Struggling Bullpen may lead to long season for Athletics
With the recent downward surge of the A’s into the cellar of the American League West, you can point blame at every aspect of the team. The struggling offense has yet to pull of a string of hits to get any sort of offensive rally, while the starting pitching has allowed opposing teams to get monstrous offensive innings and never look back.Face it, the A’s are so far out of each game the opposing team’s closer can’t even qualify for a save, when ending a game.
But, you tend to think the offense will return to form as they have done to start the season, and the starting pitching will live up to they hype, but what about the bullpen?
Virtually every member of the over-crowded bullpen, excluding Koch and Bradford have struggled and this is causing panic to some A’s. The struggle is beyond sending a reliever back to the minors or bringing up a young arm.
If your entire bullpen is struggling, what can you do? What makes A’s fans think they will turn it around?
The culprits: Jim Mecir, who hasn’t been the same since his 2000 stellar performance down the stretch, and Jeff Tam, who is being hit hard by virtually ever hitter and is sporting an ERA over 6.
The combined lefty team of Venafro, Magnante and Holtz have had Jekyle and Hyde seasons, while Billy Koch isn’t able to close a game and get a save because of a lack of opportunities.
The season started rather funky as the complaints from the over crowded bullpen started filtering into the A’s clubhouse about not getting enough work in.
The middle-relievers aren’t holding leads, and certainly aren’t keeping the A’s offense within striking distance of an opposing team’s lead. All of this adds up to a frustrated and puzzled Art Howe and an underachieving A’s team, now sporting the cellar in the A’L West.
But, as Billy Beane put it, “The lack of opportunities is no excuse for the lack of production.”
The bullpen collapse has been a constant throughout the season, unlike the spurts of offense and some elite pitching performances by the starters.
Bad Chemistry? Age? Not enough work for the relievers? Poor defense? You can explore many reasons of the recent middle relief struggles, but you must agree, the A’s will remain in the loss column more times than not, if the pen doesn’t wake up.
0 comments
My feeling differs in this respect: The starting pitching sets the tone for the game, it has been extremely poor over the last two weeks. You can’t blame the losses on the pen when they are asked to keep the game close so an anemic offense can catch up every night. I’d like to see some doubles, triples, and more hitting in general, instead of the walks and scattered home runs. Carlos Pena should be in Sacramento learning how to hit a fastball, the A’s should bring up Esteban German and give him a shot at second base.
Thanks for provoking these thoughts, Dale.
Thanks for the feedback Marty. My perspective is that the Bullpen has been ineffective virtually the entire season. The hitting will probably come around, especially when Justic returns, and the pitching will come around, I just haven’t received any evidence that the bullpen will come around and can do the job when holding a one, two or three run lead in late innings. If the A’s are to get back in the race, a decent bullpen is needed.
You must log in to post a comment.