If Braves officials had known they’d trade Craig Kimbrel the night before the season opener, and left-hander Josh Outman would have shoulder issues and be diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, and Arodys Vizcaino would get an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, they would have added more bullpen depth last winter.
The Kimbrel trade, Vizcaino suspension and Outman injury all happened before opening day, as did Shae Simmons’ Tommy John elbow surgery. Lefty Andrew McKirahan’s 80-game PED suspension came down two weeks into season.
Now, the Braves are scrambling to fix a bullpen that’s the worst in the major leagues, a bullpen that frittered away leads in three losses during a 4-6 trip, which ended Wednesday with a blown lead in a 9-8 loss at Arizona.
Braves relievers allowed 22 earned runs and six homers in 22 innings on the trip, leaving their majors-worst ERA at 4.81, with a majors-leading 90 runs allowed in the seventh inning or later for an ERA over 5.00.
“We went 4-6, and we had a chance to go 6-4, maybe even better than that,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said, “if (in) some of those innings that they scored, some of those middle innings, we get some shutdowns there.”
In the late innings of close games, Braves pitchers rank worst in the majors in opponents’ average (.283), opponents’ slugging percentage (.480), and home runs allowed (14). Relievers allowed 12 of those 14 homers.
The Braves are pleased with the work of Grilli and Luis Avilan, and for the most part Jim Johnson. But there have been plenty of rough nights from all others who’ve spent time in the bullpen. The Braves have shuttled rookies and others back and forth to Triple-A in an effort to get fresh arms and find a right mix. So far, Gonzalez has not found that mix.
“It’s not the ideal spot to be in right now, and it kills me watching us give it up (in late innings) nightly,” said John Hart, Braves president of baseball operations. “We’re working the phones hard.”
Hart and assistant general manager John Coppolella are scouring the market for reinforcements. The Braves have no intention of trading top young talent to acquire bullpen help and won’t overpay to sign a Rafael Soriano. With so many teams still harboring hopes of a wild-card berth, things might not heat up on the trade front until closer to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, and by then the Braves could have Vizcaino and McKirahan back from suspensions.
For now, more likely targets seem to be pitchers with opt-out clauses, such as left-hander Dana Eveland or Robert Coello, who this week became free agents. The Braves might have some interest in former Braves setup man David Carpenter, who was designated for assignment by the Yankees on Wednesday.
Also, they assigned Peter Moylan to Triple-A Gwinnett this week in hopes that the former Braves sidearmer shows he’s ready to help after 14 months of rehab since his second Tommy John elbow surgery. Moylan gave up one hit and two walks in his first inning for Gwinnett on Wednesday.
The Braves also might consider bringing up a reliever from the minors, such as Ryan Weber, Ryan Kelly or the other David Carpenter.
Gonzalez was candid in his bullpen assessment after blown leads in losses Tuesday and Wednesday. Braves starters had seven quality starts in 10 games on the trip, including five starts with one or no runs allowed in six or more innings. The offense awakened in the second half of the trip, racking up 37 runs in the past five games, including 15 runs in two wins against the Giants to come away with a split against the previously surging defending World Series champions.
Meanwhile, the performance of the bullpen continued to decline. Grilli pitched only twice in 10 games on the trip.
Among the recent strugglers: Rookie Brandon Cunniff had an 18.90 ERA and .444 opponents’ average in four appearances on the trip, with a loss and a blown save. Rookie Cody Martin has a 15.75 ERA and .500 opponents’ average in his past five appearances, with two losses and two blown saves.
Martin was recalled this week to replace journeyman lefty Donnie Veal, who had a 14.54 ERA and .400 opponents’ average in five appearances during two big-league stints this season. He gave up two hits, two runs and a homer and got a blown save Sunday at San Francisco, then was designated for assignment.
Nick Masset had a 13.50 ERA and a loss in three appearances on the trip, allowing four hits, five runs, three homers and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.
Johnson, after posting a 0.66 ERA and .163 opponents’ average in a stretch of 14 appearances through May 28, had an 11.57 ERA and .364 opponents’ average in his past three appearances, with four walks and no strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings.
Yes, Braves officials are concerned about starter Julio Teheran, a major disappointment in the first two months of the season. He was the only Braves starter not to have at least one exceptional outing on the trip. Yes, they would like more consistency from their offense, which totaled eight runs in the first five games of the trip.
But the bullpen is the front-and-center issue for Braves officials, who know the team could be in first place in the NL East, and several games above .500, if they had gotten merely league-average bullpen performance.
This is a franchise unaccustomed to languishing among bullpen cellar-dwellers: They’ve not finished in the bottom half of the majors in bullpen ERA since 2008 and were first or second in three consecutive seasons through 2013.
Hart and Coppolella thought last winter they would have the bullpen back on track. They signed former closers Grilli and Jim Johnson to serve as setup men for Kimbrel; signed Outman and traded for Vizcaino, who figured to join Simmons as a pair of promising back-end relievers who could handle middle-innings work unless and until needed later in games.
Then plans began to unravel.
