The Bullpen from Heck

An evil spawned from Hell itself? nah, it's not like that. Hell is such a serious term, a strong word. It lacks the humor this bullpen has produced as we cry tears of sadness and disbelief into our collective beers after another blown lead. The Guardians' own social media team made a DPODAWUND-esque miscue with their pre-All-Star break promo image on Twitter (featured above) listing the ERA stat twice with two different numbers and rankings. It's been that kind of season for the bullpen: really close to showing how good they are, but failing in hilarious ways. It's not Hell, but it is Heck.In heaven, there is no beer. And this bullpen will drive you to drink...more. If you listen to baseball talk long enough, someone will eventually tell you that relievers are unpredictable from year to year. The best usually stay the best, but for most everyone else, it's a crapshoot. Cleveland has seen some terrible bullpens with middle and setup guys (and 2007 closer Joe Borowski) carrying ERAs over 5, yet still being counted on to pitch close to every other game. While the 2023 Guardians bullpen has more talent and better numbers than the actual Bullpens from Hell of the past, seemingly every reliever this year has found time to blow their chances to keep games in the win column.As Eli Morgan didn't even turn to watch a home run ball fly just past the leaping glove of Steven Kwan at the left field wall against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, I found myself making a classic Major League quote to myself: That can't get out, it's too high, too high to be a homer. But no ball is too high to leave the yard when this bullpen comes in, and no lead is safe either. I wouldn't wanna watch it either, Eli, but like a car crash, you can't help it. Never just a guy or a couple of guys letting leads go off the track, this pen has a new main character seemingly every game. Morgan is just the latest twist of the knife in the grim-but-funny 2023 story. Every pitcher has taken the dips in the roller coaster. Even the 2023 pitching staff Flex Seal man (new bullpen role moniker?) Xzavion Curry couldn't keep himself out of the pits when he couldn't find the strike zone before giving up the game-ending sac fly to LaMonte Wade Jr. yesterday, scoring Patrick Bailey from 3rd just ahead of a throw from Kwan.Emmanuel Clase, an All-Star this year, pitched the 9th inning and kept the Giants game knotted at 5-5 to rescue the game after Morgan while playing his sixth game in eight nights, a heroic effort. Maybe the best reliever in baseball last year, he might find a way to lead the majors in saves (40) and BLOWN saves (11), as he's currently on pace to do. Clase also finds himself much worse in most statistics this year compared to his dominant 2021 and 2022. He's posting the worst WHIP of his career (1.140) and he's given up more barrels this year (10) than he did in his entire Major League career previously combined (9). So while the ERA this year being double what it was last year may be some dumb luck and some poor defense up the middle and from Clase himself of the mound, there are underlying issues that pop as well. That means the bullpen issues are his fault, right? Well, one man does not a bullpen make.Trevor Stephan is tied for 4th in the majors with 7 blown saves. He has gone on weeks-long streaks of being The Guy in the 8th inning or later, even entering mid-May with a 1.45 ERA. But despite still owning a respectable 3.38 ERA and a SO9 just under 10, Stephan has found himself giving up at least 3 earned runs in appearances of an inning or less 3 separate times since June, including two-thirds of an inning and 5 earned runs allowed just last week against the Twins. Enyel De Los Santos has either given up zero runs or at least 2 runs in every outing since July, including 4 allowed in that 20-6 hellish nightmare that all but sealed the Guardians division fates against the Twins, again, last week. Don't even get me started on the David Fry four-inning fiasco. Coming into that Twins game, he hadn't allowed an earned run all year! Then he gives up 7 runs in 4 innings? UNBELIEVABLE! (This has been the funny part of Heck, thank you for stopping by) The final reliever featured in that Twitter graphic is Sam Hentges, he of the big lefty fastball and breaking ball, but also an ERA near 4, the April lost to injury, and the sinister July in which he had as many scoreless outings as he did outings where he gave up at least 2 runs (5 each).  In classic comedic fashion, he has yet to allow an earned run since July ended. You take the good, you take the bad, and there you have the facts of Heck.Some of the blame must go to the starting rotation, as the bullpen has been leaned on hard for most of the season. Clase leads the team in appearances with 69, Stephan is second with 66, followed by 62 for De Los Santos and 54 each for Morgan and the ever-mercurial Nick Sandlin. Even Hentges, who missed a month, has made 49 appearances so far. Clase and Stephan rank in the top 5 in the majors. Manager Terry Francona has been left to navigate getting almost nothing from starters Triston McKenzie and Zach Plesac, long injury layoffs for Shane Bieber and Cal Quantrill, and the trade of Aaron Civale leaving mostly rookies (really good ones) and castoffs (mostly bad ones) to fill the gaps in the rotation this year. A lost season like this can feel like a waste of effort, service time, and José's prime, but hopefully, the rookie starters will take the experience and run with it out of the gates next year. That should leave the relievers room to take more nights off and hopefully stay sharp to avoid overexposure.And hopefully, the bullpen takes this whole season and flushes it down the toilet, back to the Heck it came from. The lesson here is, if you're going through Heck, keep going.