I have been telling people that we have a very good bullpen. Turns out I must only be thinking about Villanueva, Mota, Shouse, and Gagne since July...
The bullpen is much worse than I thought from July-present, and the reason is the workload distribution for leads, and a stumbling closer:
Since July:
Torres: 2-3, 13/17 leads converted (13 Sv)
Gagne: 3-1, 5/6 leads converted (5 Hld)
Riske: 1-1, 5/10 leads converted (4 Hld, 1 Sv)
Villanueva: 1-1, 5/5 leads converted (4 Hld, 1 Sv)
Shouse: 1-1, 4/4 leads converted (4 Hld)
Mota: 2-0, 2/2 leads converted (2 Hld)
McClung: 0-0, 0 leads opportunities
Total: 10-7, 34/44 leads converted (.773)
Torres + Riske: 18/27 leads converted
Everyone else: 16/17 leads converted
For those curious, Torres' 13/17 is creeping down to the level of Gagne's 10/15 prior to his DL stint....not a good thing.
Here's your 8th inning solution: pitch CV, Mota, Shouse, and Gagne in more high leverage situations than Riske. And forget about 1-inning roles anyway!