House That Hank Built
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Atlanta Braves 2019 New Year’s Resolutions

By Jake Mastroianni

ATLANTA, GA. - MAY 28: Sean Newcomb #15 (blue shirt), Tyler Flowers #25, Freddie Freeman #5, Ozzie Albies #1, and Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves wait at home plate for Charlie Culberson (not pictured) after he hit a walk-off two run pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning during game one of a doubleheader against the New York Mets at SunTrust Field on May 28, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. MLB players across the league are wearing special uniforms to commemorate Memorial Day. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA. - MAY 28: Sean Newcomb #15 (blue shirt), Tyler Flowers #25, Freddie Freeman #5, Ozzie Albies #1, and Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves wait at home plate for Charlie Culberson (not pictured) after he hit a walk-off two run pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning during game one of a doubleheader against the New York Mets at SunTrust Field on May 28, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. MLB players across the league are wearing special uniforms to commemorate Memorial Day. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 07: A.J. Minter #33 of the Atlanta Braves pitches in the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game Three of the National League Division Series at SunTrust Park on October 7, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 07: A.J. Minter #33 of the Atlanta Braves pitches in the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game Three of the National League Division Series at SunTrust Park on October 7, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

3. Save My Heart

I’ll be honest, there were a lot of games last year where I paused the game and then went back and fast-forwarded through innings where our bullpen was pitching.

I could not take the heart-ache that our bullpen constantly put us through last year. A lot of times there were able to get out it, but they sure made things interesting.

Overall, the bullpen finished 10th in the NL with an ERA of 4.15. That not exactly where you want to be as a contending team. You’d like to see that number get under 4.00 in 2019.

Surprisingly enough, the Braves bullpen worked the sixth fewest innings in the NL last year despite having a young rotation.

Dan Winkler, A.J. Minter, Sam Freeman, and Jesse Biddle all had 60 or more appearances. I’ll be OK if I never see Sam Freeman pitch in a Braves uniform again. Shane Carle also had a big year out of the bullpen throwing 63 innings.

All of those guys – except Freeman – had an ERA of 3.43 or lower, which is perfectly fine for a bullpen.

But at times, all of them became unreliable. It’s common for a reliever to have a blip every now and then, but the Braves bullpen seem to have multiple stinkers in a row.

Or at the very least, it felt that way because of the guys they were putting on base. The Braves bullpen had a .333 on-base percentage against — that’s not very good. Only the Mets, Cardinals, and Marlins were worse in 2018.

The Atlanta Braves need to find guys in the back of the bullpen that can come in and consistently go three-up-and-three-down to save my heart.

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