Quote:
Originally Posted by ISiddiqui
God Damn Mets  .
Minaya needs to spend on the pitching part of the equation. Peterson got great seasons from El Duque and Perez, but now some better talent is needed on that side of things... ESPECIALLY in the bullpen, which was the strength last season. |
I've never quite understood how to build a bullpen. Quite a few teams have tried to throw money at the problem and the only time I really remember it working was for the Yankees in the late 90s and that was before they were grossly overspending for it, just overspending.
For about 2 months of the season, the Royals cobbled together a great bullpen that bailed out some bad starting pitching and was the strength of the team. That with Dotel, rescued off the arm surgery scrap heap for $5M at closer. Rule V Joakim Soria ($380K) setting things up after previously being closer and moving back to that role after Dotel left. David Riske, a $2M setup man with an ERA below 2.50. And I suppose the key was Zack Greinke as whatever the heck they wanted on a daily basis as he could go up to 3 innings, pitched frequently, and was lights out. Then there was an assortment of other fluff like LOOGY Jimmy Gobble, Joel Peralta for the 5th/6th-ish, and some conglomeration of failed starters at long relief.
But the problem with bullpens seems to be a complete lack of consistency from year to year. You can lean on a guy one year and the next year, he's garbage and has to be shifted to a less valuable position, thus ruining any bullpen continuity.
SI