sweet relief
Examining the art and agony of building a championship-caliber bullpen
Nov 12, 2024, 4:13 pm
The Astros have heavily invested in their bullpen in recent years. Composite Getty Image.
For a World Series that was supposed to feature an epic battle between sluggers Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, guys like Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver, Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda sure got a lot of face time.
This year's Fall Classic provided further proof that a great bullpen is essential in baseball, particularly in the postseason. It also has led to concerns from people ranging from superagent Scott Boras to players' association head Tony Clark that the sport is abusing arms.
Regardless, building a quality bullpen remains a challenge.
“You need so many arms over the course of the season, and in the postseason, it’s even more magnified,” Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian said. “Quality arms, quality strikes. But quantity is a big deal, too. Where do you get it?”
The bullpen is usually an afterthought for casual baseball fans, particularly middle relievers, who don't get the spotlight of the ninth inning. They toil in relative anonymity while getting tough outs in tough situations and are much like NFL offensive linemen — noticed only when something goes terribly wrong.
The Dodgers used Vesia, Banda and Michael Kopech in four out of the five games of the World Series while Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol appeared in three games. They combined to throw 15 1/3 innings — often in high-leverage situations — and gave up five runs.
That's a 2.93 ERA.
For a bunch of guys only serious seamheads know, that's not too shabby.
“I have a lot of good players, and they understand that it’s about getting 27 outs a night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It could be anyone at any given moment.”
Building a big league bullpen is intriguing because cost isn't really the prohibitive factor, making it arguably the most egalitarian position in a sport that doesn't have a salary cap. Banda ($740,000), Vesia ($1 million), Treinen ($1 million), Kopech ($3 million) and Graterol ($2.7 million) made pocket change compared with their teammate Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million, 10-year deal last offseason.
Instead, it comes down to scouting, development and sometimes dumb luck. It's sometimes more art than science.
“I wish we knew,” said Erik Neander, Tampa Bay's president of baseball operations. “We would have won more games last year.”
Boras is among those who aren’t pleased with the way relievers are being used. Clay Holmes pitched for the Yankees in all five games of the World Series and there’s little doubt that pitchers — particularly relievers — are being pushed to exhaustion in October.
“We have got to stop burning up our beautiful young arms by pitching them in a way, in a manner, that we would never do during the (regular) season,” Boras said Wednesday.
Over the past 10 years, the average fastball velocity has risen from 93.3 mph to 95.5 during the 2024 regular season. Injury rates also have skyrocketed, with 484 pitchers going on the injured list this year, nearly double the 2014 total.
Regardless of how GMs feel about bullpen usage, the injury explosion is one more reason that finding consistent relievers is a difficult task.
Using valuable young arms in the bullpen is risky, but pursuing veteran relievers in free agency is also a crapshoot. Take the case of Treinen, a 36-year-old who has had a career that typifies the ups and downs of being a reliever.
He was an All-Star in 2018 with the Oakland Athletics, with a microscopic 0.78 ERA and 100 strikeouts over 80 1/3 innings. The next year, he fell off drastically with a 4.91 ERA.
The Dodgers thought he could bounce back in 2020 and they were right — he had a solid season and helped lead LA to a World Series title. It went so well that the Dodgers signed him to a two-year deal after the season. He was great again in 2021 but suffered a serious shoulder injury and missed almost the entire 2022 season.
He signed an extension but missed the 2023 season with the same shoulder injury and didn't return until 2024, when he bounced back again with a 1.93 ERA and another championship.
Now Treinen is back on the market.
“You can look at it multiple ways,” said Minasian, who was speaking generally and not about Treinen. “You might say: 'Wow, he's taken the ball a ton. He's been used drastically over the last three, four years, so I'm not sure what it's going to look like going forward,' or it could be: ‘Hey, he’s held up. He pitches. He's been consistent and takes the ball.'”
Astros GM Dana Brown weighs in
The Houston Astros are a team that's had a great bullpen over the last several years with pitchers like Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly. General manager Dana Brown said there's always volatility in the bullpen, but that's not all due to injuries.
“It's just the game today,” Brown said. “You have all this information, and sometimes the hitters, they study you. The film — they look at it. They find your weak spots and try to exploit you.”
Brown said one quality he likes in relievers is a sense of humility, understanding that they might have to change their strategy on the mound as their body deals with a long career.
“The guys who don't have a teachable spirit, or the aptitude, they sometimes get lost in the sauce,” Brown said.
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Miami (6-7) at Houston (8-5)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS
BetMGM Odds: Texans by 3.
Against the spread: Dolphins 5-8; Texans 5-6-2.
Series record: Texans lead 8-3.
Last meeting: Dolphins beat Texans 30-15, on Nov. 27, 2022, in Miami.
Last week: Dolphins beat Jets 32-26 in OT; Texans were off, beat Jaguars 23-20 on Dec. 1.
Dolphins offense: overall (19), rush (24), pass (14), scoring (23).
Dolphins defense: overall (9), rush (7), pass (11), scoring (T14).
Texans offense: overall (18), rush (16), pass (17), scoring (11).
Texans defense: overall (5), rush (10), pass (7), scoring (T12).
Turnover differential: Dolphins minus-2; Texans plus-10.
Dolphins player to watch
QB Tua Tagovailoa, who has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL at throwing with anticipation and accuracy since he returned from a concussion in Week 8. Tagovailoa leads the NFL with a 73.8% completion rate and threw for 300 yards for the third straight game last week vs. the Jets. Tagovailoa is the first player in NFL history to have at least 40 pass attempts, multiple touchdown passes and no interceptions in three consecutive games within a single season.
Texans player to watch
QB C.J. Stroud has thrown for at least 225 yards in each of his six home games this season and is 11-4 in 15 starts in Houston, including the playoffs. He has thrown for 3,117 yards with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions this season.
Key matchup
Houston RB Joe Mixon vs. Miami’s run defense. Mixon ran for 101 yards in Houston’s previous game for his seventh 100-yard game this season. He ranks third in the NFL by averaging 88.7 yards rushing a game. This week he’ll face a run defense that ranks seventh in the NFL by holding teams to 105.6 yards a game.
Key injuries
Miami LT Terron Armstead is dealing with a knee injury that limited him to just five snaps last week. He did not practice Wednesday… LBs Bradley Chubb (knee) and Cameron Goode (knee) could make their season debut, depending on how this week of practice goes, coach Mike McDaniel said. … WRs Tyreek Hill (wrist) and Jaylen Waddle (hamstring), RB Raheem Mostert (hip), and LB Anthony Walker Jr. (hamstring) were among those limited in practice Wednesday. … Houston S Jalen Pitre is expected to miss a second straight game with a shoulder injury. … DE Denico Autry was limited in practice Wednesday because of a knee injury.
Series notes
Houston won the first seven meetings in this series. … Miami didn’t get its first win against the Texans until a 44-26 victory in 2015. … The Dolphins have won the past two meetings. … These teams first met in the season opener in 2003 when Houston got a 21-20 win on a late field goal.
Stats and stuff
Three of Miami’s final four games of the season are on the road. … K Jason Sanders needs 13 points Sunday to reach 800. He also needs one field goal to reach 177, which would give him the second-most field goals made in franchise history. … TE Jonnu Smith needs 100 yards receiving to reach 792 and set a franchise record for most yards receiving by a tight end in a single season. Smith had three catches for 44 yards, including the game-winning TD vs. the Jets last week after having no receptions during regulation. … Tagovailoa needs a completion rate of 70% or better on Sunday to reach eight consecutive games completing at least 70% of his passes. That would tie him with Joe Montana (1989) and Drew Brees (2017-18) for the longest streak in NFL history. … The Dolphins gave up a season-high 402 yards to the Jets last week. Aaron Rodgers burned Miami’s pass defense for 319 yards, and Miami’s secondary allowed a combined 223 yards by Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams. … Houston can clinch the AFC South title for the second straight year with a win and a loss by Indianapolis Sunday. … The Texans rank second in the NFL with 84 tackles for loss. … Their 42 sacks also rank second. … WR Nico Collins had eight receptions for 119 yards for his fourth 100-yard game this season in Houston’s previous game. He has had at least 75 yards receiving and a TD reception in each of his four home games this season. … TE Dalton Schultz had five receptions for 61 yards and a score in Week 13. He has had at least five catches in two of his past three games. … LB Azeez Al-Shaai will serve the first game of a three-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of QB Trevor Lawrence Sunday. … DE Danielle Hunter is one of two players in the NFL this season with at least 15 tackles for loss (15) and 10 sacks (10 1/2). It’s his sixth career season with at least 10 sacks. He has eight tackles for loss and five sacks combined in his past three games. … DE Will Anderson has had a sack in his past two home games. … LB Henry To’oTo’o has had at least five tackles in four straight games. … CB Derek Stingley had his third interception of the season in his previous game. … CB Kamari Lassiter had a career-high eight tackles, including a tackle for loss in Week 13. … S Jimmie Ward has had an interception in his past two home games. He also had an interception in his previous game against Miami in 2022 while with San Francisco.
Fantasy tip
Collins has 456 yards receiving and four touchdown receptions in four home games this season.