Blue Jays: Recapping what’s gone wrong in the bullpen this season

It’s hard not to think about where the Blue Jays would be with a more effective bullpen. It’s been a weakness for the team for all but the very early stages of the schedule, and unfortunately it’s become a regular occurrence to witness blown leads in the late innings. We saw that very thing play out again against the lowly Washington Nationals to begin the week, which resulted in a two-game sweep that the Blue Jays really can’t afford right now.

What’s truly maddening for Jays fans is that they’ve had a lot of very talented relievers come and go this season, and yet somehow they haven’t been able to put together a group of 7-8 that can do the job. In fact, most of the time it’s one or two that are reaching expectations, if that.

There are many different reasons why the bullpen has been such a weakness, and I thought it might be interesting to break it down. On one hand I actually feel bad for Ross Atkins and the front office, especially when you look at how many serviceable relievers have been added to the roster over the last 12 months. On the other, I think even they’d admit that they need to do a better job of identifying talent ahead of next season, even if their track record in that department was pretty good prior to 2021.

Whether it’s been injuries, underperformance, or other factors at play, the Blue Jays bullpen simply hasn’t been effective enough to keep this team in the playoff hunt. Let’s have a look at what’s worked against them.

A staggering amount of injuries

I’m not here to make excuses for the Blue Jays when it comes to their leaky bullpen, but it’s hard not to dream about what could have been.

Injuries have taken their toll on this group, which has hurt them throughout the year and is still keeping them from assembling their best at the moment. It’s resulted in a pretty big revolving door in the bullpen, and I’m sure it’s added many extra hours to pitching coach Pete Walker’s workload.

Just look at the lost list of injuries that they’ve had to navigate.

Out for the season

• Kirby Yates
• David Phelps
• Carl Edwards Jr.

Basically out for the season (and still might be)

• Julian Merryweather
• Nate Pearson
• A.J. Cole
• Anthony Castro

Missed significant time:

• Tim Mayza
• Ryan Borucki
• Thomas Hatch
• Rafael Dolis
• Tyler Chatwood
• Joakim Soria (*one appearance after being acquired)
• Ross Stripling (currently on the IL)

Every big league team is going to go through their injury issues, so it’s not at excuse that stands up very well. That said, given just how much of a weakness the bullpen has been for the Blue Jays this season, we have to acknowledge that it’s been a major factor. I didn’t even list others like Jordan Romano, who has been healthy for the vast majority of the season, so this is far from a complete list of injuries.

It’s not a huge surprise that MLB pitchers have struggled to stay healthy in 2021 after having just a 60-game season in 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic. With that in mind I think it’s fair to ask if the Blue Jays acquired enough depth throughout the year to address the problem. There were points when we screamed for trades to happen in June and early July, but for the most part there should have been enough talent to produce better results than we’ve seen.

I would have loved to have seen how the Blue Jays could have finished with the likes of Yates, Phelps, Merryweather, and more in the bullpen, but I guess we’ll never know.

Who is ultimately responsible here?

As I’ve already stated, there have been times when I’ve felt bad for both the front office and the coaching staff because of everything at play with the bullpen this year. That said, there are some tough questions that need to be asked.

First of all, there’s no shortage of Charlie Montoyo slander on social media these days, and to some degree he may even be deserving of the criticism. It’s hard not to like the man and I do my best not to criticize him that much, but lately he’s made a lot of questionable decisions as the Blue Jays have been clinging for their playoff lives.

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Whether it’s been taking starting pitchers out too early, putting too much trust in a struggling veteran, or simply which pitcher he choses to use for a given situation, I’m sure there are a few decisions that Montoyo would like to have back.

Having said all that, there’s another question that I haven’t heard asked many times, so I’m just going to go ahead and say it. Why doesn’t Pete Walker seem to face any criticism about the performance of the bullpen?

He’s widely respected by Blue Jays fans as a pitching coach that can help a struggling starter reach their potential. Look no further than the way that Robbie Ray revived his career after becoming a Blue Jay, and there have been other examples over the last few years. If he has the magic touch to help starters, why has the bullpen been such a disaster this year?

To be fair, the Blue Jays have done a good job of finding value for their bullpen over the last few seasons, and Walker is part of the reason for that success. Atkins and Mark Shapiro arguably had better luck when they were bargain shopping for the bullpen than when they were willing to spend some money, such as they did at this year’s bullpen. Perhaps that’s why Walker gets a lot more slack here, in addition to his notorious work with starters, but in this case I think he deserves to be part of the equation.

The reality is you can spread the blame around a lot of directions. The relievers have largely underperformed, or have been injured, the coaching staff hasn’t been able to manage those they’ve had to work with well enough, and the front office had some big misses, even if a lot of it comes down to bad luck. Add it all up and it’s been a problem area that persists, and may very well cost the Blue Jays at a chance to return to the postseason.