No easy fix for reeling bullpen
How do you fix a broken bullpen?
Many majorleague clubs are grappling with that dilemma this season in what has become something of a bullpen crisis in both leagues. It’s certainly a question that has been on the minds of the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans.
The latest embarrassment came Sunday in Phoenix when the Brewers’ relief corps melted down again, allowing five runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to turn a pitchers’ duel into an 11-1 throttling by the Diamondbacks.
Starting pitcher Chase Anderson took the loss in that game but he certainly didn’t deserve it. The mistake Anderson made was giving up one run over six innings in a duel with Arizona lefty Robbie Ray, who was a click better.
Manager Craig Counsell summoned struggling reliever Carlos Torres in the seventh inning with hopes of keeping it a one-run game but Torres allowed two home runs and combustible Neftali Feliz entered to surrender another in what became a five-run outburst.
Wily Peralta, whose transition from starter (6.08 ERA) to reliever (8.44) has not gone well, combined with Rob Scahill to allow five more runs in the eighth. Peralta exited with the bases loaded and two down, and Scahill quickly unloaded them when Paul Goldschmidt blasted a grand slam on his first pitch.
That meltdown left the Brewers’ bullpen with a 4.48 ERA, ranking 20th among the 30 clubs. The Brewers’ relief corps leads the majors with 18 losses, a reflection of how many games have gotten away in the late going.
Much of this carnage is likely related to heavy usage going back to the beginning of the season, when the starting rotation was failing to get deep into games on a regular basis. Milwaukee’s bullpen already has logged 231 innings, the secondmost in the majors.
Torres (33 appearances), Jacob Barnes (33) and Corey Knebel (32) all ranked in the top five in appearances in the National League this season, as of Monday. Torres, the oldest pitcher in the bullpen at 34, appears to be wearing down, allowing 16 hits and 10 earned runs over his last 6 1⁄3 innings (14.22 ERA).
Torres worked hard last season, leading the Brewers’ relief corps with 72 appearances and 82 1⁄3 innings, second most in the NL. After his latest poor outing against the Diamondbacks, he denied feeling tired, however.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I felt 100%. I didn’t throw (Saturday) and felt just fine. The appearances aren’t an issue. ‘Couns’ has done a tremendous job not getting guys up and down (in the bullpen without coming in). None of that was a factor.”
Whether Torres bounces back remains to be seen but because he has done good work in the past, don’t look for the Brewers to cut ties with him at this point. The same applies to Feliz, who pitched his way out of the closer’s role because he can’t keep the ball in the park (seven homers in 26 innings). He was the only reliever the Brewers spent any real money ($5.25 million) on over the winter, and teams generally don’t punt such contracts this early in the season.
There are some minor moves the Brewers can make in their relief corps but don’t look for wholesale changes at this point. Such moves just aren’t practical, no matter how rough things look.
“(Making changes) is certainly an option, but we’re limited there, for sure,” Counsell said after the Sunday debacle.
“We’ve certainly got more than one guy struggling right now. The only way for them to get on track is to pitch.”
The Brewers are in a bit of a trick box here because they weren’t in win-now mode at the start of their second full season in a large-scale rebuild. Accordingly, they didn’t build a veteran bullpen with the idea of going for it in 2017.
But, because the Brewers got off to a better start than expected and the rest of the NL Central has been unable to get going, the picture looks different than expected at this point. For better or worse, the Brewers are in first place with a 33-31 record while the other clubs struggle to get over .500.
And it’s not going to get any easier for the Brewers. After their scheduled off day Monday, they have a day-night doubleheader in St. Louis on Tuesday, with more innings to fill out of the bullpen.
You can’t change out a halfdozen relief pitchers at once, so either some of them have to start pitching better or the woes will continue.