Whenever the topic of the Atlanta Braves' pitching staff comes up, manager Walt Weiss has repeatedly pointed out that he wishes the team could carry more relievers, and that he feels like he has had to lean on some key arms more than he would like. Unfortunately, the injury to Robert Suarez did not make that job any easier, and there is one bullpen arm that has seen his usage reach scary heights.
Losing a high-leverage arm like Suarez is never an easy void to fill. While the Braves have largely made it work thanks to Raisel Iglesias being mostly solid and a few bullpen arms stepping up, there is a finite number of trustworthy relievers on any given team, and Atlanta is down one of their best. Virtually any shuffling or replacements is going to yield worse results than if a guy like Suarez was healthy.
However, the Braves' bullpen has been largely thriving this year. Didier Fuentes' emergence has played a key role in that, of course, but Atlanta's best reliever this season has probably been Dylan Lee, and while Weiss' concerns over bullpen usage look overblown at first glance, there might be some cause for concern when it comes to the Braves' trusted lefty.
Braves bullpen isn't as overworked as Walt Weiss and others think...except for Dylan Lee
When you actually look at the numbers, the Braves' bullpen usage doesn't look abnormal at all. Atlanta relievers rank 17th in all of baseball with 491.1 innings and 23rd in appearances with 423. Given the narrative around the Braves, you would THINK that Atlanta would at least be in the top half of the league in both categories, but that just isn't the case.
That does not mean Atlanta shouldn't have any concerns, and Lee is the best example. Only Lee (with 63 appearances) has appeared more than 49 times, and second place (Tyler Kinley) isn't even on the team anymore. Iglesias got a bit of a "break" in the form of an IL stint earlier this season, but he has still made 48 appearances, with Fuentes' 47 right behind him.
Keeping an eye on Iglesias at his age may be a good idea, but Lee being tied for fifth in all of baseball in appearances isn't ideal, especially when there is no certainty as to whether or not Suarez will be able to return this season. On the plus side, Lee is only 30th in the league in innings and is generally pretty efficient, so his workload isn't as bad as others on a per-appearance basis.
Whether or not you think Lee (or any other Braves reliever for that matter), September roster expansion should be very helpful. You can fully expect Atlanta to add at least one more reliever, with Elieser Hernandez being the safe guess and Blake Burkhalter being the more exciting one, to their 40-man roster so that they are playoff eligible. In the meantime, however, it would be nice if the Braves could find a way to stay away from Lee for a few days.
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