A’s Risky Bullpen Strategy Is Creating More Problems Than It Solves
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The A's and Toronto Blue Jays are off to historic starts to their seasons. The Jays have recorded walk-off wins in each of their first two games for the first time in franchise history, while the A's have struck out 35 times combined, by far a franchise record. The previous had had been 23, set in the first two games of the 2022 campaign.
On the bright side, Shea Langeliers also added his name to A's history, becoming just the second player in franchise history with three home runs in his first two games. Al Simmons in 1930 is the other player from A's history, while 2004 Mike Piazza (while not during his A's tenure) is the only other catcher to achieve the feat in MLB history.
The fact that the A's have been in these games against the defending American League champions, despite all of the strikeouts, is likely a good sign for when they face other teams as the season goes on. Not all clubs will be as tough as Toronto.
That said, the A's bullpen is a huge work in progress, and there is one key factor that we noticed on Saturday that will hopefully not follow the club all season.
Just waiting on someone to step up
The A's are rolling with a closer by committee approach to begin the season, and this worked out very well for the club last season after the Mason Miller trade. Part of the reason for this was because they had two left-handers in the bullpen for those final two months, allowing manager Mark Kotsay to mix and match at will.
He could use one early, and then have the option to deploy Hogan Harris in close games as well. This offseason Sean Newcomb departed via free agency, signing with the Chicago White Sox, leaving the A's with just one southpaw to work with.
That's a part of the problem. The other, larger portion was how everyone was deployed out of the 'pen on Saturday.
Jeffrey Springs got the start and ended up going 5 1/3 innings, giving up five hits, two earned runs, three walks and struck out a pair. Against this tough offense, that's a solid start. Mark Leiter Jr. came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth inning, allowing the inherited runner to score, making it 2-1 Jays. Overall, he got out of the inning and didn't make things too much worse.
Then, he was sent out for the bottom of the seventh after the A's posted five runs in the top of the inning and held a 6-2 lead. Leiter had thrown just nine pitches in the sixth, so they wanted to get a little more out of him.
Instead, he hit the first batter and walked the second, leading to a quick hook. Elvis Alvarado came in, allowed an inherited runner to score, and then went to the bench with the A's up 6-3. He threw 17 pitches.
In the bottom of the eighth, Alvarado was back out there again, and he'd walk the first two batters he faced, which led to another pitching change. This time it was lefty Hogan Harris that came in, and after a fly out that moved the runner to third, a single brought home Toronto's fourth run of the game, making it 6-4.
Toronto would tack on another run to chase Harris from the game in the eighth. He tossed 17 pitches in the opener, and then another 19 on Saturday, which is some heavy usage early. Michael Kelly would take over in the eighth with the bases loaded, and got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to line out to end the threat.
Kelly, of course, was back out for the ninth with a one run lead. The second batter, Alejandro Kirk, slugged a game-tying homer. Kelly would finish the frame and send the game into extras.
At that point, Scott Barlow and Luis Medina would open up the 10th and 11th innings, and given that Medina hadn't pitched in a big league game since 2024, a tie game with an inherited runner on second is not the scenario they were hoping to deploy him in for his first game back.
Why this can't be the plan
Relief pitchers get their adrenaline up to go into a game and have success, and for the most part, that part of the strategy worked for the A's on Saturday. The problem was when they would have those pitchers sit on the bench for a half-inning, and then ask them to go back onto the mound to get as many outs as possible.
Each time a new relief pitcher came into a game, they were already in a jam with nobody out. That's not a recipe for success long term. It's easy to see that the goal was to get as many outs from guys as possible, and that's commendable.
At the same time, after decades of watching baseball, you've seen it happen enough times where a closer comes on in the eighth inning to escape a jam, and then is out of gas in the ninth. That's a scenario that is hardly unexpected. Going this route numerous times intentionally just seems like the wrong choice.
If the A's had made those pitching changes at the tops of innings, the Jays wouldn't have clawed their way back into the game.
Obviously it's very early in the season and bullpen roles are still being established. Kotsay needs to figure out which arms he can have sit on the bench and go back to the mound, and which are less likely to have success in those situations. Saturday is a data point that the A's can use to formulate their full-season strategy.
At the same time, hopefully this isn't their plan for the entire season.
For more A's news and insights, follow Jason @ByJasonB on X, or the site @InsideTheAs!
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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