August 3, 2009 -Atlanta, GAOne of the big question marks at the beginning of the year about this 2009 edition of the Atlanta Braves was the bullpen. Could they improve over the 2008 pen, which was racked with injuries and riddled with inconsistant outings which let a number of wins slip away in late innings?
The answer seems be "Not really...but..."
Not Really.....Injury to set-up man Mike Gonzalez landed him on the DL with the earliest possible return date in mid-September. Closer Rafael Soriano has between alternating between brilliant, so-so, and just awful to the point that Bobby Cox has little qualms about pulling him if he shows signs of an unsteady performance. The same is true about Blaine Boyer, who has been relegated to mostly mop-up duty. Buddy Carlyle (recently shipped to Washinton), Jeff Bennent, Boone Logan, and Jorge Campillo have all had turns in the Braves bullpen, but, because poor performances, were optioned down to Gwinnett (AAA) .
But...Performances of acquisitions Brian Moeller (3.81), Brian Bass (3.15), Danny Herrera (3.38), Justin Mallett (2.16) and set-up man Peter Moylan (3.42) have raised the bullpen's ERA ranking from dead-last in the NL to 9th (4.36).
Whether Soriano can stop his alternating pattern (ERA for April-7.54, May-0.00, June-5.93, July-1.59) and the incremental improvement in the rest of the pen will be enough the raise the Braves into the playoffs remains to be seen. Another factor to watch would be some improvement in how deep into the game the Braves' starters can go. Also, can the Braves' surprisingly strong offense keep up their league leading pace?
Well, hang on... it's time for the stretch run where it will all shake out.
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