How the A's can fix their bullpen on the cheap - An Explanation
As of June 2021, the Oakland A's are a good baseball team. Even just by looking at the statistics, it's objectively true. However, as with any team, they aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. One of the most obvious things that can be upgraded is the bullpen, which has depth, but lacks a high-end closer and that depth isn't of high quality. This has shown in the A's having to rely on the combination of Trivino/Diekman to close, while having Petit as the primary middle reliever, with Smith, Romo, and Bedrosian as the other middle relievers, and Guerra and Luzardo as the long relievers.
In the minors, the A's have Puk, Jefferies, Holmes, Weems, and Romero as potential options who are already on the 40-man roster, with AK a theoretical option, also being on the 40-man. Acevedo (who has done well in Las Vegas, no mean feat), Howard, Blackburn (still around somehow, and not doing too badly in Las Vegas), Blackham, Bracewell, and Tanner Anderson (also still around, apparently) are all options who are not on the 40-man.
End result is, is that the A's have some depth, but only really on paper - not actual, quality depth. The other problem is that the A's don't have a deep farm system either, so trading prospects for relief help further thins out an already thin farm. Still, the A's are known for being innovative on a tight budget, and have been able to improve the team in the past while not selling the farm either. So, time for me to put my writing cap on (which is in A's colors, of course), and present some possible solutions to the A's bullpen woes, in the form of Three Points, of which each will be expanded upon.
Point I: Optimizing the A's Current Bullpen
This is the most cost-effective way to improve the A's bullpen, though deceptively difficult. I will demonstrate how I would go about this process, though everyone and their brother has a theory for how it should be done, at least some of which would produce better results. Nevertheless, here's what I would do -
Closer: Trivino and Diekman are the only realistic closing options the A's have on their current roster, barring a unpredictable breakout. Upgrades here would have to come from outside the organization via a trade.
Set-up: Whichever of the two closers who isn't closing. Again, the problem is that the A's lack a top closer on their current roster, but if they had one, Trivino and Diekman would make fine set-up men.
Middle Relief: Some shake-up can be done here - Petit is great, but it would be advisable for the A's to use him a bit less, as to avoid burning him out by the end of the season. Smith was good last year in a SSS, but can be used less as well, and could perhaps even be optioned. Romo is better than his statistics have shown, and his current usage rate is acceptable, though he isn't the ideal person to put in to get out of a jam - putting him in to start an inning would be better than putting him in with runners on; can be DFA'd if needed, however. Bedrosian, half of the surprisingly effective Armenian Armada, has done well for the A's in the time that he has been here; he could stand to be used more often, and in higher leverage situations, as long as he remains effective. The one roster change I would make in the A's middle relief corps right now is optioning Smith for Acevedo, who has been effective in AAA.
Long Relief: Guerra has been perfectly fine in the role that he has been in, as someone who can eat innings if a starter gets knocked around early, and gives the A's a fighting chance to get back in the game. No changes required here yet.
Jesus Luzardo: Easily the most disappointing player on the A's roster so far in 2021, he has a 6.21 ERA and has -0.6 WAR in 37.2 innings. The biggest problem is that he has given up 2.4 HR9 (home runs per 9 innings), which is not good, to say the least. Higher than Dillon Overton's 2.0 HR9 in his 2017 stint with the Mariners (though thankfully not as high as Overton's 4.4 HR9 with the A's in 2016). Still, let that sink in. Luzardo has given up home runs more often this season than Overton did with the Mariners in 2017 (Note: Stats taken before Luzardo gave up a home run in his fifth straight game, which does not help his case). Not a piece of trivia to be proud of. If I were the A's, I would put Luzardo out on the field a lot less until they can help him fix what is wrong. I am not qualified to say exactly what is wrong or what he needs to do to fix it, though it does seem that he would benefit from throwing more sinkers, and generally more off-speed pitches, with fewer four-seam fastballs. High fastball and slider pitchers are all the rage, but not every pitcher fits that mold, especially when their fastball doesn't rise enough and doesn't have enough movement, and stays in the center of the zone, making it extremely hittable, especially when their slider isn't good enough to keep pitchers off their fastball. If necessary, the A's can option him to the minor leagues for him to figure things out there (which could backfire, especially in a very hitter-friendly park such as Las Vegas, but the A's cannot afford to let things continue with Luzardo as they have. Something has to give at some point). If the A's do end up optioning him, Weems is a potential replacement, as are a few of the other depth players.
Other Pitchers: As many have said, assuming he is in good health, Jefferies would be a good pitcher to call up - a potential long reliever, though someone who, in reality, would probably end up starting, which would move one of the other starters to the bullpen. Many of those people have also called for Irvin to move to the bullpen, which could certainly work out, though personally, I would prefer to move Montas instead to the bullpen, as he has the wipeout stuff that would play up better in the bullpen than Irvin's low 90's velocity. In the bullpen, Montas wouldn't quite be a traditional "long reliever" - ideally, he would be more of a "weapon", like Luzardo was supposed to be, and has been in the past. Side note: If people want Cole Irvin to be more effective, he could simply aim for shorter starts, perhaps 3 to 4 innings before giving way to the bullpen, which would allow him to hit more 93-94 as opposed to 90-91. After all, what even is a starter? Roles can be flexible to take advantage of a specific bullpen's strengths, which vary even during the season at times. Having multiple weapons out of the bullpen allows for even greater flexibility, which is valuable in a bullpen.
Point II: Injury Reinforcements
The pitchers the A's have who are currently injured: Wendelken - 10 day, rehabbing in Las Vegas, could be back soon Fiers - 60 day, could be back in July, Rosenthal - 60 day, could be back in August.
Wendelken will probably have some rust, but he should be another effective middle reliever once he is fully back, something that the A's would welcome. Fiers isn't really a long reliever, but he can eat innings as a starter or as a long reliever assuming he is healthy and has enough left in his tank to pitch serviceably- not terribly exciting, but still important for the A's. Rosenthal is coming off of TOS (Thoratic Outlet Syndrome), which is notoriously difficult for pitchers to recover from and still be effective, especially soon after, so not much can reasonably be expected of Rosenthal, but if by some miraculous measure he is effective, he could hypothetically step into the closer role he had been signed to be in from the beginning. These players can't be guaranteed to be as effective as they once were, but in the likely event that all three of them are, that would be the biggest midseason upgrade that can be hoped for to any reasonable extent.
Point III: Player Acquisitions
If some of these moves have seemed conservative and inadequate, that is because they largely are - anything amounting to a significant upgrade would have to come outside of the organization. That does come at a cost, however, and although I would like for the A's to take on salary to avoid sending good prospects over in a potential trade, any major upgrade would be expensive either way.
Mock trades are not my forte - others are much better at them, so I will leave others to come up with trade ideas, though I would suggest for the A's to find someone who is quietly effective or can be quickly turned into someone who is effective without giving too much in either money or in prospects.
Of course, another option is to pick up free agent relievers and stash them in the minor leagues. Jeremy Jeffress is an example of a potential option, unless there are injury or off the field problems which he has that are not publicly known.
Conclusion:
In the end, the A's are a good baseball team that doesn't have a ton of holes, but as always, bullpen upgrades help, especially ones that are cheap both in terms of money and in prospects. So if nothing else, expect at least a few moves in the A's bullpen between now and the end of the season, moves which are hopefully shrewd and result in success for the A's. After all, that's one of the things the A's have proved over the years to be good at.