It's Hard To See The Light From Way Back In The Tunnel

Things have officially gotten ugly. When your General Manager trades away most of the current talent on the team, its quite possible to see a swoon or two before the ship is righted. Right now we're in a maelstrom.

Our Buccos have lost 8 in a row, and the majority of those losses can be handed to the bullpen. Dejan Kovacevic wrote about it today in the PG, you can read it for yourself. The bullpen has no talent left (besides Capps). Trading away John Grabow, although done in good faith by Neal Huntingdon, has left the bullpen in shambles. When one of your "reliable" relievers happens to be Jesse Chavez, things aren't good.

As a result, John Russell has suddenly become trigger happy with using his bullpen. Yesterday, he takes a cruising Zach Duke out with one out in the 8th and brings in Matt Capps. Yes, Matt Capps. With one out in the 8th. Matt Capps < Jonathan Papelbon. Matt Capps < Mariano Rivera. He immediately gives up a two-run shot to Skip Schumaker, and then hits Albert Pujols, earning himself an ejection. So now who does Russell bring in? You guessed it: Jesse Chavez. Needless to say, game over.

This incident is just the latest in a disturbing trend for Russell. John has highlighted some in his recaps (taking out Chavez for Hanrahan...its like trading a revolver for rat poison). But I will say that he shouldn't take all the blame. The bottom line is this: there is no talent left in the bullpen. No lead is safe. Sure, Matt Capps is still a capable closer and has had a solid year, but the chances of the bullpen giving him a lead in the 9th inning has gone way way down.

How would you manage the bullpen? If I were in Russell's shoes, I'd have no clue. Its hard to manage when you have no talent to work with. I don't fault him for trying different things. I don't fault him for trying to get everyone innings, they do need the experience. But for those fans thinking this current group of players could somehow turn it around to .500 despite all of the trades, this is your wake up call. It won't happen. Not with this bullpen.