Fixing the bull pen

[*bengalfan74*]

(12-11-2019, 07:54 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Relief pitchers drive me crazy.  They seem to go up and down from season to season for no apparent reason.

Hernandez went from 2.53 ERA in '18 to 8.02 in '19.
Iglesias went from 3 straight years under 2.50 ERA to 4.16 in '19.
Hughes went from 1.94 in '18 to 4.10 in '19.

So how do we fix our bullpen?  When one guy goes bad I look at the player.  When a bunch go bad I look at the coach.  But we supposedly have a well regarded pitching coach.

Did these guys have health problems?  Is there a chance they return to their prior form next year if we stick with them?

How many of them are even under contract?  What about Lorenzen, Stephenson, and Garrett?

Any pitchers down at AAA that might step up and help this year?

As for free agents I would look at guys who failed as starters because they don't have enough different pitches.  A reliever can get by with just a couple of different pitches much better than a starter.  Same goes for the guys we have down in the minors right now.  Maybe a guy we had been grooming to start could be help as a reliever.

There's that Lodolo or something like that ? I've seen a couple articles mentioning him, LH I think which is all the more better. He's only had 1 year in minors, single A so on the inexperienced side but has pitched really well. They were speculating he just might get pushed along quickly.

No matter what they do in my opinion they badly need to have a plan B at closer.