A sobering thought may have occurred to many Pittsburgh Pirates fans during the April 24 five-and-a- half-hour slugfest against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
This team might have some serious issues.
To reach that threshold, the Pirates gave up two separate two-run leads during late innings — one such collapse coming under the stead of the usually infallible Mark Melancon — and relied on a late inning insurance run from pitcher Jon Niese. Niese found himself an unlikely pinch hitter after the club had exhausted its bench. He worked a nine pitch at-bat, one that included fouling off five would-be out pitches, before lining an RBI single to left field, which was manned by Diamondbacks pitcher Shelby Miller at the time.
It was that kind of game.
It has been that kind of season.
In 2015, the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to withstand a tough April and bounce back to the tune of 98 wins. Doing so on the back of a bullpen with the second-best ERA in major league baseball, the Pirates were able to slam the door on opposing teams with brute force.
In 2016, that door is well ajar. In fact, the bullpen has oftentimes laid out a welcome mat, and even refreshments at times.
Entering this week, the Pirates’ bullpen has a crooked ERA (4.79), a milquetoast batting average against (.243) and has worked an alarming 71.1 innings. That figure is third-most in the National League, behind two teams in clear rebuilds in Cincinnati and Atlanta.
The inconsistency from back-end starting options such as Juan Nicasio, Jeff Locke and Ryan Vogelsong has also conspired to lead to the relief corps’ over-usage. As currently constructed, this bullpen lacks strong early relief options. Jared Hughes has filled that role admirably during this time with the club. His return from injury cannot come soon enough, and the organization misses his versatile production more than they would care to admit.
In this space, I have previously talked about the Pirates’ bullpen being their sharpest weapon going into the 2016 season.
Early returns suggest more sharpening is going to be necessary if this team is to truly compete for a playoff spot.
