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Wiedmer: Braves need to beef up bullpen today, if not sooner

The Atlanta Braves' Ender Inciarte argues a called third strike to end the sixth inning of Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies in Atlanta. The Rockies won 4-2 to complete a four-game series sweep.
The Atlanta Braves' Ender Inciarte argues a called third strike to end the sixth inning of Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies in Atlanta. The Rockies won 4-2 to complete a four-game series sweep. The Atlanta Braves' Ender Inciarte argues a called third strike to end the sixth inning of Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies in Atlanta. The Rockies won 4-2 to complete a four-game series sweep.

By Mark Wiedmer 5 min read

photo Mark Wiedmer

Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is fond of saying that any team without an inside game is a fraud.

After watching Atlanta Braves reliever A.J. Minter blow a 3-0 lead in the top of the ninth inning with nobody on, two outs and two strikes against Colorado Rockies batter Trevor Story on Saturday night – a meltdown that became the Braves’ 15th blown save of the season in the eventual 5-3, 10-inning loss – it would be easy to say that Atlanta is a fraud. That no team with so unreliable a bullpen can win in the postseason, even if it somehow can get there.

Or to use Minter’s words: “It was just pretty pathetic on my part.”

And there is little doubt that the Braves are at least flawed, if not an outright fraud regarding their relievers. Not a single pitcher leaving that bullpen at any point in the game instills confidence rather than concern. Not one.

But a quick glance at relief work throughout the National League shows that the Braves, even among legitimate playoff contenders only, are not alone in their bullpen brittleness.