The Chicago White Sox bullpen has had a tough season so far. It doesn’t seem as if any of the guys that are currently a part of the bullpen are doing much to help the White Sox hold onto and win games. Everyone that’s currently in the bullpen is guilty.
Guys like Kendall Graveman, Jake Diekman, and Aaron Bummer just haven’t played that well to start this young season.
One of the most disappointing of them all has been Bummer. Bummer’s play has been exactly as his name is, a real “bummer”. He started off ok but as the season has progressed, he has slowly started to play himself out of a job and may find himself gone if he isn’t careful.
The job of the bullpen is to keep the game in check and make sure that the opponent doesn’t score any additional runs so that they can keep a lead or keep pace with the opponent.
The Chicago White Sox have seen Aaron Bummer become an issue.
Looking at the White Sox bullpen, which is supposed to have a lot of money and power behind it, they have some high ERAs and have lost opportunities to win time and again.
They are not very effective.
Bummer had a solid start to kick things off but he’s since declined drastically and is clearly not doing the Sox’ bullpen any favors.
Bummer has pitched a total of seven innings and has gathered eight strikeouts, an ERA of 6.43, which is dropping, and a WHIP of 1.71.
His last outing against the Tampa Bay Rays wasn’t a bad one by any means but there has been much more bad than good with Bummer so far this season.
While Bummer isn’t the only one to have struggles in the bullpen this year, he seems to be the target of a lot of the criticism.
He’s just been so inconsistent over the last few seasons he’s been with the club; many fans wonder why he’s still around. Perhaps it’s because the White Sox have nothing better lined up and Bummer is it?
Either way, the White Sox are struggling and the finger can be pointed directly at Bummer and some of the others in that bullpen.
What are the White Sox going to have to do to rectify their issues with Bummer and the rest of the bullpen?
There is no one out there to do it unless they made a trade to another team to get a hurler that can handle things for the bullpen. But who would they want to trade away?
The White Sox are in a bit of a jam and may not find their way out of it until Liam Hendriks gets back after his recovery from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. But even with Hendriks back in the lineup, that’s not going to solve all their problems.
They need to find other ways to improve the bullpen and one of those ways just might be getting rid of Bummer and finding another good reliever.