Mark Kotsay Won't Lock in Closer as Bullpen Heats Up
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WEST SACRAMENTO -- The A's bullpen has certainly had its moments this season, helping accrue three shutouts in four days last week. They've also been hit around on occasion, currently sitting with a 4.84 ERA as a group, which ranks 22nd in baseball.
We have mentioned that the A's lack of bullpen roles has looked to be detrimental to the club, but then they called up Joel Kuhnel, threw him out for a a few saves, and things started sliding into place. In the week and a half since he's been up with the A's, Kuhnel has recorded three saves, a hold, and 4 2/3 scoreless innings in key spots.
He's given up just one hit, allowed zero walks, and holds a .071 batting average against with a 0.21 WHIP. That led to manager Mark Kotsay being asked earlier this week if the plan is for the closer-by-committee option will continue all year, or if the hope is for someone to take over in the late innings.
Mark Kotsay on the A's bullpen
"Well, we're 16 games [into the season], so it's hard to say that we would make someone set in stone the closer or as a setup guy. The 'pen is kind of settling in to having some success over the last few games. It's nice to see. There's a good level of confidence down there. We'd like to keep that going.
"Again, as we said, we're never going to be definitive in terms of making someone a closer as of now. But we're also not gonna say that that can't happen as we get into the season. We really like the way the bullpen has thrown the ball over the last ten games, and we're going to continue with that mindset."
The roles of the bullpen are still fairly fluid. With Mark Leiter Jr. and Hogan Harris having pitched the previous two games, and Kuhnel tossing 24 pitches to record a four-out save on Wednesday night, Kotsay decided to roll with Justin Sterner in the ninth inning of Thursday's finale with a 6-5 lead.
The right-hander was jumped early by the Rangers, with Texas having runners on first and second just three pitches into the inning. On the fourth pitch, Kyle Higashioka bunted, Sterner fielded the ball and threw it to third, but it was too high for Darell Hernaiz, and Jake Burger came around to tie the game on the error.
Texas would add another three runs to cushion their lead, and would end up winning 9-6.
Area of need for the bullpen
As we have said a few times now, the A's could use another left-hander in the bullpen. A second lefty may have left Harris available to pitch the ninth inning on Thursday, a spot that he has shown that he's comfortable in previously, and perhaps the A's end up winning this game instead.
Sterner has been largely tremendous this season, but most of his success has come outside of the ninth inning. He was also on the mound for Opening Day, entering a tie game in the ninth on the road in Toronto, and the Blue Jays walked it off after a couple of tough bounces for the A's.
This isn't to say that Sterner can't come through in these scenarios, but there are seemingly three options the A's would prefer ahead of him in the ninth (Kuhnel, Leiter, Harris), and making sure one of them is available on a given day seems like it would be wise. How Kotsay gets to the ninth is open for interpretation.
Luis Medina's next step
In what was an under-the-radar move on Thursday, Kotsay deployed right-hander Luis Medina in the sixth inning with a 3-2 lead. While this is a low leverage situation given that it was just the sixth inning, he was also coming in with a one run lead to protect, which has not been a common occurrence for Medina during his road back from Tommy John.
Medina had two quick outs with a runner on first, but a Josh Smith double ended up tying the game at 3-3 for Texas before Medina got out of the inning without further damage.
He also got the first out in the seventh, and then allowed a single to Wyatt Langford before getting lifted after 32 pitches (19 strikes). Scott Barlow would come in and give up a two out, two-run homer to Josh Jung to give the Rangers a lead.
On the bright side, Medina was in the zone consistently and was able to rebound nicely to end the sixth after allowing the game-tying double. Kotsay has been critical of Medina for not being able to re-focus after giving up a big hit this season, so this was a step in the right direction.
The A's skipper has also said that we should expect to see more use out of Medina during the New York trip, which seemed to mean more use in leverage spots. Thursday was that first opportunity, and he finished with mixed results.
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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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