MLB Hot Stove: Houston Astros preview
By Jason Evans
Bullpens are fickle things. One minute they are going well. The next minute they implode. Here is the Astros bullpen ERA by month.
April: 2.18
May 2.70
June 2.76
July 3.34
August 2.56
September/October: 5.63
The Astros bullpen was their Achilles heal for years and they thought they had addressed it. They did. Until things unraveled in September and in the playoffs.
They signed Luke Gregorson and Pat Neshek as veteran presences to anchor the bullpen and they did that last year. Gregorson stepped right into the closer role and saved 31 games. Neshek had an ERA of 3.62. Will Harris was a waiver claim and pitched to a 1.90 ERA and struck out 68 batters in 71 innings.
Josh Fields was one of their few power arms out of the bullpen, striking out 67 in just 50 innings.
From the left side, both relievers are now free agents. Oliver Perez was brought in before the trade deadline and didn’t pitch well. Tony Sipp was excellent and could find himself a very rich man this off-season. He went 3-4 with a 1.99 ERA and over a strikeout per inning.
The Astros lack that one big power arm in the bullpen. They were linked to Aroldis Chapman before the deadline last season. Chapman is available for a trade, along with Mark Melancon, Jake McGee, Brad Boxberger, and possibly Andrew Miller, who the Astros lost out to the Yankees for in free agency last off-season.
Any of the pitchers like Vincent Velasquez, Brett Oberholtzer and Brad Peacock could be used out of the bullpen next season. This is one spot the Astros are going to have to go out and get someone whether it’s through the free agency market, which isn’t very deep this year, or trading a bat.
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