s final two months. And with Travis temporarily out of the equation, giving way as he has to an unofficial Ryan Goins-Darwin Barney platoon, all of a sudden this is the best defence the 2016 Jays can field. Useful?
The other difference in October 2015 was that Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak shared first base while Edwin Encarnacion served as the primary DH. That meant Bautista played the outfield every day. But with no Colabello and with Smoak having a down season offensively, Encarnacion plays first. That means more DH time in the playoffs for Bautista, if they manage to advance past or even get to the wild-card game. That would leave Saunders and Upton Jr. in another predictable platoon for the third outfield spot.
With Pillar in the starting lineup, the Jays are 76-63; with Bautista they are 59-51. With Saunders starting the club is 70-59 and with Upton they are 21-18. Of course, once Travis is healthy enough, he will resume his second base position.
Meanwhile, the optimist says these are good problems to have for any team. It means you’re playing for something significant, and that’s what it’s all about.