Theo Epstein has a history of aggressively finding and solving for potential fatal flaws within his Major League roster. While it’s hard to consider a bullpen highlighted by the best closer in baseball a fatal flaw, Theo Epstein has to be looking very closely at his bullpen’s performance of late and thinking just that.
Let’s get one thing out of the way before we start, Jonathan Papelbon has been nothing short of phenomenal this season. Of his two recent blown saves, one was very clearly a result of Julio Lugo’s error and a few not well hit balls. Outside of the one outing in Minnesota, Papelbon has done what is expected of him every time he has been handed the ball.
Getting to Papelbon has to be Theo’s major concern at this point of the season.
Above is the bullpen’s aggregate stats sorted by “Leverage Index”.
