The Cleveland Indians’ bullpen was a trouble spot for the 2018 team, there can be no debate about that.

Losing Andrew Miller to injury early in the season didn’t help, and several pitchers who played key roles in 2017 were ineffective or injured, or both.

Dan Otero had a poor season.  Nick Goody started the season getting hit and eventually went on the disabled list for the rest of the season.  Zack McAllister’s luck getting by throwing one pitch for a strike caught up to him.

That put quite a strain on Cody Allen, and by the end of the year, the workload, perhaps an accumulation over the past three seasons, hurt him.

They turned to guys brought in over the winter on minor league deals, arms like Neil Ramirez, Ben Taylor, Matt Belisle, Evan Marshall, and Alexi Ogando.

Of that group, Ramirez did well upon his arrival, but faded as the season went on, very much prone to giving up home runs, a no-no for a relief pitcher, especially one who pitches late in a game.

In June, veteran Oliver Perez became available, and the Tribe signed him.  And he helped stabilize the ‘pen, compiling a 1.39 ERA for the rest of the season.

In July, the front office dealt for closer Brad Hand and submarining righty Adam Cimber, to provide more options.

The bullpen was better, but not at the level of 2016 and 2017.

Last winter, Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff did pretty much the same thing, bringing in some arms on minor league deals, but some were hurlers with a solid track record, like Tyler Clippard and Alex Wilson, and made minor deals for Nick Wittgren, A.J. Cole, and Chih Wei Hu.

Unfortunately, when training camp broke, Clippard was injured, Wilson was released, and Wittgren and Hu were sent to Columbus.

That meant it was basically the same cast of characters again for the relief corps.

The bullpen was strong the first few weeks of the season, but it started to spring leaks in Kansas City and Seattle, and continued over the weekend at home vs. the Braves.

Hand hasn’t been an issue.  Getting the ball to him has been.

Ramirez’ long ball woes returned.  He’s allowed four in 10 innings to date, meaning he’s given up 13 in 52-2/3 frames since arriving in Cleveland.  That’s an alarming rate.

Perez has regressed to the mean, and has allowed eight hits and two walks in 5-2/3 innings.  Last year, his WHIP was 0.742.

Another lefty, Tyler Olson, has allowed eight hits and five walks in 7.1 innings.  If you take out Olson’s scoreless streak at the end of the ’17 season, his ERA is 5.01 with the Indians, covering almost 55 innings.

He just isn’t that effective.

Otero has generally been effective, but he has given up a lot of hits.  He tends to get ground balls though, so no complaints there.

Jon Edwards started the year with promise based on his September performance a year ago, but had problems throwing strikes and was sent back to AAA.

The bright spot over the last week has been Wittgren, who allowed his first run yesterday, and picked up a two inning save in the 1-0 win at Seattle.  He’s fanned 11 and not walked a batter in eight innings.

It will be interesting to see how long the front office and Terry Francona keep confidence in Ramirez and Olson.

Cole has pitched well in Columbus, and could get called up today.  And watch for James Karinchak at Akron, who has pitched eight innings and struck out 19 hitters.  That’s domination at any level.

It seems like another case where the management’s disdain for change has hampered them.  They may be forced to make alterations soon.

MW