Rangers’ bullpen hasn’t met preseason expectations

Going into spring training in February and into Opening Day last month, the bullpen was the unit that was going to make the Texas Rangers’ season, not break it.

The four primary late-inning relievers from 2015 were back, along with the additions of a former closer in Seattle and a former star closer in Japan.

The bullpen was thought to be one of the best in baseball and certainly one of the deepest, if not the deepest. There would be enough work for everyone so that no one would carry too much of a workload and all would stay fresh throughout the season. The Rangers could roll out three shutdown relievers every night.

It all looked so good on paper, a paper that after one-quarter of the season has been wadded up and tossed. Or maybe run through a shredder. Or possibly set on fire.

Rangers relievers entered an off day Thursday with the worst ERA (5.61) and most home runs surrendered (26) in the American League, saved only by the Cincinnati Reds in both categories from being the worst in major league baseball.

Tom Wilhelmsen, the former Mariners reliever, woke up in El Paso as a member of Triple A Round Rock. Shawn Tolleson woke up back in Texas as the Rangers’ former closer.

Overworked on the back end and mostly ineffective in losing situations, the Rangers’ bullpen has a great deal of work to do to reach the perfect-on-paper preseason expectations that they have failed to meet through 41 games.

“There’s still a lot, a lot, of season left,” Tolleson said Wednesday. “Things definitely haven’t gone like we thought they would to start the year, but I think we just have to continue to believe in the guys we have here.

“The stuff’s there for everybody. We just have to find a groove and right it and try to get on a good string.”

The biggest issue hasn’t been a lack of execution, said manager Jeff Banister, but a lack of rest. That one begets the other.

While six other AL teams have logged more bullpen innings, newly anointed closer Sam Dyson has appeared in 20 games, which was tied for third in the league, and left-hander Jake Diekman was in a group tied for 10th with 19 games.

Tolleson has been in 18. Tony Barnette, who has transitioned well from Japan, has 17 appearances.

Rangers starters have frequently worked deep into games and kept the Rangers close, posting a league-best 27 quality starts. With the games still in the balance, that has meant more work for the key relief pieces, and a league-high 20 decisions (9-11). The bullpen ranks third in MLB in wins but also has the third-most losses, sixth of them coming via an MLB-high six walk-offs.

The April injury to Keone Kela (bone spur) has also played a role in the innings piling up on the primary setup men. It’s a pace that Banister said isn’t sustainable.

“I just can’t keep rolling those guys out there every night,” Banister said. “We need those guys for the long term.”

Dyson and Diekman didn’t pitch in the three-game sweep at Oakland, but part of that was by design. As Tolleson was giving away the game Tuesday in his fourth blown save of the season, Dyson wasn’t warming behind him.

Now, Dyson has been charged with closing out games, which he’s done twice this season and did three times in 2015, including Game 1 of the AL Division Series.

His goal is to treat the ninth as he would the seventh or eighth, where there are big outs to be recorded, too. His mid- to upper-90s velocity plays well, though with a power sinker he isn’t necessarily a strikeout pitcher. Opponents, though, have only a .219 average and .292 slugging percentage against him since he was acquired July 31.

Opponents have a .494 slugging percentage against Tolleson in the same time frame, a number that balloons to .641 this season, along with a 9.20 ERA.

Dyson’s 2016 ERA sits at 1.89.

“In the ninth inning you’re the last guy standing. You’re the last guy on the island. There’s really no one coming in to save the game behind you. It’s kind of a little more pressure, but you try to treat it the same as any other inning.”

The bullpen’s turnaround begins with him closing out games. Diekman and rookie Matt Bush will bridge the gap to him. Once Kela returns from the disabled list and if Tolleson and Wilhelmsen return to form, the Rangers’ depth will be restored.

But the bullpen that was supposed to make the Rangers’ season, not break it, was never going to be reliant on ifs. The unit still has time save its season.

“It’s May,” Banister said. “It’s not July. It’s not August. It’s not September. I still believe in this bullpen.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Rangers’ bullpen hasn’t met preseason expectations."