If the bloggers, fans and online community in general are to be believed, the Blue Jays have the worst bullpen in the majors. The Jays would be playoff contenders if it weren’t for the myriad of blown saves and leads given up late in the ballgame. The Jays should trade the whole lot of them and get a PROVEN talent in there to close out ballgames, that’s what the big boys do. If only the statistics backed up these claims.
The combined record of Jays relievers is 15-16, meaning they’ve given us almost as many games as they’ve lost. Standouts like Downs, Camp and Purcey have ERA’s below 3 and WHIPS approaching the 1.00 mark. Our de facto closer, Kevin Gregg, has a 3.63 ERA, but has also converted 23 of 27 save opportunities, good for 85%. Now, the pen is not without it’s blowups. Every pitcher will have trouble sometimes, but this seems to be hard luck years for Brian Tallet, Jason Frasor and Casey Janssen, all of whom sport an ERA over 4.00 and relatively high WHIP numbers. How does it match up against the rest of the league?
The Jays rank 15th in bullpen ERA, but only the Rays are ahead of them in this category in the AL East. 15 wins out of the pen is tops in the AL East, 14th in the league. 28 saves is good for 9th, with the Rays and Red Sox coming out ahead of the Jays in this category. The bullpen WHIP is 1.32, good for 9th, but not as good as the Yankees or Rays. Ultimately, the Jays don’t stack up too badly against the rest of the league. They’re better than their AL East counterparts in most situations, though the Rays seem to have a better bullpen overall.
While it seems the departure of Downs is imminent, the general consensus is that the bullpen could use some improving and that we need a proven closer. Need I remind the fans about the last proven closer we brought in (whom we are still paying), and what a disaster that turned out to be? Most closers never envisioned themselves being closers, they typically fall into that role. Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, two of the most storied closers in league history, started out as relievers. Closers are best developed and groomed for the role, like Jonathan Papelbon or Francisco Cordero. Kevin Gregg has the stuff and the potential to be a solid closer in baseball, he just needs more time and opportunity to do so.
The Jays have been drafting and trading for a lot of pitching lately. We have Cecil, Romero, Litsch, Morrow, Rzepczynski, Maguire, Johnson, Drabek and a host of others who are battling to get into the lineup. Ultimately with only 5 positions in the starting rotation, some of these good young arms for the Jays will be relegated to bullpen duties. Morrow would be my personal choice to come out of the pen as he’s got the stuff to dominate hitters, but I’m not sure he can work late into ballgames like you sometimes need out of a starter. Rzepczynski didn’t seem out of place in his one relief appearance so far this season.
I think part of the clamoring for an improvement out of the pen is brought on by the fact that the Jays, as a team this season, haven’t disappeared off the radar. They’re well back of the Yankees, but they’re still within striking distance of the wild card, and Jays fans, ever the optimists, perceive the bullpen as a weakness that the club needs to address before becoming a legit contender. Just like the rest of this team however, we’re going to have to sit back and wait to see what happens. From this fan’s seat I can honestly say ‘so far, so good’.
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Born and raised in Northern Ontario but currently living in Toronto, Tyler wouldn't have it any other way. Home to his two favourite sports teams, Tyler revels in the day to day sports experience that is Toronto. 
“Jays fans, ever the optimists.”
Now that’s awesome and so true. Jays and Leaf fans aI swear are at the opposite end of the spectrum. One only sees the good, the other only sees the bad.
Good article to tackle here, especially since the Jays hadn’t done their mid season disappearing act…..knock on wood.
Well, many were predicting doom and gloom with the loss of Halladay, as though we were going to lose 100 games this season. I’m happy with where they are, but the last thing I want them to do right now is deal away part of the rebuild for some veteran multi-million dollar closer.
We’ve got the arms coming up through the system. I can’t wait to see this team when Arebencia (sp?), Drabek, Wallace and Johnson are on it. Though the talk of Scott Downs for Joba Chamberlain got me excited. At least it’s a step in the right direction.
Last thing we need is to abort a rebuild that is just starting to show some promise. Leave that for another Toronto team.