The Rockies must improve their bullpen before the trade deadline

DENVER, CO – JUNE 20: Adam Ottavino #0 of the Colorado Rockies pitches in the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field on June 20, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The Colorado Rockies bullpen has scuffled in 2017 as they have an ERA of 4.43.

We have mentioned before that the Rockies need to improve their bullpen desperately before the trade deadline in 11 days. They have an ERA of 4.43, which is 22nd in baseball. There are a copious amount of relievers on the market and, obviously, depending on the quality, are fairly easy to get. But the Rockies are in need of at least one top quality reliever and at least one other reliever.

The bullpen in April

The bullpen had an ERA of 4.28 in 90 1/3 innings of work. However, the stats for the batters facing them were good (from a Rockies perspective). They hit .229 with an on-base percentage of .299 with a .340 slugging percentage and only seven home runs and 78 hits against them. Their strikeout to walk ratio was excellent as it was nearly 3:1 (as it was 2.94:1).

May

The ERA improved as it was 3.81 in 89 2/3 innings of work but the batters stats were not as good as April. They hit .246 with a .318 on-base percentage and a .396 slugging percentage. They gave up 11 home runs and 84 hits and had a strikeout to walk ratio was 2.71:1.

June

As you might expect with the Rockies eight game losing streak in June, the bullpen’s numbers were awful. A 5.18 ERA in 92 innings of work with an opponent’s batting average of .258, a .335 on-base percentage, and a .450 slugging percentage all while allowing 15 home runs and 91 hits. Their strikeout to walk ratio dropped once again to 2.49:1.

July

The ERA improved from June as it is 4.40 in 47 innings pitched in the month but opponent batting average is much higher (.275), a .337 on-base percentage which is a tad higher, a .489 slugging percentage while giving up 10 home runs, and having a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.33:1.

In the months of June and July alone, the Rockies bullpen ERA has been an atrocious 4.92 in 139 innings. Adam Ottavino‘s ERA alone has gone up from 2.45 to 5.56 in June and July (and at one point, after his appearance on July 4 when he gave up three earned runs, his ERA was 6.00).

The importance of a strong bullpen in the postseason

In the past three seasons of postseason play, the team with the highest bullpen ERA in the regular season was the 2016 Texas Rangers. They had an ERA of 4.40, which was 25th in baseball. They did not win a game in the postseason. Only the Toronto Blue Jays had next worst bullpen (by ERA) at 4.11. No other postseason teams had an ERA higher than 3.65.

In the past ten World Series (going back to 2007 when the Rockies made their only World Series appearance), no team has had a bullpen ERA higher than the 2011 Texas Rangers at 4.11. Of teams that have won the World Series since 2007, no team has had a bullpen ERA higher than the 2009 New York Yankees with their bullpen ERA of 3.91.

Since 2010, no team has won the World Series with a bullpen ERA higher than the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, at 3.73. The second worst bullpens of World Champion teams since 2010 is a tie with the 2016 Chicago Cubs and 2012 San Francisco Giants with a bullpen ERA of 3.56.

Final Thoughts

As mentioned, there are plenty of options on the market to help the bullpen (some of which were highlighed in this article at Purple Row and these two articles here at Rox Pile). It will be addressed before the trade deadline but the quality and, potentially, the quantity of the relievers matters.