Replacing the bullpen

by Saberilliterate on Dec 6, 2011 3:47 PM CST

So kRod, Saito and Hawkins are gone and the bullpen needs to be replenished. Depending on who you listen to we have somewhere between no money and $10M to replace Prince, Yuni, JHJ, CC, Casey, kRod, Saito, Hawkins. Given the priorities of the team (replacing Yuni) why would we spend any money on FA bullpen help?

I was reading this afternoons Scraping The Barrel: The Last Lesser Brewers and after being reminded of some of the other under-utilized arms that made appearances last season, I don't understand the desire to even think about any FA bullpen help. The reality is that we can't replace the bullpen production with out budget and the FA on the market are, as always, over priced. So why even try when we can replace them internally.

In Brandon Kintzler, Mike McClendon, Frankie De La Cruz, & Michael Fiers, we aren't going to set the world on fire, but at league minimums they are going to provide a lot better value than Todd Coffey, Sergio Mitre, Ramon Ortiz or just about any FA relief pitcher we can afford. And maybe we will have enough money to spend on a SS.

Besides, if the bullpen is full of rookies, doesn't that mean that RRR has to play at least one of them?

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I think in the perfect world

It’s a mix of both. All four could possibly be dependable arms but they’re unproven. You may have higher ceilings with those guys but we don’t know where their floor is, with a FA veteran you have a better idea of what to expect even if you know to expect marginal success at best.

Best case scenario is someone like Kintzler or McClendon performs well alongside guys they’ve brought in like say Coffey or Saito. You also have to consider that a guy like Fiers may be in line to get stretched out to be that 6th rotation guy that fills in if someone goes down so you have to figure who will be left in AAA to fill that bullpen spot when it comes up..

by aka Mich on Dec 6, 2011 4:01 PM CST reply actions

They should have Braddock and Parra coming back, which helps a lot.

I think a free agent at $2 million or so (Saito?) plus internal options like Fiers can fill the gap.

If Plush had to pick Wearwolf or Vampire, I'm a Wearwolf!

by SRB on Dec 6, 2011 4:51 PM CST reply actions

I miss Manny

A samurai sword collection. If you can do it. I don’t know if you’re allowed.

by TwoShoesMcGooze on Dec 7, 2011 11:51 AM CST up reply actions

Actually

If both of those guys come back, they could just go with a bullpen of:

Axford
Braddock
Estrada
Kintzler
Loe
K-Rod

With Fiers, De La Cruz, Dillard or McClendon taking the last spot.

Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.

by sjlee on Dec 9, 2011 2:46 PM CST up reply actions

Looks like the Crew is re-signing Saito

by nullacct on Dec 7, 2011 10:43 AM CST reply actions

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