In adding Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards, the Blue Jays have not fixed their bullpen but have addressed its floor getting reliable relivers that can bridge that gap between starter and late relief going forward. (By ArdenZwelling)
have not fixed their bullpen. The club still needs to add higher-impact arms that pair premium velocity with swing-and-miss secondary offerings to keep runners off base and balls out of play. Guys who can protect slim, eighth-inning leads and get the ball to Jordan Romano in the ninth. In other words: some big ol’ dudes that can chuck it.
Think about the nights when a starter exits in the sixth inning with two runners on and one out. Or the times when a particularly pesky lineup runs someone’s pitch count close to 100 through five. Picture the two- or three-run leads in the sixth and seventh that need protecting with the heart of the opposition order due up. That’s where Cimber and Richards help.
Thornton’s been giving up laser beams all over the place and, after his latest rocky outing Tuesday against the Orioles in which he allowed three of the five batters he faced to score, owns MLB’s third-highest hard hit rate and 15th-highest average exit velocity allowed . That rough go also earned him a minor-league demotion Wednesday, as he seeks to rediscover the command that allows his high-spin stuff to be effective.
And right on cue, there he was jogging in from the bullpen Wednesday to take the ball following Ryu, who exited after five innings on a humid Maryland night. Now, Richards was working with an eight-run lead thanks to Toronto’s offence doing what it’s capable of against MLB’s worst pitching staff. And we know the club envisions him working in higher leverage than that.
The Blue Jays built that huge lead by taking advantage of some spotty Baltimore fielding in the first, cashing a run on an outfield drop, another on a botched double play that Randal Grichuk beat out at first base, and a third on a Cavan Biggio ground-rule double that never would have happened if the Orioles were better defensively.“I feel like you could see it in [Matt] Harvey’s body language — he thought he got an inning-ending double play,” Biggio said.