The Achilles heel for this team is the bullpen

[Roy Firestone]

Always has been no matter what the stats may say(this year). In clutch situations, they just dont get the outs. Tonight that pen took a close game and well piiched effort and turned it into a blowout. Cano has been awful and I still dont trust Perez. Coulombe and Webb as reinforcements can help, but I dont think they are in mid season form, due to the long layoff.I would have Suarez and Povich in the pen and ditch Bowman, but this pen will likely be our undoing in the playoffs.

[LGOrioles]

Perez is way overused as a high leverage guy. He has a 4.60 ERA and is likely their worst LHP in the pen. He shouldn’t be used as their highest or second highest leverage lefty. 

But Akin has a 3.13 ERA. Cano 3.20 ERA. Coulombe 2.20 ERA. Webb 3.15 ERA. Dominguez 3.43 ERA (with the O’s). Soto 5.19 ERA with the O’s (3.80 FIP and 3.35 xFIP). Suarez is solid and is likely going to be in the pen in the playoffs. Is it a dominant pen? No. It’s probably about the same as last year heading into the playoffs. 5 or so guys that are good relievers but no true dominant guy you can count on. Last year it was Cano, Coulombe, Hall, and Wells.

They’ve looked fine the last week or two besides when they’re pitching to Judge and Soto. They need to figure out who is gonna face those two in the playoffs because Perez and Cano definitely aren’t it. 

[Uli2001]

In other news, water is wet. This was the issue last year, too, after Bautista got injured (and even before that). Elias doesn't get a pass here. He goes dumpster diving for relief pitching way too much. In today's game, if you don't have a competent BP you are cooked.

[sportsfan8703]

The Achilles heel for this team is the offense. It’s hard to cry about the pen when we scored 1 run.  I guess we were gonna win 1-0 or get to extra innings and win 2-1 in the 19th inning.

Just gotta be a realist some time.  We have a 90% homegrown lineup, and it’s been struggling since June.  So… blame the non homegrown talent. Aka the bullpen.

 

[ace20251]

well hopefully Hyde can choose the right relief pitcher and not just do the usual ,its only a 3 game series to start. mix it up,use a starter , do whatever it takes to advance

[survivedc]

52 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

The Achilles heel for this team is the offense. It’s hard to cry about the pen when we scored 1 run.  I guess we were gonna win 1-0 or get to extra innings and win 2-1 in the 19th inning.

Just gotta be a realist some time.  We have a 90% homegrown lineup, and it’s been struggling since June.  So… blame the non homegrown talent. Aka the bullpen.

 

Do you look at numbers before you post or nah?

[SilverRocket]

3 hours ago, Uli2001 said:

He goes dumpster diving for relief pitching way too much.

How often is a good bullpen built any other way?

The Guardians have the best bullpen and their key pieces are:

- Emmanuel Clase: acquired through the Corey Kluber trade before he had proven himself. He was never a top prospect: MLB had him as Cleveland's 21st best prospect in 2020, Fangraphs had him as their 15th best. https://www.mlb.com/prospects/2020/guardians/ https://blogs.fangraphs.com/top-46-prospects-cleveland-indians/

- Cade Smith: rookie with a 4.65 ERA in AAA last year. 1.94 ERA this year. Fangraphs had him as the team's 27th best prospect coming into the year.

- Hunter Gaddis: 4.50 ERA in MLB and 6.05 ERA in AAA last year. Converted to a reliever with a 1.59 ERA this year.

- Tim Herrin: 5.53 ERA last year. 1.95 ERA this year.

The Orioles had one of the best bullpens in 2022 and it was anchored by Jorge Lopez, Felix Bautista, Cionel Perez, all of whom you could count as dumpster diving.