For this part, we look at the bullpen.In this 4 part series, we will take an in depth look covering the infield, outfield, starting pitching, along with the bullpen. We will look at what last season held for each of these areas, along with what that means for the off-season and the future of the club.
I wish we didn’t have to even discuss it but the bullpen was bad. Really bad. 5.33 ERA and 15th in the FL bad. You look at the team’s pitchers and look at the individual pitchers WAR. The club had 11 pitchers with a negative WAR.
All 11 of them were relievers.
The most disappointing thing may be that David Rivas & Jose Canales who most figured would be reliable, were at the top of that list for the highest negative WAR. Canales had a -0.7 and Rivas was at -0.9.
Canales did manage 33 saves but had 12 loses on the year. Rivas, who is still only 23 years old just has not had the season yet where everything clicked. His advanced fielding metrics indicate the past 3 years his ERA should be in the 3’s and he finished with a 1.1 WAR in 2037, but his 6.29 FIP in 2038 baffled many. The biggest problem Rivas had was the inability to get out lefties as his .391 batting average and 1.157 OPS against lefties clearly shows.
What does the off-season hold and what does the 2039 bullpen look like?
Omaha has very little cap room this year but that cap room needs to be spent on a bullpen. The only guys who should be invited back are Rivas, Canales, Ken Spencer, and maybe Pavel Bure Jr. The rest should be given their walking papers.
So that is a bullpen of 4 people, 5 if you include Thomas Rodriguez which we probably should. Let’s say they give James Heath another look as well. That is 6 bullpen members and 5 rotation members. They should spend the money and go out and get 2 or 3 more relievers or at the very least 1 completely lock down reliever.
If Omaha is spending money this offseason at all or making moves, it should be to help their poor bullpen.
