Cleveland Indians: Can the bullpen be better than last year?

The Cleveland Indians have one of the best bullpen duos in baseball with Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. But after some free agent losses, can the rest of the group pick up the slack.

The depth of the Indians bullpen took a hit this winter with the departures of Bryan Shaw, Joe Smith, and Boone Logan. With those guys gone, can be bullpen be as good as it was last year?

In 2017, the Tribe’s bullpen had the lowest ERA and WHIP in all of baseball. They had the second best walk rate and were top-five in strikeouts per nine, hits per nine, and home runs per nine. So overall, that’s an outstanding bullpen. This means the bar is set pretty high for the 2018 group.

That being said, there are some question marks for this bullpen. Who takes over for Shaw and Smith? Can they do the job as well as their predecessors? Right now, the presumed replacements are Nick Goody and Tyler Olson. As for their success in their new roles, that is still to be determined.

There’s obviously plenty of promise with those two. Goody performed extremely well last season, to the tune of a 2.80 ERA and striking out nearly 12 batters per nine. As for Olson, much has already been made about his 0.00 ERA in 20 innings last year.

Olson, obviously, will not be able to keep that perfect ERA over a whole season, but it’s a good sign of things to come for him and for the Cleveland Indians. Goody was nearly able to cut his ERA in half from his time with the Yankees and is on track to repeat his success in an Indians uniform.

What about the rest of the bullpen?

Allen and Miller are both in their contract years in 2018. You can bet that they will take their performance to the next level this season, not only to maximize their earning power in free agency, but to bring a World Series title to Cleveland while they’re here. The Cleveland Indians would obviously love to keep both, but can probably only afford to keep one.

Regardless, this season, the bullpen can be as good as it was in 2017. The addition of Matt Belisle is also a nice piece that makes up for some of that valuable depth that was lost in free agency. I would guess that Belisle makes the roster coming out of spring training. And there are plenty of other relievers with big league experience in camp with guys like Alexi Ogando, Carlos Torres, and Neil Ramirez.

The big names might not be there in the middle of the bullpen anymore, but with the young talent of Goody and Olson, along with the experience of Belisle, Miller, and Allen, this has the makings of a great bullpen that could once again be one of the best in baseball.

Next: Who will win the hottest camp battles?

A lot of this bullpen success depends on the growth of Goody and Olson. If they pitch like they did last year, they should be every bit as good in their new roles.