Bullpen '11

[witesoxfan]

Good point on not wanting another multi-year contract for a reliever, but I'm not sure Infante is the guy, maybe we there is a trade coming. Will be fun to watch.

 

They may as well go with Infante. They have 4 good relievers right now plus Tony Pena, so I'd say go cheap with the last 2 spots and if the team needs to make a change come midseason, do it then.

[Balta1701]

They may as well go with Infante. They have 4 good relievers right now plus Tony Pena, so I'd say go cheap with the last 2 spots and if the team needs to make a change come midseason, do it then.

I think Infante is 99% sure going to get a tryout as the last reliever spot this year.

 

That still leaves 1 spot open though. 2 if you count Sale as part of the rotation.

[witesoxfan]

I think Infante is 99% sure going to get a tryout as the last reliever spot this year.

 

That still leaves 1 spot open though. 2 if you count Sale as part of the rotation.

 

You can almost certainly count on the Sox bringing in a lefty. Byrdak came up like a million times previously but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps that is an option now. I also think Bruney has a legitimate shot at making the team too, especially if he shows any semblance of control.

[ptatc]

Closers are a dime a dozen. If you participate in fantasy baseball, as I know you do, you already know this.

 

thank you Bill James. I have a feeling the Sox are going to test your statement. We'll see how many games the Sox lose this year with no experienced closer and a lead in the ninth.

[gatnom]

thank you Bill James. I have a feeling the Sox are going to test your statement. We'll see how many games the Sox lose this year with no experienced closer and a lead in the ninth.

 

So experienced closers don't blow games? Nobody told Mariano Rivera because he managed to blow five saves last year.

[ptatc]

So experienced closers don't blow games? Nobody told Mariano Rivera because he managed to blow five saves last year.

 

No of course not. Let's take it to the extreme?

 

However, good experienced closers will lose fewer games. The Sox currently have no one on the roster with experience closing more than just a few games. There are exceptions like when Jenks did well in 2005 but he at least was closing the whole year in the minors so he was used to the situation. Hopefully the Sox will find another one this year.

 

[ScottyDo]

No of course not. Let's take it to the extreme?

 

However, good experienced closers will lose fewer games. The Sox currently have no one on the roster with experience closing more than just a few games. There are exceptions like when Jenks did well in 2005 but he at least was closing the whole year in the minors so he was used to the situation. Hopefully the Sox will find another one this year.

All closers were non-closers at some point, and more often than not, they make the transition at the major league level. On a pretty frequent basis, they find success early as well. Thornton has had some experience closing, and I think he deserves a shot, aside from the fact that I think the closer is a stupid pigeon-holed role.

[Jordan4life_2007]

thank you Bill James. I have a feeling the Sox are going to test your statement. We'll see how many games the Sox lose this year with no experienced closer and a lead in the ninth.

 

You mean like how 2009 and 2010 AL ROY award winners, Andrew Bailey and Neftali Feliz, struggled without closer experience? Or how John Axford, who nobody had even heard of before this year, was one of the most statistically dominant closers in the game? Or how Brian Wilson had a whopping 6 career saves before settling into the full-time closer role in 2008 and becoming dominant overnight? How about Heath Bell's two career saves prior to 2009? Closer, like speed from your leadoff man, are vastly overrated. A team that can't produce a competent closer says more about the incompetence of your organization than it does the difficulty of actually finding somebody to fill the role. And a reason I will be disgusted if Chris Sale ultimately ends up a closer. A total waste of a critical first round pick if that's what happens.

[ptatc]

All closers were non-closers at some point, and more often than not, they make the transition at the major league level. On a pretty frequent basis, they find success early as well. Thornton has had some experience closing, and I think he deserves a shot, aside from the fact that I think the closer is a stupid pigeon-holed role.

 

all of this is true, if your building a team. However we know two things in reference to your post: 1) Ozzie is going to use a "closer" role regardless of what we feel. 2) With the additions in the off season the Sox want to win this year and with some of the pitcher's contracts may have a small window to win. Are you comfortable enough with this bullpen to believe they can do the job? I would prefer someone with more experience with the rest of the team the sox have. The current bullpen may come through, and as a sox fan I hope they do, however I think they are taking a big risk in relying on a relatively inexperienced bullpen.

 

[Balta1701]

all of this is true, if your building a team. However we know two things in reference to your post: 1) Ozzie is going to use a "closer" role regardless of what we feel. 2) With the additions in the off season the Sox want to win this year and with some of the pitcher's contracts may have a small window to win. Are you comfortable enough with this bullpen to believe they can do the job? I would prefer someone with more experience with the rest of the team the sox have. The current bullpen may come through, and as a sox fan I hope they do, however I think they are taking a big risk in relying on a relatively inexperienced bullpen.

If a quality person, preferably LH, is brought in to fill that 7th bullpen spot, then I think I'd have more confidence in this year's bullpen than last year's, because of the fact that Jenks is out of there.

 

My main worry is actually Thornton's elbow. I think we have more than enough guys who could be really good in the closer's spot, and I think that by the middle part of the season we'll have guys in the minors who can step up and be back-of-the bullpen guys if we need them to be. But the fact that Matty's elbow finally started acting up last year...that worries me, because that's the one thing I don't know if we could overcome.

[soxrwhite]

Would it be nuts to put Peavy in the pen? At least when he first comes back. let him get some innings in without having to throw 100 pitches.

[clyons]

Would it be nuts to put Peavy in the pen? At least when he first comes back. let him get some innings in without having to throw 100 pitches.

 

Imo, yes. Better that he get back in the rhythm of starting every 5th day in the minors, extending innnings and/or pitch count till he's ready.