The bullpen has fallen apart

[eddie83]

Bingo. Britton, Brach, Givens and Worley are fine, and O'Day is when healthy. The 6th and 7th spots have been killing us, and it doesn't help when our starters exit early and force Buck to use those guys. They've been giving us no chance to mount a comeback, something we did with some regularity in the first half of the season.

I can only hope that when rosters expand, Buck will find ways to mix and match guys in shorter outings and give us some chance to keep games within reach.

I know Worley is on your list above, but his numbers are a bit inflated by his last outing when he pitched on 2 days' rest after a 3-inning outing in which he pitched very well. He's done enough prior to August that I don't consider him part of the problem.

I wonder if Worley was upset he was taken out of rotation. Not an excuse, just curious.

[eddie83]

It's more than that. With a 25 man roster and a 40 man limitation on contracts, any organization is subject to depth issues. You could say there was a lack of SP depth in the organization which lead to starters not going 6+ innings, which lead to signings like Gallardo and the Miley trade. But you can't argue that this team doesn't have enough bullpen depth in the minors. It's much deeper than that.

Ubaldo has handcuffed them. That hasn't helped.

[eddie83]

And Ubaldo gave us the best outing in weeks two nights ago. Im not saying he hasnt stunk, he has, but its Ubaldo is just one of many issues plaguing this staff.He'll get to pitch vs the Jays next week. We have no other alternatives.

Miley scheduled as well. Not a good matchup.

[LookitsPuck]

Miley scheduled as well. Not a good matchup.

And Gallardo. That's going to be brutal.

[crawjo]

What do you do with Ubaldo? Keep him as a bullpen ornament or replace him with an actual pitcher? They will keep him and if he is anything less than absolutely horrific next spring, he will be in the rotation, imho.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

He will not be in the rotation unless he earns it or one of the five pitchers I already named (Tillman, Bundy, Gausman, Miley, Gallardo) is hurt. If you think Jimenez will be in the rotation, then which of those five will not be?

I think there's a good chance he will get cut early next year if he's not pitching well. It will be the last year of his contract and it will be easier for the front office to swallow.

[crawjo]

That rotation is enough to lose sleep over. Tillman has maxed out this year. Gausman needs to make another leap forward. If he doesn't ... Same for Bundy though he looks better than G. 2 trash men to finish out the rotation. The pen will be fried by July again. The lack of any type of MiL system has doomed the team. You can't compete in the AL east without a strong one. It seems like the time to blow it all up since it wasn't done last year. Now' date=' tear me to pieces.[/quote']

I don't know what you mean by "Tillman has maxed out this year." I think that Bundy will probably be better with a healty offseason and a regular spring training. I think Gallardo can be useful if healthy. I think Miley is much better than Jimenez, even though he is mediocre. Remember that the starting rotation at the beginning of this season was Tillman, Gallardo, Jimenez, Wilson and Wright. The one I named above is better than that rotation, much better.

[LookitsPuck]

A lot of ifs.

[o'sfansince1970]

Tillman has been a stud this year. The odds that he reach that level again next year is questionable. I do like Bundy and hopefully he'll be 100%. I worry about Gausman getting over the hump. Ubaldo was a controversial pick up at that time. 1/2 a season of success. His ceiling is far above Miley and Gallardo, if he can keep it together. Those 2 would never have been picked up if not for the pitiful farm. They're bad now and they'll be bad next year.

[wildcard]

Dan still has a few levers to pull in trying to help the pen. Drake, Duensing, Rodriguez and Aquino. I'll be interested to see if they are better than what we have seen lately.

[MikeAD]

Its hard to have an effective bullpen when the starters don't go very deep into games and when they manage to (Ubaldo the other night) we put up a big fat zero offensively. It was easier to overlook when we were scoring runs but right now we are overmatched on both sides of the game.

[Jagwar]

Bingo. Britton, Brach, Givens and Worley are fine, and O'Day is when healthy. The 6th and 7th spots have been killing us, and it doesn't help when our starters exit early and force Buck to use those guys. They've been giving us no chance to mount a comeback, something we did with some regularity in the first half of the season.

I can only hope that when rosters expand, Buck will find ways to mix and match guys in shorter outings and give us some chance to keep games within reach.

I know Worley is on your list above, but his numbers are a bit inflated by his last outing when he pitched on 2 days' rest after a 3-inning outing in which he pitched very well. He's done enough prior to August that I don't consider him part of the problem.

Don't forget that earlier in the season, Bundy was the long man. When he moved into the rotation, it weakened the bullpen's ability to keep opponents from adding to a lead.

[SteveA]

Don't forget that earlier in the season, Bundy was the long man. When he moved into the rotation, it weakened the bullpen's ability to keep opponents from adding to a lead.

I do think Worley has been underused. I think he could have filled that role more than he did.