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Astros’ World Series Bullpen: Train Wreck Or Trend-Setter? Will Free Agency Offer A Clue?

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  • Updated: November 11, 2017

Every year, the World Series seems to allow MLB to take a look into the microscope of what might be hip or trending in baseball. Two years ago, front offices across the land seemed to think the Kansas City Royals’ brand of small-ball and timely hitting was the way to go.

The 2016 season gave baseball execs a chance to replicate what they thought the secret was behind the Chicago Cubs’ crown-grabbing run (short of plowing through 108 calendars to get there). And, the Cubs’ AL Champion World Series competition Cleveland Indians, themselves, had a wrinkle or two worth considering, namely a dominant lefty, Andrew Miller, who did not allow a run in the first 14 postseason appearances of his career.

Eight of those games came with Cleveland in 2016 when the Indians used Miller in some of the most high-leverage moments of Cleveland’s extended postseason run, which went all the way to Game 7 of the World Series. His mastery even earned him 2016 ALCS MVP honors.

The Way of Hinch’s World

Throughout the regular season of 2017, Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch routinely let all his players know, verbally and non-verbally, in ways as varied as the men themselves, how much he trusted in their respective abilities.

If a pitcher was struggling, and common sense, “the book,” the fans, and broadcasters were screaming for relief from somewhere, Hinch listened to nothing but his gut…his heart. For Hinch, it was less about getting out of a harrowing game time moment than it was about the beleaguered pitcher’s confidence level rising or falling depending on whether Hinch took the ball from him or not.

Your payoff, then, might come in the pitcher’s next game, and Hinch was willing to flip the “human spirit” coin in the present game, even if it meant giving up another run in the current inning. More times than not, the pitcher in trouble managed to squeak out of his jam and lived to pitch another day, ego intact, and even emboldened by the confidence placed in him by his manager.

The Way of the World Series

So, what the hell happened to Houston’s bullpen in the World Series? As an overview, usually reliable regular season relievers folded in the series like weathered card tables against the Los Angeles Dodgers. None lost the confidence of his skipper more than closer Ken Giles, who didn’t pitch again after a miserable World Series Game 4, in which he failed to record an out while yielding three earned runs. Regular season starters were, thus, pressed into duty to win, frankly, all three of the Astros’ clinching games throughout the playoffs (ALDS against Boston, ALCS vs. the Yankees, and the World Series).

Curiously, in the abbreviated, intensely scrutinized “season” that is the World Series, Hinch’s avoid-ripping-their-heart-out bullpen usage and strategy was impossible to employ. There simply weren’t enough games for wounded pitchers to bandage their egos to live to see a Game 8 or 14. To his credit, the quick-thinking and stat-savvy Hinch went with arms he knew could get the outs, high-leverage or not, and in the World Series, those arms happened to belong to pitchers with “starter” attached to their resumes.

So, does that make Hinch a desperate dam-patcher or a studied baseball genius? Will front offices scurry, now, to re-align their bullpens to include one or two stud starters to go those pesky two innings that lead to their set-up guy and closer? Or, was that, for the Astros, a one-off World Series malignancy, only made necessary by the need to be the first team to log the 189 outs laid out during a seven-game series (extra innings notwithstanding)?

Related: See World Series Game 3: Astros Rain On L.A. Parade of Pitchers for a critique of the Dodgers’ World Series bullpen usage.

Free Agency: The Wait

Regardless of the answers to the previous questions, the Astros’ bullpen is likely the only component in which fans will see some movement, and hopefully, some improvement, as free agency deals fill the offseason.

The core of the Houston position player roster, and thus, its starting lineup, will remain virtually unchanged and intact, leading many pundits (including Sports Illustrated and their Ben Reiter, who so generously pinpointed 2017 as the Astros’ year to reign, back in 2014) to already pencil in Hinch’s H-Town horde to repeat in 2018.

In fact, SI‘s postseason prognosticator, Reiter, rates Houston’s bullpen this way: “It wasn’t good during the regular season, with a 4.27 ERA ranking 17th overall. It was much worse during the playoffs, and it’ll lose Tyler Clippard, Luke Gregerson and Francisco Liriano (through free agency), though they were all rarely used. Still, Ken Giles almost certainly won’t continue to be the Ken Giles of the past month.

“Brad Peacock and Collin McHugh could relinquish their spots in a newly-deepened rotation only to excel in the ‘pen. Joe Musgrove, spotty during the playoffs but a shutdown reliever over the second half, should continue to develop in that way too; he’s only 24. They could certainly use a lefty—maybe two—to replace Liriano and the effective Tony Sipp. (Colorado lefty) Jake McGee and Tony Watson, the latter of whom watched Game 7 from the Dodgers’ dugout, are the cream of the free-agent (southpaw) crop. Their agents ought to answer calls from a Houston area code this winter.”

Reiter doesn’t usually follow the Astros, so fans will question, with good reason, his use of the word “effective” to describe Sipp’s 2017 ERA (5.79 in 37.1 IP), not to mention Sipp’s non-appearance in the playoffs, and not even making the team’s World Series roster.

Bullpen: Other Possible Free Agent Gets

The Cubs’ closer Wade Davis (32 saves) and Colorado’s Greg Holland (both righties) are out there, but so are their respective salaries, so if quantity is Houston GM Jeff Luhnow’s bullpen game plan for ’18, he may have to zero in on relievers whose salaries angle just a little closer to zero.

Another Dodger might be in the Astros’ sights: Brandon Morrow, a former starter who transitioned to the ‘pen in 2016. He pitched in all seven World Series games (and lived to tell the story), taming the relentless Astro lineup in all but Game 5. He’s a groundball pitcher with a 98 MPH fastball who should command around $8 million annually on a three-year contract.

The Royals’ 30-year-old southpaw reliever Mike Minor had a 2.62 ERA with a 1.02 WHIP in 2017, after a switch from the starting rotation. 28-year-old Addison Reed logged 19 saves with the Mets before being traded to Boston in July where he worked as a reliable setup man.

34-year-old Cardinals lefty Zach Duke is a Texan (Waco), and has been a reliable reliever for a number of years. Brewers righty Anthony Swarzak could be a relatively cost-effective set-up guy (two years for around $14 million), and possesses a mid-90s fastball.

How the Astros address their bullpen prior to Spring Training will reveal a rear-view mirror peek behind the team’s World Series curtain of what seemed to be a veritable carnival funhouse of rotating arms and revolving roles.

Related: World Series Champ, Jose Altuve: With Pockets Already Filled With Postseason Awards, Is MVP Next?

Brad Kyle

Brad Kyle

Brad Ramone with (L-R) Dee Dee, Johnny, and Joey Ramone, backstage at Houston's Liberty Hall, July, 1977.

Johnny, the Ramones' influential guitarist, who passed away in 2004 at 55, was an avid baseball and New York Yankees fan since childhood. He even once ranked baseball above rock'n'roll in a personal Top 10 List!

Like Johnny, my love for rock is only equaled by my love for baseball and my hometown Houston Astros, present and past!

At TRS, you'll get full Astros coverage, minor league peeks, player profiles, interviews, MLB historical perspective, and maybe a little rock'n'roll!
Brad Kyle

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  • andrew farelli

    Well put, is TRS looking for any new writers coincidentally?

    • Brad Kyle

      Thanks for your all-too-brief compliment, Andrew! As for new writers, look for the “Jobs” link way at the bottom of the page. That’ll put you in touch with our Editor. The Astros job is already taken, I hasten to happily add! See you again soon, Andrew, either as a reader and/or as a new writer!