Now that Blake Treinen is in Oakland after yesterday’s trade, the former Washington Nationals reliever gets a fresh start
While the Washington Nationals improved their bullpen yesterday with the acquisition of Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle, one of the pitchers that went to the west coast in that deal was Blake Treinen. It was a surprise to see Treinen go, but the Oakland Athletics needed to get a major league pitcher back in this deal.
It was a rocky time for Treinen in D.C. this year. After a good 2016 season (2.28 ERA in 73 games), expectations were high on him when he was named the closer before the season. However, less than a month into being the closer, he ended up being demoted to a setup role.
One of the problems that the Washington Nationals bullpen has had this season is the inability to find set roles. No one knows who the closer is, even after the Madson/Doolittle deal. Without knowing who a closer is, no one could settle into any setup roles.
As for the other late innings, Treinen could not seem to get into a rhythm. Over the first two months, teams were hitting over .300 against him and he gave up 33 hits in 22.1 innings. If you had to pick his best inning, it would’ve been the seventh, but his ERA in that inning was still 3.97.
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Now, Treinen is familiar with the Oakland organization. The A’s were the team that drafted him in the seventh round in 2011 before he was dealt to the Nats over a year later.
With that being said, he gets a chance to prove himself at the major league level. It’s clear that Billy Beane views him as a bullpen piece for the future.
Of Treinen, Beane said, "As soon as we made the trade, I got calls from two other teams trying to acquire him from us. We said no."
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) July 16, 2017
Currently, the A’s have Santiago Casilla as their closer and he’s under contract for one more year. However, Treinen should be in the mix for one of the late inning spots. He is now playing in a home ballpark with a lot of foul territory and he should have success if he keeps his sinker down in the zone.
Treinen can throw the sinker 100 miles per hour at times, it has been extremely hittable this year. According to Brooks Baseball, teams are hitting .321 against that pitch and he has walked nine batters.
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At the end of the day, the Washington Nationals bullpen got better and maybe Treinen found himself in a better situation for his career. With the A’s not in contention, he can establish a role for himself that can lead to more consistency in the future.