Are There Problems in the Atlanta Braves Bullpen

Jun 19, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Atlanta Braves bullpen crew head to the pen prior to the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Jaime was called up the the major leagues today. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday I looked to see if there were significant  problems with Braves starting pitching and found that while they need to go deeper into games four of the five will likely improve and the other could well be replaced. Today I’ll look at the Braves bullpen and see whether there are problems that need to be addressed there.

Braves Bullpen in Review

This off season saw the Braves bullpen completely revamped, top to bottom leaving only Juan Jaime from last year’s pen. To refresh your memory here’s what happened.

Traded:

• David Carpenter and Chasen Schreve  traded to the Yankees for pitcher Manny Banuelos
• Anthony Varvaro traded to Boston for pitcher Aaron Kurcz
• Jordan Walden traded to St Louis along with Jason Heyward for pitchers Tyrell Jenkins and Shelby Miller
• David Hale traded to Colorado for catchers Jose Briceno and Chris O’Dowd
• Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. traded for OF Cameron Maybin. pitcher Matt Wisler, OF Jordan Paroubeck and OF/1B/DH Carlos Quentin (since released)

Signed:

• RP Jason Gilli, RP Jim Johnson, RP Josh Outman (DL), RP David Carpenter – no not the same guy another one, RP Matt Capps, RP Todd Coffey (since released), RP Michael Kohn, re-sign RP Gus Schlosser then traded him to Colorado, RP Donnie Veal, RP Jose Veras (since released), RP Brandon Cunniff, RP/SP Sugar Ray Marimon

Traded for:

• RP Arodys Vizcaino – currently suspended for PED use
• RP Bryton Trapaigner
• RP James Hoyt
• Claimed off waivers
• Andrew McKirahan – currently suspended for PED use

If that looks like fishing with a seine it is. This kind of thing happens every year but seldom does a league leading bullpen get blown up like this one was. So where are we now.

The Braves Bullpen going into Sunday’s game consists of Jason Grilli. Jim Johnson, Luis Avilan, Ian Thomas, Cody Martin, Michael Kohn and John Cornely though the last two have yet to so much as warm up.  The numbers below reflect McKirahan, Cunniff, a bit of Jaime and a little bit of Marimon. Compared to the rest of the league the bullpen so far has been pretty good. (all statistics courtesy Baseball-Reference.com)

The numbers tell the story. This bullpen has:

• Inherited more runners but allowed fewer to score – by a big margin
• Been inserted into more high and medium leverage situations
• Allowed fewer runs a game

As a unit then the pen has been successful but there have been exceptions.