Atlanta Braves: Things We’ve Already Learned in 2015

Jun 2, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell talks on the dugout phone with the bullpen against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Bullpens Matter

Not only this, but bullpen roles matter as well.

The departure of Craig Kimbrel via trade did indeed upset the roles that had been established during Spring Training (memo to Braves = making a major trade hours before the season starts is not a great idea… regardless of the magnitude).  Injuries to Shae Simmons and Josh Outman further mangled the natural order of things.

Players were forced into roles that they were not necessarily expecting or perhaps not ready for.  Starters Cody Martin, Eric Stults, Trevor Cahill, and Sugar Ray Marimon found themselves in a major league bullpen.

Others with iffy control issues (Arodys Vizcaino, Juan Jaime) were pressed into service… but exited for both performance and performance-enhancing reasons.  Some pitchers were over-used early out of necessity (Brandon Cunniff) and perhaps were thrown out of sync for a time.

We’ve found that there are pitchers suited for putting out fires and pitchers suited for starting at the beginning of a clean inning.  But for certain, we found that strike-throwing matters a lot.

While there were times in which these professionals exhibited professional-caliber efforts, it was like juggling chainsaws while walking a tightrope.  Sooner or later,something was going to fall – taking the rest with it.

The Braves bullpen had the 3rd-worst ERA in baseball for both April and May.  In recent days however, the shuttle service between Atlanta and Gwinnett has switched to serving position players rather than relief pitchers.  The bullpen is now 20th best and climbing – 10th best in the past two weeks.

Why the change?

All of the above.  The starting pitchers are gone.  Veteran relievers now dominate the bullpen. Starting pitchers have gone deeper into games in recent days, allowing the pressure on the bullpen to be relaxed significantly (9th fewest innings pitched in past 2 weeks – despite the extra innings last night).  Bullpen walks are still a problem, but the ball is mostly being kept in the park, too.

Is the bullpen now a lot better?  No, but they now are keeping the team in games that were being blown up with crooked numbers.  This comes from having some veteran stability, better role definitions, and better rest.

That could be sufficient for now… and several new additional options are soon to be available at Gwinnett to fill in holes as may be necessary – and none of those would be ’emergency fillers’, either.

Next: Veteran 'Presents'