by Amaury Pi Gonzalez
photo credit: AP A’s pitcher Ryan Madson
OAKLAND–From the very beginning of the 2015 season, the Athletics had a huge problem with the once very dependable bullpen, they lost lefty Sean Doolittle, and the wheels totally came off that bullpen, which proved to be one of the weakest departments of the team. The Athletics this weekend gave Ryan Madson a 3-year deal worth $22 million to work in relief. He comes from the 2015 World Champion Kansas City Royals, and his role was basically pitching in the seventh inning on a team with the best bullpen in the game, and with Kelvin Herrera and Wade David owning the eight and ninth innings.
Pending a physical Ryan Madson, the 35 year old righty will be wearing the Oakland A’s uniform come Spring Training. This 2015 campaign could and should be put inside a dumpster for the Oakland Athletics. They finished with the worse record in the American League 68-94(that’s a percentage of .420 baseball)only the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnatti Reds had a lower percentage in Major League Baseball. Their hitting was not the problem, their starting pitching was not the problem, but when it came to defense and relief from the bullpen the A’s were bleeding seriously all season long.
We all know that in today’s game nobody can win without a good bullpen, since rarely a starter goes eight or nine innings, teams like the Royals are telling everybody that you do not need nine innings from anybody starting, heck, give me 5 2/3 and I can be happy, if,(again if)you have a bullpen like that of the World Champions. The familiar names that we saw jogging from the bullpen this year for the A’s were
Alvarez, Mujica, Otero, Scribner, Clippard, Cook, Abad, Rodriguez, O’Flaherty Doolittle, and others, obviously these guys were not a winning combination.
Ryan Madson missed all of the 2012, 2013, and 2014 season with Tommy John surgery, after hurting his elbow with the Cincinnati Reds in 2012, then went to the Los Angeles Dodgers but never really finished his come back. However, Madson did contribute to the Royals championship season in 2015 as he appeared in 68 games from the bullpen with a 2.13 earned run average and 58 strikeouts, late in the season he was throwing his fastball up to 96 miles per hour. The Athletics are counting on him to come out of a better bullpen in 2016. It is believed the Dodgers and the Athletics where the two teams at the end with a chance to sign Madson, and now we know the A’s have him.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for A’s baseball and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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