Rizzo looking for answers from "struggling" bullpen

General manager Mike Rizzo went over the injury report prior to Wednesday's series finale against the Phillies but also touched on the problems the bullpen is having keeping opponents off the board late in games. In the Mets series, the Nationals bullpen allowed eight runs on 11 hits in the eighth inning alone.

It has been only four games, but individual numbers have been somewhat brutal. Matt Grace's ERA is 20.25 in three games. Jeremy Hellickson allowed three hits last night, including Bryce Harper's two-run homer. Wander Suero's ERA is 27.00 for two appearances. Trevor Rosenthal has allowed five runs without recording an out. Tony Sipp has a 13.50 ERA in two games.

Kyle Barraclough and Grace both have appeared in three games. Because they have faced deficits in every game, the Nats have had only one save opportunity, and Sean Doolittle has had just one appearance, in which he actually had to pitch in two innings.

Rizzo said he needs his relievers to throw strikes and, when they get to two strikes, put the batter away.

"The bullpen's struggling," Rizzo said. "There's no other way to put it. We need to be more aggressive in the strike zone. We need to follow the game plan. We need to perform like the back of their baseball card says. We're talking about a bullpen that the history says we've got guys with sub-2.00 ERAs, sub-3.00 ERAs, with 140 saves in their careers. And an All-Star or two sprinkled in there. We feel good about the skill set of them. Now we have to put the skill set into the performance and get the guys that we signed to perform like they're supposed to."

Davey Martinez said that, despite the bullpen's early struggles, he must, as a manager, show trust and confidence in the relievers so they can get through this early-season rough spot. He needs to be confident in them because these are the guys who will need to get outs throughout the season, not just in the first week in April.

"Right now, I've got to trust those guys," Martinez said. "They're here and every one of them's got to pitch. The guys that pitched yesterday, for example, I trust those guys in those situations. It didn't work out. But they have to pitch in those situations. They really do. We've got to get Rosy back in there, obviously. But we've got to build confidence with these guys.

"These guys are going to help us win a lot of games. I know it. Just got to continue to put them out there. I watched the game last night when I got home. They've just got to make better pitches, coming in. A lot of times, we get two strikes on guys and we're not making that putout pitch. We're giving them too many opportunities to either foul balls off or get back in the at-bat. We've got to start putting guys away."

Rizzo, appearing earlier today on Sports Radio 106.7 The Fan, likened Rosenthal's situation of returning from major injury to what Greg Holland went through at the start of last season. The veteran struggled early on with the Cardinals, but after he was acquired by the Nats he started to return to the form he showed with the Rockies in 2017. He sees Rosenthal getting going as he builds innings this season too.

"I think his stuff is there and I think the endurance is getting there," Rizzo said. "I think durability is getting there, but he hasn't pitched in two years and we've got to knock the rust off. We know he's a capable pitcher, he's a healthy pitcher and we need to knock the rust off him and get to him perform the way we think he can."

But is the Rosenthal arm strength where it should be? Can he be strong for longer outings?

"He's regained most, if not all of his arm strength," Rizzo said. "We think the arm strength is there, but he's trying to get a feel for his slider to get that back, and he's thrown a couple good changeups. So we're just waiting for him to knock the rust off and get into kind of relief-pitching mode where he can go back-to-back days and you can kind of rely on him late in games."

So, with all the issues with the bullpen, would Rizzo consider switching roles for his relievers? Turn guys into specialists? Maybe use Hellickson as a long man before he gets his first scheduled start, presumably April 10 at Philadelphia?

"Well I think there's always a pecking order, and guys are experienced in certain roles," Rizzo said. "But I think we have to find a comfort level and comfort zone for some of these guys, and we've seen glimpses of guys throwing extremely well and some guys not performing like they're supposed to.

"So, we're encouraged by a couple of the guys in a couple of appearances, but in general we've got to perform much better as a bullpen. Because we know their capabilities are to be a really good, solid bullpen, because they've performed in the past and we expect them to do it again."