Poll time: How much confidence do you have in the Jays bullpen?

Our bullpen seems to have taken a turn to the better, since the trade deadline. It’s strange, because we didn’t have a huge overturn at the deadline. We traded Drew Storen for Joaquin Benoit, which none of us considered a big win and we sent Jesse Chavez to the Dodgers for Mike Bolsinger, which, unfortunately for Jesse, was addition by subtraction.

Our relievers ERA by month:

April: 4.10

May: 3.54

June: 5.57

July: 3.42

August: 2.66

Reliever’s ERA can be a kind of misleading thing, if you would rather OPS my month:

April: .757

May: .733

June: .795

July: 658

August: .605

Gibby seems to have fairly narrowly defined the roles of the guys in the pen.

Roberto Osuna: Our closer. Gibby seems to have gone to the idea that he doesn’t pitch more than an inning at a time, after using him for 4 or 5 out saves earlier in the season. He’s given up 1 earned in 5 innings (a solo homer) in August after not allowing a run in July. Batters have hit .167/.250/.389 against him this month.

Jason Grilli: 8th inning man: He’s been amazing. He allowed just 2 hits (both home runs) in 10 innings in July. He’s allowed 2 hits (a single and a triple) in 6 innings this month. Since July 1 batters have hit .081/.151/.244. I have a hard time believing he can keep this up but he’s been a lot of fun to watch.

Joaquin Benoit: 7th inning man: He hasn’t given up an earned run as a Blue Jay. There seems to have been a fair bit of luck involved. He’s allowed 5 hits and 5 walks in his 7.2 innings. It does seem that a lot of hard hit balls have found gloves. I keep thinking an inning is going to blow up on him, sooner or later. I’d be ok with it being later.

Brett Cecil: LOOGYish: Gibby seems to be using Brett when there are a couple of lefties coming up or when one of the other late inning guy needs a day off. I’d rather Brett as 7th inning guy over Benoit, if it was up to me. Brett has give up 1 hit (a solo homer) this month and 1 walk, with 8 strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Nice to see him pitching like the Cecil of old again.

Joe Biagini: The guy that can pitch more than an inning, or pitch in games we are winning but it isn’t a save situation or whenever Gibby decides to us him: He’s been amazing. He’s pitched 6.2 innings without allowing an earned run this month. Batters are hitting .174/.174/.304 against him. He hasn’t allowed run since July 5. I’d rather him in higher leverage spots than Benoit, but I like the idea of him doing multiple innings.

Scott Feldman: Mopup/when no one else is available: He’s pitched in 5 games, as a Jay, and give up runs in 3 of them. Batters have hit .448/.467/.517 in his time as a Jay. Bad luck for him to have a couple of bad outings when he joins the new team, but it’s going to take him a good stretch to get into Gibby’s good books.

Ryan Tepera or who ever is in that last spot in pen at any given moment: Mopup/ last resort: I’m sure this is Tepera’s longest stint, of his 6, with the Jays. A good contest would be to guess when Terpera starts his next drive to Buffalo.

Anyway, the point of this was to ask ‘How much confidence do you have in the Jays bullpen?’ Would you like them to look for upgrades. I would like a second lefty of some value. I’d be ok with them bringing up Aaron Loup for the job. He has a 1.26 ERA in Buffalo, though he’s been hit pretty hard in his last few appearances. He’s given up 7 hits in his last 3 inning.

It’s possible that Francisco Liriano will move to the pen at some point. He has been much better vs. lefties this season: .747 OPS against LHP, .848 OPS against RHP.

Tell us what feel about the pen and what you would like to see the front office try to do?