Too much bullpen. 259 comments


Rangers reliever Ernesto Frieri watches a double off the wall that began his undoing in the eleventh inning of last night’s 7-5 loss to the Red Sox.

 

Watching the Rangers bullpen collapse night after night after night after night reminds me of that depressing movie, “Leaving Las Vegas,” where Nicolas Cage’s character drinks himself to death.

No matter what you do to try to stop him, he won’t. And even when you think maybe, just maybe, he has a change of heart, it’s short-lived.

When you count on the Rangers bullpen for 5.1 innings, you are counting on disaster. One inning, two innings tops. You might get lucky and find a winning combination that day. But the odds will catch up to you.

It was reported that Jonathan Lucroy is being shopped for bullpen help. Seems pretty unlikely. If a team has bullpen help that could actually make a significant difference, and they are willing to deal it, it means they are not in the playoff hunt, that they are in rebuild mode. Otherwise, why would they be winning to part with such a valuable piece? So then why would a team like that need a rental catcher?

And besides, didn’t Jon Daniels say, in trying to come up with some plausible excuse for why on earth he gave away so much talent for a catcher last year when this team desperately needed a starting pitcher, that acquiring Lucroy improved their pitching staff more than acquiring a quality starter because of how good he was at framing pitches and calling a game and improving a pitching staff?

So here we are, another mad scramble to find pitching help. Trying to find treasure among the trash. Trying to see if life can be squeezed out of the Ernesto Frieris and Jason Grillis of the world.

And watching the Rangers bullpen lose another game. Night after night after night after night. It’s enough to drive you to drinking.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

David Price (3-2, 4.61) vs. Yu Darvish (6-6, 3.11)
Game time: 7:05

How the Red Sox hit against Darvish.
How the Rangers hit against Price.