Lefty Relievers Crowd Braves Bullpen

Jul 17, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Jim Johnson (53) celebrates with catcher A.J. Pierzynski (15) after defeating the Chicago Cubs 4-2 at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

This week the Braves added Ross Detwiler to their bullpen giving them two lefty relievers now with more on the way. Is a trade in the works or is this merely a coincidence?

Lefty relievers are rare no more

After trading away Chasen Shreve, DFA-ing James Russell and seeing Josh Outman struggle before hitting the DL the Braves sought new lefty relievers for the bullpen. For a while Andrew McKirahan filled that role pretty well, then came the PED suspension.

We tried some Donnie Veal but that might as well have been veal parmesan.

We used Eric Stults a couple of times but he turned out to be a putz.

We hired Dana Eveland but after landing he soon departed.

It seemed we’d have to wait for Manny Banuelos to get so close to his innings limit for a lefty reliever to try to keep Avilan’s arm from falling off. But we signed Ross Detwiler and then there were two lefty relievers ending the hunt.

Sometime in the next two weeks However McKirahan will return and as a rule five guy he has to be in the 25 man roster.

UPDATED 19:35 EST Former Tomahawk Take writer Carlos Callazo now working with MLB.Com reports that McKirahan will return to Atlanta on Monday that will obviously generate some kind of move.

About that time Williams Perez will arrive as well to slip back into his rotation role and Manny will become a lefty reliever as well. Suddenly it looks like a lefty reliever coup de tat is underway.

Whole lot of lefty going on

Adding that up the bullpen looks like this before any movement.

Barring Injury it’s fairly safe to assume that righty Kelly will be sent back to Gwinnett. That still leaves eight relievers where seven usually live and those eight are evenly divided between lefty and righty arms. Either someone has to go or they’ll play a bat short and I don’t believe the Braves will leave the bench any shorter than it already is

Most bullpen’s live with a pair of lefties but in some cases – as with Banuelos – there’s a starter out there who can swing either way or a lefty like Avilan who isn’t awful against RHH this year.  Still there appears to be insufficient room at the inn.