Jumping To Conclusions – April 2015 Edition

Apr 17, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brett Cecil (27) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Rogers Centre. Atlanta defeated Toronto 8-7. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Bullpen Catastrophe

We knew going into the season that the bullpen was going to be an issue.  I did not expect it to be this bad though.  Starting the season with two youngsters in Miguel Castro and Roberto Osuna appeared to be a long shot.  Castro’s early success lead to a promotion to closer but was short lived as he got wild and allowed more hits.  He is still sporting a 3.60 ERA through 10 innings of work, but his last few outing have accounted for all of his runs scored thus far in his rookie season.  Osuna has been incredible thus far.  In 11.1 innings he has struck out 13 and only allowed 2 runs.  Osuna and Castro have been key thus far this season.

Toronto Blue Jays

Brett Cecil is once again the teams closer and has been looking better of late.  Collecting his first save the other night in his first closer appearance after getting the job back was encouraging.  Cecil had some arm fatigue that appeared to be bothering him right out of the gate from spring training.  Cecil is looking like the guy we saw as a setup man last year now.

The rest of the pen needs some help.  Marco Estrada has been the one holding down the fort thus far.  He has been performing really well and getting some key outs.  Aaron Loup appears to be really struggling.  In games I have watched he is having trouble finding the plate and just seems like there are always runners on.  this will lead to trouble and it has thus far for him.

It is looking like the Jays need to hurry and push the emergency button on free agent relievers.  This has been the single reason we have lost a few games this season.  the only thing that could be possibly hurting our pen is a little miss management and the fact that our starters have not made it far into games.  They are going to get over worked and burned out.  Lets add an arm from free agency like Rafael Soriano or go onto the trade market and kick the tires on Jonathan Papelbon.  We have a clear need in the back end let strike before it is to late.