Braves bullpen full of All-Stars

Could this be Atlanta's best bullpen in the last decade?

The bullpen did not seem to be a priority for the Braves this offseason, and yet their first big move was to sign free agent reliever Will Smith.

A few weeks ago, the Braves brought back Darren O’Day, and then on November 19 they re-signed Chris Martin.

So, the bullpen, at least on paper, looks stacked. In fact, it might look better than it’s looked in years. Add Smith to O’Day, Martin, along with Mark Melancon and Shane Greene and the Braves might have the best bullpen in the sport.

Let’s remember some of the good things the relievers who were acquired before the trade deadline did after their initial issues getting adjusted to the Braves.

Martin struggled in his first four games, allowing five earned runs on five hits in 3.1 innings. But after that, in his final 16 games of the regular season, Martin had an ERA of 1.88, with three earned runs allowed on 12 hits in 14.1 innings, no walks and 18 strikeouts.

The “no walks” part is likely why the Braves brought him back for the next two years. They had so many issues last year with walks from relievers that it’s a relief to see one who will not have that problem.

Greene was supposed to be the closer when he was acquired from the Tigers, but instead his first three games caused manager Brian Snitker to switch to Melancon for the role. Greene allowed five runs on eight hits in 3.0 innings. But after those three games, when Greene was moved to a setup job, he did well. Greene had a 2.49 ERA in the final 24 games of the regular season, with six runs allowed on 17 hits in 21.2 innings, four walks and 18 strikeouts.

Melancon had just one horrible game to inflate his numbers, on that Saturday night in August in Miami. He allowed four runs on four hits in 0.1 innings. Take away that one bad game and Melancon’s numbers would have included a 2.18 ERA, five earned runs in 20.2 innings, only two walks and 23 strikeouts.

And let’s not forget how outstanding O’Day was in the first 10 years of his career. From 2009 through 2018, before last season, O’Day had a 2.39 ERA in 547 games, with 543 strikeouts and only 370 hits allowed in 511.2 innings of work. Those are Peter Moylan-type numbers.

Four of these relievers – Smith (2019), Greene (2019), O’Day (2015) and Melancon (2013, 2015, 2016) – have been in the All-Star Game. There are not many bullpens that have four former All-Stars on the roster.

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