Major League Baseball

The bullpen isn't as bad as you think

Published Apr. 23, 2015 10:31 p.m. ET

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The Pirates have blown some late leads, but over a 162-game season that is bound to happen.

Now that doesn't make the losses any easier to digest, but it is important to maintain perspective throughout the rough patches of a 162-game baseball season.

Mark Melancon has struggled, the entirety of the Pirates bullpen has not.

However, when the closer struggles, it is a never a good sign. So what should the Pirates do?

According to Bucs Dugout, there are a few options:

“One off-the-wall option might be to bring Charlie Morton off the DL as a reliever, rather than bumping Vance Worley or Jeff Locke to the bullpen. Morton's electric stuff could play up in shorter spurts, and the stress on his body would be attenuated.

Ultimately, the Pirates need to decide whether Melancon can regain his velocity in the near future--this probably means identifying the root cause of his velocity loss, whether it's an unidentified injury or the change in his release point. If he's going to be working in the upper 80s, Hurdle is faced with the difficult proposition of moving on from a player who has, over the last two years, been the steadiest presence in the Pittsburgh bullpen.”

(h/t: Bucs Dugout)

Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

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