Sox pen not the mightiest
If Red Sox have one weak spot it’s in relief corps
At least until the 2016 Cleveland Indians came along, the 2014-15 Kansas City Royals were widely considered the best bullpen of recent vintage. A model of power, depth and functionality, this collection of arms - headed by late-inning monsters Greg Holland, Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera - propelled the Royals to back-to-back American League pennants and the 2015 World Series title. In 31 games over those two postseasons, the Royals blew a lead in the seventh inning or later just once.
But what has happened since then is both a cautionary tale and an acknowledgment of the volatile nature of relievers as commodities.
Holland, the Royals' primary closer both years, didn't make it to the end of 2015, his season cut short by an elbow injury that ultimately required surgery and forced him to miss all of 2016. He was released after that season, and in January signed a one-year deal with the Rockies.
Davis, the setup man who ascended to closer in Holland's absence and was brilliant in the 2015 postseason, made two trips to the disabled list in 2016 and was traded this offseason to the Chicago Cubs, where he is expected to close.
Herrera, on the other hand, has only gotten better, lowering his WHIP and raising his strikeout rate in both 2015 and 2016. He is expected to be the Royals' closer this season.
As you peruse this list of the five best bullpens in baseball in 2017, bear in mind how difficult it is to construct a great bullpen and how fleeting success can be.
- Houston Astros. Perhaps it is a surprise to see the Astros on this list, but they led MLB last year in bullpen WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and FIP (fielding-independent pitching), while posting both the highest strikeout rate (27.4 percent) and lowest walk rate (6.8 percent) in the majors.
And nearly their entire bullpen returns for 2017, headed by hardthrowing closer Ken Giles, who ranked sixth among all relievers in 2016 with 13.98 strikeouts per nine innings. The Astros' front office should put on a master class in assembling a great bullpen and charge admission - only one of their top eight projected relievers this season was originally drafted or signed by the organization. Everyone else, including Giles and top setup men Luke Gregerson, Will Harris and Chris Devenski, came in a trade or as a free agent or waiver claim.
- New York Yankees. It may not be the deepest group, because the Yankees have all of a sudden gotten thrifty when it comes to filling out their roster, but the pairing of closer Aroldis Chapman - signed to a record $86 million contract this winter - and setup man Dellin Betances is the best such duo in the game. (And to think, in the first half of 2016, they had Andrew Miller, too.) Throw in veteran Tyler Clippard, who will be the primary seventh-inning option, and the Yankees have the ability to lock down lateinning leads as well as any team in the majors.
- Los Angeles Dodgers. Losing closer Kenley Jansen would have bumped them clear off this list, but the Dodgers brought him back with an $80 million contract, ensuring this group will remain among the elite bullpens in the game. The Dodgers lost stalwarts Joe Blanton and J.P. Howell this offseason, but fastrising Pedro Baez and Adam Liberatore probably would have bumped them down the depth chart anyway. And by prying veteran Sergio Romo from the rival Giants, the Dodgers added some necessary depth as well.
- Cleveland Indians. The Indians lost virtually no one from the group that famously carried them to the World Series last year - the exception being Jeff Manship, who appeared in only three postseason games - and added a significant piece in veteran lefty Boone Logan, who has posted a strikeout rate of 11 or more per nine innings in five straight seasons. Any bullpen that deploys Miller, the best, most versatile reliever in the game, is going to rate highly. But in Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, Dan Otero and others, the Indians have not only quality, but depth.
- Baltimore Orioles. It is the fleeting nature of bullpen success in general that makes the Orioles so remarkable. For half a decade now, they have managed to rank as one of the game's best. Zach Britton is coming off arguably the greatest relief season in history (0.54 ERA, .430 opponents' on-baseplus-slugging percentage), despite throwing almost exclusively sinkers. Top setup men Darren O'Day and Brad Brach are both recent all-stars, and secret weapon Mychal Givens had a higher strikeout rate in 2016 (11.6 per nine innings) than any of them. And notwithstanding the mystifying avoidance of Britton in last year's wild-card game loss to the Blue Jays - which has proved to be a difficult thing for Orioles fans to get over - Buck Showalter is one of the best in the game at running a bullpen.