Three Teams Pirates Should Fill Coaching Vacancy From
The search for a new bullpen coach is officially underway for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pittsburgh officially announced the dismissal of Justin Meccage after he held the role for five seasons. The Pirates' bullpen ranked 27th in ERA, 10th in blown leads and was second in blown leads in the ninth inning.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said the team came to the conclusion to move on from Meccage after reviewing where things stand throughout the organization. Pittsburgh also dismissed hitting coach Andy Haines.
"After a thorough assessment, we believe these changes are necessary," Cherington said. "More broadly, over the past few months we have assessed every area of baseball operations with a focus on making the needed improvements to build a winning team in Pittsburgh. This work has touched every area of our operations: amateur, international and pro scouting; player development; player performance; R&D and our coaching staff."
Here are three teams the Pirates should look at to find the right person to become their next bullpen coach.
Cleveland Guardians
To say that the Guardians' bullpen was dominant might be an understatement.
They had a 2.57 ERA, the lowest in baseball and helped pave the way to a 92-69 record and winning the American League Central. Cleveland's bullpen also had the lowest WHIP, batting average against and allowed the second-fewest home runs.
The Guardians' dominant bullpen was anchored by closer Emmanuel Clase, who went 4-2 with a 0.61 ERA and had 47 saves, the second-most in baseball. Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis each had six wins out of the bullpen and an ERA under 2.00. Tim Herrin was also stellar, going 5.1 with a 1.92 ERA.
Few teams are better at developing and preparing their pitchers than Cleveland. Hiring someone who understands that process can help the Pirates greatly improve their bullpen next season.
Tampa Bay Rays
The ability to withstand losing players, whether it's planned or not, is a credit to an organization's ability to plan, prepare and adjust on the fly.
Few, if any, do it better than Tampa Bay. Despite moving two of their more reliable pitchers at the trade deadline, Zach Eflin and Jason Adams, the Rays' pitching staff had the second-lowest ERA in the second half, and the bullpen's 2.91 ERA was the best in all of baseball.
The odds Pittsburgh goes out to revamp its bullpen through free agency is slim to none. If it's going to improve, it has to develop the arms it has. The Rays are among the league's best at developing and preparing multiple arms to be ready to enter the fire late in the game, and hiring someone who's been instrumental in that process could go a long way toward fixing Pittsburgh's bullpen.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Pirates don't have to look far to find a team with an elite bullpen.
Milwaukee was also among the league's elite, ranking second in ERA and saves, third in batting average against and sixth in strikeouts. Of the Brewers' six relievers with at least 40 appearances, four had an ERA below 3.00.
Similarly to the Guardians, the Brewers' ability to take young arms and develop them into reliable arms out of the bullpen and have them ready to enter the game is among the league's best. Sometimes the answer to your problem is closer than you think, and adding someone from Milwaukee can help revamp the Pirates' bullpen.
