It was an all too familiar scene for Tribe fans on Friday as the Cleveland Indians squandered a 7-0 lead and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in an 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The simple truth is this: the Cleveland bullpen is a joke, a sham and an embarrassment. In 22 games this season, the Cleveland bullpen has let the opposing team take the lead in 11 games while the Tribe was either leading or tied, even giving up the lead twice in two seperate games. Of the situations in which they did not give up the lead, the bullpen still allowed the opposing team to score on four occasions. Cleveland’s pen currently boasts a 5.53 ERA, allowing 77 runs in 125.2 innings.
After Friday’s loss, Indians manager Eric Wedge finally said what Cleveland fans have been thinking throughout the season.
“We’ve got to pitch,” Wedge said. “Hell, it was 9-0 Thursday and we barely won. Tonight we’re up 7-0 and lose the ballgame.
“When you score seven runs, you should be up at home plate tension free,” Wedge said. “Our guys aren’t tension free because they know they have to score more runs. That’s ridiculous at this level.
“I respect the hell out of these position players,” Wedge said. “You can only get kicked in the face so many times.
“Our guys keep getting up because that’s what they do,” Wedge said. “But those guys standing on the [mound] have to start holding up their end of the bargain.”
Normally I’d be against a manager throwing his entire pitching staff under the bus, but in this case it was well warranted. If this Indians team didn’t relinquish the lead in just eight of those aforementioned 11 games, the Tribe would be in first place. Instead, they are firmly seated in dead last at 14-25, just one week removed from sole possession of the worst record in baseball.
The biggest issue has been lefty reliever Rafael Perez, whose 15.19 ERA has earned him a demotion to the Columbus Clippers, the Indians’ Triple-A Minor League affiliate. Perez, a two-pitch pitcher, possesses one of the most devastating sliders in all of baseball along with a low-90s fastball. Unfortunately for the Tribe, Perez has been unable to locate his slider this season, causing him to lean heavily on his fastball. For example, in 2007 and 2008, Perez threw his fastball 48.5 and 50.3 percent of the time throughout the season, resulting in a 1.78 and 3.54 ERA, respectively. In 2009, Perez’s lack of control has forced him to throw his fastball nearly 68 percent of the time, leading to batters teeing off on him at a .387 average, including an astounding 96 percent contact percentage on pitches inside the strike zone.
Perez is nowhere near the only issue in the bullpen as Jensen Lewis (4.50), Rafael Betancourt (4.95), Kerry Wood (5.84), Joe Smith (7.11), and Masa Kobayashi (8.38) have all struggled throughout the season with plus-four ERAs. Wood was signed in the offseason with a two-year, $20.5 million contract. Smith was acquired from the New York Mets in a three-way trade which sent outfielder Franklin Guitérrez to Seattle, and has since been sent down to Columbus. Kobayashi was removed from the active and 40-man rosters on Sunday.
Cleveland attempted to help fill a void in the pen this weekend with the addition of 11-year veteran Luis Vizcaino after he was designated for assignment earlier this season by the Chicago Cubs. Vizcaino, who had worked 3.2 scoreless innings this season for Chicago, gave up a game-winning home run to the first batter he faced in an Indians’ uniform.
If the Indians want to contend, they must get more production from their bullpen. Astros’ reliever José Valverde has been rumored to be available, as well as Rockies’ reliever Huston Street. One internal option would be Hector Rondon, who is 5-1 with a 1.95 ERA in Double-A this season for the Akron Aeros.
One thing is for sure, without a turnaround from the Cleveland bullpen, the Indians will once again be spectators come October.
— Zach Davis is the Sports Editor and a senior majoring in communication.
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