Bullpen woes continue

[duke1861]

Just not sure we did enough at the trade deadline. We just continue to struggle in this area. It seems to be more frequent that our bullpen gives up a lead or is just not reliable.

Not understanding why Mattingly left Johnson in so long after it was apparent that he was off and just had nothing tonight.

Why can this organization not address this for once?

 

[duke1861]

Johnson's ERA since joining the Dodgers is 29.50....very strange. We might need more help and need to comb through waivers again. I just don't understand how the Royals and Cardinals build elite bullpens. We have the highest payroll in baseball and we can't address the bullpen?

 

[Smed55]

Johnson's ERA since joining the Dodgers is 29.50....very strange. We might need more help and need to comb through waivers again. I just don't understand how the Royals and Cardinals build elite bullpens. We have the highest payroll in baseball and we can't address the bullpen?

Johnson has not been that good the past couple of years, I think the Braves knew this and he was just a extra body thrown into this trade! Even the 2 big years he had with Baltimore, people were wondering how he was doing it, he didn't have dominating stuff!
I think Wood will be a good pitcher for us, but when he kept throwing over to 1st with Cutch at the plate, I was wondering what he was doing, that runner meant absolutely nothing. Cutch hit a ball up around his eyes, but Wood needed to concentrate on the hitter there!

We seem to have a lot of hard "throwers" which Villian seems to think we need, we need guys that know how to pitch, not throw hard!

 

[lasportzphan]

Still in first and looks like Wild Card will require an impressive record this year. That said, Dodgers do not look like a team prepared to make noise in the playoffs, as predicted.

 

[LASports96]

The front office did adjust the bullpen quite a lot since last winter, you certainly can't say they didn't make changes from last years pen that was awful. The guys haven't performed enough.

It's an issue.

 

[duke1861]

We are just a prideful organization. We try to do things our way it doesn't yield post season results. We give out massive contracts and don't build an elite bullpen. The Cardinals are the best example of how to build a winning team and we ignore what they do to win.

I know our front office is trying and it will take time. I just want us to have a superior bullpen for once. I think that is the key to advancing in October.

 

[lasportzphan]

The front office did adjust the bullpen quite a lot since last winter, you certainly can't say they didn't make changes from last years pen that was awful. The guys haven't performed enough.

It's an issue.

Wow, if MVPuig admits the bullpen is an issue, Katie, bar the door - we got a problem.

I thin management made the necessary bullpen moves in the offseason and mid season, they just are not working out.

 

[randymon]

No they did not address bull pen woes because that's not the prob. I've been bleeding blue since early 70's and the teams then had FIRE all season. These Dodgers teams of the last 2 decades have all the talent but are too " institutionalized". They can be hot when things are just coasting along but when things get sticky and they need to turn it up....they are weak and clueless. You have to love the game,turn it on everyday. Not when things are going good. These Dodger teams lack character and discipline once again. Their spoiled and payck players.

 

[duke1861]

Worst bullpen ERA in MLB since June 1:

1. Dodgers 5.48

2. Tigers 5.44

3. Rangers 4.95

4. Rockies 4.57

5. Twins 4.55

I know that ERA can be deceiving but its still not good.

 

[Smed55]

It would help if the offense would put up better numbers also, you can't count on the bullpen always coming through with only a 1 or 2 run lead, yes the BP has blown some bigger leads and the bullpen is still our biggest problem, but we need to start scoring more runs also

 

[lasportzphan]

No they did not address bull pen woes because that's not the prob. I've been bleeding blue since early 70's and the teams then had FIRE all season. These Dodgers teams of the last 2 decades have all the talent but are too " institutionalized". They can be hot when things are just coasting along but when things get sticky and they need to turn it up....they are weak and clueless. You have to love the game,turn it on everyday. Not when things are going good. These Dodger teams lack character and discipline once again. Their spoiled and payck players.

So they lack heart and professionalism? If we resolved those issues, then they would win the World Series every year?? Can we just hire someone like to get in the clubhouse and say, show more heart and consistent desire and you will win more? Who knew it was that easy.

I understand that the Dodgers have a culture problem that was not addressed with the McCourt/Fox ownership, but the new ownership has put the right guys on the job.

 

[Smed55]

So they lack heart and professionalism? If we resolved those issues, then they would win the World Series every year?? Can we just hire someone like to get in the clubhouse and say, show more heart and consistent desire and you will win more? Who knew it was that easy.

I understand that the Dodgers have a culture problem that was not addressed with the McCourt/Fox ownership, but the new ownership has put the right guys on the job.

I agree, the front office did make moves, they did pick up some quality arms, so far some of them haven't done as well as we would have liked, but doesn't mean that they wont, they could still come through, like hopefully the next 2 months when we need them.
As far as Johnson, as I already said, some people wondered how he was so successful as a closer for 2 years, when he didn't really
have closer stuff! I personally don't think he's that good!
Everybody thinks Honeycutt is such a good coach, then why can't he get these RP's straightened out than? SAme thing with McGwire and our hitting woes!

 

[lasportzphan]

I agree, the front office did make moves, they did pick up some quality arms, so far some of them haven't done as well as we would have liked, but doesn't mean that they wont, they could still come through, like hopefully the next 2 months when we need them.
As far as Johnson, as I already said, some people wondered how he was so successful as a closer for 2 years, when he didn't really
have closer stuff! I personally don't think he's that good!
Everybody thinks Honeycutt is such a good coach, then why can't he get these RP's straightened out than? SAme thing with McGwire and our hitting woes!

Well, the Honeycutt argument goes both ways.... Anderson, Bolsinger have exceeded expectations for the most part. Baez is trending upwards. Greinke gets better and better. It's not all bad. Howell (with smoke and mirrors, IMO) has adjusted well this year.

 

[Smed55]

Well, the Honeycutt argument goes both ways.... Anderson, Bolsinger have exceeded expectations for the most part. Baez is trending upwards. Greinke gets better and better. It's not all bad. Howell (with smoke and mirrors, IMO) has adjusted well this year.

As far as Honeycutt, "maybe" he's helped,i tend to think Greinke is this good without him, Anderson is about the same as he's always been, whether Bolsinger has succeeded because of him, I don't know, maybe Bols has just figured it out! Coaches are like managers, not sure they help that much, supposedly when hitters and pitchers reach the majors, they kind of have a clue to what they are doing, that's why they made it to begin with! But when they struggle is when you really see if a coach has any value, and let's face it, a lot of guys are struggling in the bullpen!

As far as managers, they tend to make more decisions that lose games than they do to win games, and it's not just Mattingly!


I would like to see Bols back up instead of Latos, but I would also like it if Mattingly would let the guy pitch more than 5-6 innings, we always hear about bullpen overuse, yet maybe if they would let him pitch another inning or two, you-save the bullpen a little bit

 

[lasportzphan]

As far as Honeycutt, "maybe" he's helped,i tend to think Greinke is this good without him, Anderson is about the same as he's always been, whether Bolsinger has succeeded because of him, I don't know, maybe Bols has just figured it out! Coaches are like managers, not sure they help that much, supposedly when hitters and pitchers reach the majors, they kind of have a clue to what they are doing, that's why they made it to begin with! But when they struggle is when you really see if a coach has any value, and let's face it, a lot of guys are struggling in the bullpen!

As far as managers, they tend to make more decisions that lose games than they do to win games, and it's not just Mattingly!


I would like to see Bols back up instead of Latos, but I would also like it if Mattingly would let the guy pitch more than 5-6 innings, we always hear about bullpen overuse, yet maybe if they would let him pitch another inning or two, you-save the bullpen a little bit

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying.... Greinke is having the best season of his career but Honeycutt deserves no credit. Furthermore you imply that players have it figured out by the time they are called up, so coaches have little influence only when a player is struggling? So if the players have it nearly figured out, it should be all their fault they are struggling, no?

Managers lose more via decisions than they win? I don't understand....

 

[Smed55]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying.... Greinke is having the best season of his career but Honeycutt deserves no credit. Furthermore you imply that players have it figured out by the time they are called up, so coaches have little influence only when a player is struggling? So if the players have it nearly figured out, it should be all their fault they are struggling, no?

Managers lose more via decisions than they win? I don't understand....

I'm saying "I think" Greinke pitches this well no matter who the pitching coach is, Greinke is one of the better pitchers in baseball, even before this year! Do you think Kershaw would still be this good without Honeycutt, I do!

Yes usually with pitchers, their stuff got them to the bigs, a coach is suppose to "maybe" suggest or tweak this or that if they see something that "might" help. As far as a pitcher struggling that is really when the coaches are suppose to earn their money and figure out what they doing wrong, hitting or pitching!


As far as any manager, yes players usually win or lose games, but rarely does a manager help win a game by some genius move he made, but he sure as hell can make bonehead moves that can cost their team a win! Sorry but Mattinglys lineups sometimes are pathetic!

I've also seen Mattingly pull Greinke when he was pitching well, same with Kershaw, they give up a couple seeing eye singles and Donny panics that they are getting ripped. They are your best pitchers, let them win or lose the game, you definitely aren't bringing anyone in any better than they are!

 

[Villain]

Honeycutt is a fabulous pitching coach. The Dodgers bullpen isn't perfect and Friedman has stated that it is the aspect of the team that he worries about the most.

That said, the Dodgers bullpen has the best K% in in the NL (26.5%) and is practically tied with the Yankees for the best K% in baseball (26.8%). The Dodgers bullpen also sport the best strike-walk differential in the sport at 18.5%. Any MLB bullpen is constantly a work in progess, but there's a lot to like about what's happening for the Dodgers. SIERA is better than ERA for grading bullpen performance, the Dodgers have the best SIERA in MLB at 3.01 (tied with the Blue Jays and 0.01 better than the Yankees).

This bullpen is not a disaster, not by a long shot.

 

[Smed55]

Honeycutt is a fabulous pitching coach. The Dodgers bullpen isn't perfect and Friedman has stated that it is the aspect of the team that he worries about the most.

That said, the Dodgers bullpen has the best K% in in the NL (26.5%) and is practically tied with the Yankees for the best K% in baseball (26.8%). The Dodgers bullpen also sport the best strike-walk differential in the sport at 18.5%. Any MLB bullpen is constantly a work in progess, but there's a lot to like about what's happening for the Dodgers. SIERA is better than ERA for grading
bullpen performance, the Dodgers have the best SIERA in MLB at 3.01 (tied with the Blue Jays and 0.01 better than the Yankees).

This bullpen is not a disaster, not by a long shot.

Again, we are going to go by some other stats that "you" prefer to judge our team by , other than the stats that almost everyone in baseball has always gone by. Well I'm sorry but if our SIERA is so good than why aren't we seeing those fabulous results from our bullpen?

As far as your precious strikeout stats, again it doesn't matter how you get them out, a strikeout counts as ONE out, just like any other out, I could care less about how we get them out as long as they are doing their job!

 

[duke1861]

Again, we are going to go by some other stats that "you" prefer to judge our team by , other than the stats that almost everyone in baseball has always gone by. Well I'm sorry but if our SIERA is so good than why aren't we seeing those fabulous results from our bullpen?

As far as your precious strikeout stats, again it doesn't matter how you get them out, a strikeout counts as ONE out, just like any other out, I could care less about how we get them out as long as they are doing their job!

The bottom line is our pen doesn't hold leads nor can it close out games. Regardless of what the SIERA is, they are not getting the job done and we all know this. I am not saying the world is falling but I would not be surprised if we do not make the playoffs. We just don't have clutch hitting, we cannot stay healthy and we are suspect after Kershaw and Greinke.

 

[CatsTopPac]

Bullpen is a huge issue and has been for a few years, despite the adjustments. But we have to look at the season as trends, not just overall statistics of any sort.

SPs outside Kershaw and Geinke are very inconsistent. I'm not sure that Anderson has overachieved (other than staying healthy. Bolsinger has, but he's a replacement for McCarthy, so I'm not sure what his expectations were. Latos and Wood are good, but inconsistent, and that is going to have to change before October, because of our pen.

Our pen is a hodgepodge of mostly good but inconsistent at the beginning of the season, to wildly inconsistent and distrustful recently. We have cycled guys around but never more than a guy or two are good at any moment, and that always changes. A couple rise up for a few weeks while the rest are shit, and then they go back down to the basement, and a couple others carry us until they start to suck.

Our run support is taking a sharp dive. It's had some shakiness all season (evident in the lack of winning % of Greinke and Kershaw this season), but BAs, OBPs, etc are starting to decline across the board, with only a couple spurts of good offense every once in a while to keep us afloat.

I think the front office is trying to get someone to stick in the pen, so they are content with just cycling as many through as possible. It's not working. They also seem to be going after the 2nd tier SPs that can be consistently good (if not great) and keep their ERs below our offensive run support. But that's not working either (at least not yet). I would have gone for one dominant SP that we know we can trust with G and K, rather than two that we hope one (or both) can float us. Offensively, we are just trying to platoon whatever runs we can get. I don't know where Utley bats or if he can bat above .260 from here on out, but we need it. I feel the same way about Rollins, and don't have much to go on (other than very recently) for either. A Gon is dipping, Puig is discouraged, Pederson is killing us, and everyone but Turner has seemed to either cooled off after the break, or just having a subpar bat this season. Everyone but Either.

As of right now, we are seriously limping to the finish line. Unless Kershaw or Greinke go deep into the game, everything is suspect.