A dominant bullpen is something every MLB team wants to have.
They want to be able to have the confidence to turn the game over to the bullpen with a lead, knowing they will keep it and secure the win.
During the 2011 season, the Atlanta Braves had one of the best back ends of the bullpen in all of baseball.
With Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel closing games for the Braves, it seemed that all starters had to do was get it to the sixth inning and the trio of “O’Ventebrel” would take care of the rest.
And, it worked last year as O’Flaherty had a 0.98 ERA with 67 strikeouts in 78 games. Venters had a 1.84 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 84 games, and Kimbrel had a 2.10 ERA with 127 strikeouts in 79 games.
There’s no doubt those numbers were great and we’re still waiting to see Kimbrel and Venters can continue on that trend.
However, my question with O’Flaherty is: Was the 2011 season a fluke on the mound?
Did O’Flaherty overachieve?
As we’ve seen thus far in the 2012 campaign, O’Flaherty has struggled, giving up four earned runs in his last two appearances, including blowing a three-run lead in Friday’s eventual victory over the Brewers.
Whether it was a case of manager Fredi Gonzalez still overusing the back end of the bullpen when he has other capable relievers (even Kris Medlen, who was already pitching in the game and could have likely gone another inning) who could take care of business, or O’Flaherty struggling, I’m not sure.
One would think that having a 0.98 ERA means there was no fluke involved and that he is simply a great relief pitcher who is struggling to begin the season.
Let’s go back to the seasons before and take a look at the left-handers numbers.
Used mainly as a lefty specialist prior to last season, O’Flaherty had a 2.45 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 44 total innings (56 games) in 2010, while 2009 saw him garner a 3.04 ERA in 78 relief appearances with 39 strikeouts.
Prior to that, O’Flaherty was in Seattle, where he wasn’t even close to those numbers as he had a 5.91 ERA in 78 appearances over the course of three seasons.
So, until last season, O’Flaherty wasn’t doing particularly well at the major-league level.
Even though this season is still early, the skeptics will continue to grow if O’Flaherty continues to struggle.
Maybe all of this is due to the fact that he’s already being overused by Gonzalez this early in the season, which is one of the things that needed to change for the Braves to make it to the postseason this year.
Who knows what the reasons are and who knows if it’s too early to be bring this up?
One thing I do know: Braves’ fans aren’t going to be patient with O’Flaherty nor Gonzalez, if he is continually sent out there and struggles.
My hope is that he turns things around and gets some rest.
Chris Stephens is a featured columnist for the Atlanta Braves on Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @chris_stephens6.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com