Its still painful for reliever Chris Martin to talk about what happened in the playoffs.Game 1 of the NL Division Series last year Kyle Wright Jersey. The 6-foot-7 reliever entered in the eighth inning against St. Louis with the Braves leading 3-1.After throwing his warmup pitches, Martin was finished. I wanted to stay away from that question, he said. Real tough. One of the hardest things Ive ever gone through.Acquired from Texas in late July to help in those exact situations, Martin never threw a pitch in October. He suffered an oblique injury, underwent an MRI and was lost for the series.The Braves wound up losing the playoff opener 7-6 and eventually dropped the series in a decisive Game 5.That hurt a lot, Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Martins loss. We win that first game and its a totally different series. That was a huge loss Hank Aaron Jersey. At that time of year, you cant afford to lose a guy like that.To shore up their bullpen, the Braves signed Will Smith to a three-year, $39 million deal. They also committed $40 million to Smith, Martin, Mark Melancon and Shane Greene. Snitker agrees with anybody who thinks Atlanta has the best relief corps in baseball.It was an easy decision for me, Smith said. Weve got some really good arms down here. A really good team, young team. A lot of promise.Martin went into the postseason not having given up a run in September. But it took him little time to realize his October appearance didnt feel right.I got out there and I felt something go, the right-hander said. Fluke thing. I found out it was worse than I thought it was.What Martin watched made him feel worse in the playoffs.Luke Wilson, who replaced Martin https://www.abfansst...ewicz_Jersey-74, gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Paul Goldschmidt.Martin absence continued to hurt Atlanta, which blew an eighth-inning lead in a 5-4 loss in Game 4.I feel I let people down and put people in tough situations, Martin said.Many feel Smith will end up being the teams closer, others feel hell fit in somewhere else in key situations. He said it doesnt matter to him.If the bullpen takes the mentality to close their inning, well be successful whether its the seventh, eighth or ninth when we get our three outs, Smith said.In Smith, Mark Melancon, Greene, Luke Jackson, Darren ODay and A.J. Minter, the Braves have six guys with a combined 469 saves in their careers. Jackson had racked up 18 saves with the Braves before Melancon took over closing duties.It creates versatility, said the side-arming ODay, part of strong relief staffs with the Angels in 2008 and Orioles in 2014. Its up there, its pretty deep. Theres a variety of styles so we should be able to shorten some games.A new rule this year calls for relivers to face three batters per outing. While not a big fan of the rule I dont know I support Major League Baseball to tell managers how to strategize the game and how to manage bullpens ODay said the Braves have a lot of options Will Smith Jersey.If I was managing how to do it myself, Id do it based on matchups, ODay said. Sometimes being a closer is easier than setup man. Sometimes you save the best hitters for the setup man and the closer gets numbers 7, 8, 9.Melancon said all those arms with closing experiences creates flexibility as well as confidences thats beneficial.On paper, we havent done anything, he said. But its pretty good. We have to improve on our prior years.
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Martin heals from playoff injury, Braves boast deep bullpen
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