Cincinnati Reds: Ranking the best pitchers for late-game situations

Which Reds reliever do you want on the mound with the game on the line?

The Cincinnati Reds bullpen is not good. As of Wednesday, the collective ERA of the team’s relief corp is 29th in the league with a 7.52 ERA. While not expected to be the strength of this year’s squad, I don’t think anyone thought the Reds relievers would be this bad. Who should David Bell turn to with the game on the line?

It’s not like the bullpen has been overused. Having thrown just 52.2 innings, Cincinnati relievers rank 24th in terms of innings pitched, and that’s even with a handful of teams who haven’t played a full schedule. The St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins had to postpone games due to concern over COVID-19.

Despite not being physically spent, the Reds bullpen has been a train wreck. Michael Lorenzen looks like a shell of his former self, Amir Garrett let a 5-3 lead slip away on Tuesday night, and the addition of Nate Jones has yet to produce expected results. Jones has a 4.26 ERA in 6.1 innings of work and has surrendered two home runs.

The Reds bullpen is anything but reliable, but David Bell has to have some arms he can turn to late in games. With exciting choices few and far between, we tried to narrow down who we’d hand the ball to with the game on the line. Bell’s choices are not promising, but some hurlers offer a better pedigree than others.