As we start to postmortem this season there will be no shortage of shortcomings we’ll be able to highlight, but to me, nothing is more glaring than the performance of this bullpen.
Seen by national and local supposed knowers of ball including myself to be a strength of the club, and I went as far as to propose the bullpen’s excellence could help prop up the starting rotation that figured to be bottom of the league.
Wrong. Of course.
That’s not the issue as much as just how damn wrong.
Let’s not bury the lede, let’s show just how bad this pen has been in relation to the rest of the league.
The Pirates bullpen has lost 32 games, only 4 teams are worse.
Their ERA of 4.67 clocks in as the 4th worst in baseball.
They’ve had 67 Save opportunities and only managed to convert 38 of them. In fact, only 4 teams had more opportunities, while 12 have converted more chances.
That stat set right there is damning.
How about their 1.41 WHIP, good for 3rd worst in baseball. Opposing batting average sits at .252, 7th in baseball.
238 Walks has them 6th worst in baseball while Strikeouts sit at 546, 19th in the game.
We’re actually lucky it hasn’t been worse, with 54 homeruns give up there are only 5 teams who have given up fewer.
281 Earned runs, only 4 teams worse. Runs at 317, only 3 teams performed more poorly.
524 hits, only 8 teams gave up more.
The truth is, while there are gigantic glaring players who have performed in the past and didn’t this year, players who Derek Shelton could point to and feel good about were few and far between all season long.
Ask fans who the Pirates best reliever has been this year, you’ll probably get a bunch of Aroldis Chapman, well, he’s got a 4.11 ERA, he’s earned 9 saves and blown 5 with a WHIP of 1.42. His 92 K’s almost lap number two on the list but he’s also walked 39.
Colin Holderman has been shaky as hell recently, but his season numbers probably put him near the top of the performers list. 3.21 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, .226 AVG against and in his 5 save opportunities he’s blown every single one.
Kyle Nicolas was getting fans to chatter about making him the closer for a while there, he’s got a 1.50 WHIP, 3.95 ERA, a .249 average against and his walks to K 31/55 isn’t sustainable in any way.
Hunter Stratton is hurt, but he also spent much of the season optioned to AAA and when I look at his numbers, I have to ask, WHY? 1.17 WHIP, 3.58 ERA, 7 Walks to 33 K’s
Jalen Beeks hasn’t been here all that long, but in 23 games the league is hitting .293 off of him.
The two best might be Carmen Mlodzinski and Waiver claim Dennis Santana. Carmen has had 2 save opportunities and blew both, he’s posted a 1.18 WHIP, .226 Average against and a 3.83 ERA in 31 opportunities. Santana has been incredible, 1.02 WHIP, .214 Average, 2.75 ERA, 45 Ks vs 10 Walks.
How could I not mention David Bednar? 30 save opportunities, 23 converted, 7 blown. A 3-8 record, 1.46 WHIP, opponents hit .248 off him, he’s given up 9 homeruns, 26 walks, 55 K’s, 6.17 ERA.
I look at this pen and simply put, where was a manager to turn? I mean, looking at this you have to wonder if the failure of the collective made Chapman look a lot more respectable than he’s actually been. It could be that or it could be that Chapman is either unhittable or can’t get an out, he’s just unhittable a lot more often. His overall numbers aren’t reflective of what you or I as a fan expect when he’s in, but damn, we sure should know it’s possible he fails right?
A lot of these guys were expected to perform, a lot of these guys will be expected to perform next year too.
Luck is a thing of course, but when 90% of your bullpen probably shouldn’t be trusted in the 8th or 9th inning of any game against anyone in a season it’s more than just dumb luck.
They’ve been stubborn to keep players in roles they clearly weren’t performing in, but again, look at these numbers, who were they to turn to?
It sounds weird to suggest it could be worse like I did with the homerun numbers earlier, but there are only 10 teams who have asked their bullpen to throw fewer innings, imagine if the starters were even a touch less good.
I don’t have an answer.
I can honestly say though, next year I bet we see them try to return Holderman, Mlodzinski, Bednar (in some capacity), Santana, Stratton (when healthy), and Kyle Nicolas. Dauri Moreta should be back, Luis Ortiz might wind up back there, which would be good since he was one of their better relievers, not that I’d allow that to stop him from starting if he keeps performing there too. Johan Oviedo could factor in to this pen in some form next year too. Maybe Ashcraft comes up here in the pen.
They’re going to have to invest here. They spent on Chapman, they need to do it again, and maybe more than one.
Expecting a couple guys to bounce back is one thing, expecting 6 or 7 guys to bounce back is probably just dumb.
Historically bad.
ERA by year is maybe not the best way to look at it but it’s easy to digest.
2024 – 27th in baseball – 4.67
2023 – 19th in baseball – 4.27
2022 – 29th in baseball – 4.72
2021 – 23th in baseball – 4.55
2020 – 20th in baseball – 4.62
How about some historically bad Pirates teams.
1954 – 13th in baseball – 4.55 Only 16 teams existed, the team lost 101 games.
1985 – 20th in baseball – 3.94 Only 26 teams existed, the team lost 104 games and converted 29 of 29 save opportunities.
1952 – 13th in baseball – 4.15 Only 16 teams existed, the team lost 112 games.
Three of the Pirates historically worst teams and most of them weren’t nearly as inept as this 2024 club was in the bullpen.
Blame who you want, I think they managed it poorly, but I’m reasonable, there weren’t really a whole lot of forks in the road for a manager to take, the GM needed to be more proactive here, period.
