In today’s Braves vs. Mariners Rubber match, Jared Shuster will face off against George Kirby. If the Braves are going to take the series, they’ll have to find their bats and their balls. It’s a 1:35 ET start.
DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING! JUST NOT THAT!
Braves bullpen games aren’t working. While Brian Snitker doesn’t really have a choice since his rotation consists of 3 pitchers, Alex Anthopoulos does have a choice. The team has lost 6 of their last 9 and all three bullpen games during that span have resulted in L’s. While Michael Soroka, Dylan Dodd, or newly acquired Dereck Rodriguez might not be ready, it’s time to shift philosophy and get back to a 5-man rotation. The bullpen is in absolute shambles and while it might have 0 to do with bullpen games, shaking it up and trying to rid bad juju seems like the right move.
Could Some Bullpen Guys Be Stretched Out?
The bullpen is overcrowded and the rotation is thin. Dylan Lee went to the 15-day IL and Lucas Luetge was activated. A.J. Minter makes 2 lefties in the pen, and Danny Young, who’s been quite successful in the Braves bullpen this year, was sent back to AAA. When Lee is ready to come back, I think it would be in the Braves best interest to try and stretch him out for 5 inning stints and insert him into the rotation. The same can be said for Jesse Chavez. Both guys have looked strong when giving the team 2-3 innings and I have no doubt they could give the team 5.
If both Chavez and Lee entered the chat, that would give the team a bullpen of:
Low Leverage
- Michael Tonkin
- Lucas Luetge
- Kirby Yates
Swingmen
High Leverage
- A.J. Minter
- Nick Anderson
- Raisel Iglesias
While there’s not much confidence in this group right now, there’s a lot to like about these 8 in the long run, and there’s no reason why this group can’t be a top-10 bullpen by season’s end.
Braves Lineup
Hold ’em under, boys.
Got just what we needed from Shuster through 6. Great job.
Absolutely.
And well managed taking him our after 6.
Loved the appearance by Iglesias. He had an attitude, especially after getting behind 3 and 0 to the 1st batter.
How did Shuster look today? Can he do that again or was it smoke and mirrors?
He was good, though the Mariners are not known as an offensive juggernaut.
Shuster looked good. He doesn’t blow people away but he had good location and movement. Most importantly, he was in the strike zone. Economic with his pitches.
I am not sure I understand why people are fussing so much. I get that it’s frustrating to have these injuries and have to endure bullpen games but the Braves have given up the least runs in the NL and it’s not particularly close. The hitting is OK too. I find the biggest problem to be the defensive lapses and I’m not sure how to correct that (except to go back and re-sign Dansby). I really believe that Dansby improved the defense of those around him including Riley, Albies, LF, and even CF to a small extent. I think Arcia has done well for himself but he does not improve those around him.
At least for a while (assuming there are no other big injuries), I think we play through it exactly like AA and Snit are doing/have done. We can still expect D’Arnaud and Harris to round into form, Riley to improve, and the bullpen to stabilize. Maybe Ozuna and Arcia regress, but a lot of this team can and will do better. Compared to years past, this bullpen is stupendous or do you guys not remember Jesse Biddle, Sam Freeman, Chad Sobotka, Shane Carle, Robbie Erlin, Touki Toussaint, Jay Flaa, Ty Tice, Carl Edwards, Tommy Milone, etc…
I think the bullpen will be fine, but I’m not a fan of bullpen games becoming a regular occurrence until July (which I don’t think will actually happen). I do hope they let Chavez or Lee stretch out and keep one of them there until Fried comes back.
Yeah, I agree with Ryan there. I’d rather stretch out Lee, or bring Dodd back up to fill the rotation slot until Fried or Wright come back. I don’t want to rely on bullpen games. We are certainly testing our SP depth, and it is a bit thin, especially if Soroka isn’t deemed healthy / effective enough to start.
Good win today though. Nice to see Shuster throw strikes and get his first W.
I think Dodd gets the call Thursday. They had him on a pitch limit last night for a reason.
Who goes down or gets IL’ed to make room for him is anyone’s guess. I think the only relievers with options are Anderson (who isn’t going anywhere) or Minter.
Recap posted: