Brad Boxberger has been arguably the Tampa Bay Rays' best reliever this season, but with four losses, four blown saves and a 6.92 ERA in his last 15 games, he’s pointing the finger at the team.
“It could all be attributed to the use of me," Boxberger said Tuesday, via the Tampa Bay Times. “There's no set 'closer' here, but I don't know of another team that doesn't call it a 'closer' and has 34 saves. So all of the early use in non-closing situations has probably put a toll onto the recent outings, I guess you can say.
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"But I'm not going to blame it on that by any means because there are guys that have more appearances and have more use and all that stuff, so it's part of it. It's just a matter of battling through until the season's over when it's over."
It certainly seems like Boxberger, 27, is blaming it on his usage, regardless of what he says — and he may have a point.
Boxberger has 62 appearances this season, second to only Steven Geltz’s 66. His 34 saves lead the team by a wide margin (Jake McGee has six), but he’s been used multiple times this season in non-save situations.
And according to The Times, 89.5 percent of the batters Boxberger has faced have come to the plate “with the game in the balance.”
"We feel the way we used Boxberger this year gives us the best chance to win as many games as possible,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
Boxberger, who made his first All-Star team this season, will likely bring this up when he becomes eligible for arbitration in 2017.