Pittsburgh Pirates homestand report card for week of 5/25-5/30

Bullpen – the good

Tyler Glasnow is thriving in the ‘pen. The tall fireballer was lights out in his appearances Saturday and Tuesday night and should see time in more high-leverage situations going forward. Kyle Crick looked comfortable in the setup role last night, and could see some time in the eighth inning while Edgar Santana and Michael Feliz figure things out. Aside from those two things, it’s hard to find positives out of the bullpen at the moment.

Bullpen – the bad

For most of this season, the ‘pen has been awesome.  Santana,  Feliz and Richard Rodriguez have all shown flashes of brilliance over the first two months. This week, however, they stunk, and there’s no way to sugarcoat that.

The bullpen blew two games that should have been in the win column, with Feliz and Felipe Vazquez falling apart Sunday afternoon, and Santana doing the same Tuesday night. I’m not ready to dismiss this unit as unreliable yet, and I think it would be premature to do so. But until most of these relievers establish themselves as being capable for at least a full season, there will be doubt, and rightfully so. This unit has the talent to be a strong point of this team, but the consistency just hasn’t shown up yet.

All of that said, Vazquez bounced back with scoreless 9th innings on Tuesday and Wednesday night which included a save on Wednesday.