flasportsfan88 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 (correct me if im wrong) Yanks pen, should look like Rivera Gordan Quantrill Felix Rodriquez Stanton (L) Karsay Sturtze Great closer, and setup man, good lefty in Stanton, and Quantrill one of the better middle relievers around. Baltimore Should look something like... Ryan (L) Julio Reed Kline (L) Parrish(L) Witasick Chen (L) Ryan, great in setup role, not sure how he'll do in the closer role, if he faulters Julio should be ready... Good middle releiver in Steve Reed, pitched sub 3.00 ERA ball most of the season at Coors, ended up in the mid 3.00, still very solid... Kline should take care of the leftys effectively as in STL... Witasick and Parrish solid middle men... Chen having a great spring... Grimsley maybe be back at the end of the season... Toronto: Bautista Speier League Frasor Ligtenberg Shoeneweis (L) Glynn/Walker/Chulk I don't know how Bautista would fair as the closer but if he doesnt, theres a bevy of options (Frasor, League, Speier) Frasor closed solidly in 2004 going 17-19 in save oppertunities. League is the closer of the future, can ratch-it-up at 100mph, great slider... Speier very easily could of closed to start 2005. Ligtenberg if healthy is lights out. But No overpowering lefty, or solid long relief... When you have 4 pitchers who could of easily made the closer job, you know you have no real proablems in the pen. The back of the pen should be great... Boston- Its hard to say what the pen will look like in 2005..It will be subject to alot of changes, but the back end will stay consistant and good. Foulke Mantei Embree (L) Timlin Halama (L) Cessend/Kim/Gonzalez If Mantei stays healthy, could be a good platoon setup combo between Embree and Mantei... Timlin should be the useful multipurpose effective reliever he usually is...Kim might come back to old form, if he does watch out... the long and middle releief looks scarey...(negatively) Tampa Bay has a surprisingly talented and young hard throwing pen... Baez Carter Colome Miller Sosa Harper Seay After long relief and clsoing in Cleveland he came over to TB and pitched ddecently, nothing special but nothing bad... Cater and Colome are the future of Rays closing, Colome was 100mph limits, and Cater more of a finesse pitcher, make a very solid 7-8 bridge to Baez... Like Detroit, TB has a solid 7-8-9 and a good Lefty in Trever Miller (3.12 ERA .214/.280/.337 vs Leftys) Sosa can go multiple innins with a array of pitches but mostly his mid 90's fastball, Seay is their future LH reliever and Harper has been very solid throughout the years Twins pen should look something like this for most of the season... Nathan Rincon Romero (L) Crain Balfour Nitkowski Mulholland (L) Back end very stong... Nathan, Rincon combo good as anyone, Romerobounced back toward being one of the better lefty setup men in the AL at least in 2004. Crain, the future closer had a 2.00 ERA in 27 innings last year... expect similar numbers throughout his career... Balfour primarily a reliever now, may not begin season, but should be solid once he returns, did well in the playoffs last season... Nitkowski the Lefty specialist and Mulholland the long reliever round it off... Tigers Its hard to say but maybe Percival Urbina Farnsworth Walker (L) Rodney German Nelson Cruz Tigers finally look like theve put together a quality pen... Farnsworth out of Wrigley, Urbina setting up, and Percival closing, ranks right up there with the best back ends of any bullpen. Exspcially if Farnsworth can shape up. Jamie Walker very effective lefty 3.20 ERA with a .200 OBA against leftys... But the others look shaky...They want Fernando Rodney in the majors with nothing left to prove in AAA, German having a great spring, Nelson might make the club as a middle releiver Chicago Takatsu Marte (L) Hermanson Politte Vizcaino Kevin Walker(L) Felix Diaz/Bejenaru/Cotts (L) We've talked about what Takatsu can do on this board, filthy, Japans all time save leader... Marte with seasons like 2003 1.58 ERA and 87 ks in 79.2 IP, he has the stuff to close no matter which side of the mound hes throwing...Hermanson closed 17-20 for the Giants last season, with a 4.33 ERA in relief appearences, Sox think he can make a decent middle or late inning pitcher. Politte, some coaches in Toranto thought he had the stuff to close, hes not going to get the oppertunity but shows you what kind of stuff he has... Vizcaino was the best guy in Milwaukees pen besides Kolb last year, came over in the Lee/Podsednik trade. Diaz and Bejenaru have good minor league stats, major league stats arent so much to die for..at all... But could turn into very solid hurlers... Indians- from previous thread---- There are some ifs on the bullpen, with some guys who havnt played in a while. They can either turn out having a good bullpen, or a horrible one... David Riske, the closer if Wickman can't handle it is one of the better setup man in basball, he showed what he could do in 2003 with a 2.29 ERA and 82 k's in 75 IP.. He would make any pen in the majors... One of the Ifs is Paul Shuey, if he is heathly look what he can do, only two seasons with an ERA above 3.50. Almost every season close to 3.00 or below, if he can do that again, a huge part in any bullpen, but thats a big if... Rhodes in the setup role hes used to has had some spectacular sub 2.40 ERA seaons and one sub 2.00 seasons with Seattle... Sauerbeck a pretty legit Lefty specialist when healthy...Example: 2.32 ERA with 70k in 63 IP in 2002. Betancourt is supposed to be the closer of the future for the Indians showing great stuff and numbers to back it up so far... The closer Wickman who i belive closed out 13-14 save oppertunities last year may be a weak point as the closer but he has insurance if he falters with Riske and Betancourt,so either he does well as a closer or hes moved out of it and placed in the setup role where hed be above average... The last time he had a full season was lights out ERA in lower 2... He missed all of 2003 but looked inpressive last year... Bob Howry, pitched decently in Fenwey park in 2002, (a 4.22 ERA in that park not horrible at all) missed almost all of 2003 but pitched in a 43 inning stint with Cleveland last year and did great... 2.74 ERA, 12 BB, 37 H... Kansas City looks pretty bad, but some bright spots... Affeldt McDougle Sullivan Cerda (L) Feild Camp Snyder/Wood/Sisco I dont think Affeldt can handle the closer pot just because he throws hard, I dont like Leftys closers, and McDougle is a pretty shaky alternative... Sullivan and especially Cerda (3.15 ERA, see Jamie Walker or Trevor Miller) are nothing to worry about, Camp should make the club but I havent heard anything a while, last I heard Wood and Snyder competing for middle relief and 6th starter duties, Sisco a great spring... Its hard to say what it would look like, but either way probably the worst in the AL... Oaklands pen shoulod be downright nasty... Dotel Cruz Calero Bradford (When healthy) Street Rincon Duchscherer If Dotel can do what he did as a setup man, the pen should be the best in the AL... With Cruz setting up (2.75 ERA 70 ks in 72 IP) and Calero in the time he pitched last season (45.1 IP 2.78 ERA with 47 ks and a .176 OBA) was sick, he can go multiple innings and will be the main middle man. Rincon one of the better Leftys in the AL... Bradford lights out against rightys with the delivery... Street, in the same class as Brandon League (TOR) Jesse Crain (MIN) he may be better than both and he supposed to be the future closer and has been blowing away hitters in spring... Also Duchscherer probably the best long reliever in baseball... IMO the best and most complete pen around... Seattle Im not very sure but something like Guardado Mateo Nelson Putz Hasegawa Villone (L) Sherril/Reichart If Soriano were healthy I'd say they were one of the best but still very solid... Guardado solid closer, Mateo and Nelson above average setup man, Putz may close this year with a hard fastball and a very good slider, Hasegawa would be big if he bounced back to 2003 form...Villone very solid last seaosn... Also LA Angels have decent bullpen Rodriguez Donnelly Sheilds Yan Gregg Jones Late innings shouldnt be much of a problem for LA with K-Rod and Donnelly...Some people fail to realize how good Donnelly is (ERAs in his 3 seasons, 2.20 49 IP, 1.58 74 IP..yuck, and in limited time 3.00 in 42 IP coming off an injury) Sheilds one of the most versital releivers in the game, he can go long, middle or short relief very effectivelly 3.33 ERA in 105 IP. Yan put up a sub 4 ERA season in about 90 IP last season, Jones hasnt proven anything yet but Gregg a solid long releiver last season... But no lefty...can't be a legit pen with no lefty at all Texas Cordero Francisco Almanzar Brocail Mahay Shouse Ramirez/Nunez/Bukvich I just really dont see the Texas pen doing as well as last year.. Cordero and Frank Francisco are studs, but Mahay and Shouse are just good lefty specialists, Almanzar was a fluke compared to what hes done in full seasons earlier in his career, Brocail may be something but the rest are shaky... I say Oakland, nastyyyy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Juanky Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I'm surprised there isn't even a reference to the best pen in the majors for the past few years, Anaheim. I thought they only lost Percival, maybe I'm mistaken. Is anyone else gone from there? Who did they add? Regardless, I voted for Minnesota. They have the most talent I believe in the AL and if even half of that pen lives up to the talent they will be absolutely untouchable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flasportsfan88 Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 I'm surprised there isn't even a reference to the best pen in the majors for the past few years, Anaheim. I thought they only lost Percival, maybe I'm mistaken. Is anyone else gone from there? Who did they add? Regardless, I voted for Minnesota. They have the most talent I believe in the AL and if even half of that pen lives up to the talent they will be absolutely untouchable. 717129[/snapback] I lefty a little smidge on Anaheim at the end of my analyasis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarlinFan10 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Baltimore because I am a homer. Riley or Chen will be the 5th starter, so one will be in the bullpen unless Riley is traded. Todd Williams had an outstanding season last year, but he's out of options and a lot of people are ahead of him for a roster spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passion Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Tigers have the best 7-8-9 in the AL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accord Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 It's a toss up between the Tigers and the Twinkies, but i'm going with the Tigers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iowa Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 If Karsay comes back strong, New York has the best pen. They even have Buddy Groom in the minors. I also like what Baltimore has done, and if Ryan thrives in the closer spot, they should be good. Boston has a good pen too.. The Mantei pick up good be really nice. Minnesota has a solid 3some. I like the 4some in Chicago of Shingo, Marte, Hermanson and Vizcaino. Definitely not sold on Detroit.. Percival and Urbina are not even close to the pitchers they used to be. All in all, I think New York as the best pen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhishPhan Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Yankmes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mets_bs Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 The Yanks have names, but they're getting a lot older and less durable. Mo (35) is already injured this spring and they'll be watching situation very closely. Quantrill (36) was butt last season and is the epitome of overused at 90+ innings last year. Tom Gordon (37) is good, but was severly overworked last year and another arm injury away from retirement. F-Rod (32) is decent still, but a mere shell of his San Fran days. Stanton (37) just blows all kinds of ass, he's guarenteed to give up at least a run or two every time out on the mound. Steve Karsay (32) is a walking arm injury, anyone else think it's funny he got 12 Mil the past 2 years to sit on his ass? Sturtze (34) is ehhh, not great but a decent spot starter. Just in case you weren't keeping track, not one player is under 30 and all but two relievers are either over 35 or have had major arm surgery I really like Seattle if Soriano is healthy, but Minnesota has a world of talent and just blows everyone else away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickGold Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I'll vote for my Yankees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flasportsfan88 Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 Tigers have the best 7-8-9 in the AL. 717149[/snapback] Agreed, only if Farnswroth steps up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSwift25 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Angels; as stated before, all they lost was Percival, and Rodriguez'll make a better closer anyway... And don't be singing the Tigers' praises until Urbina's velocity is back where it should be; last I heard, he was hovering around 88 mph on his fastball, and when the velocity dips that much, his change-up (his pitch of choice) becomes almost ineffective... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flasportsfan88 Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 Angels; as stated before, all they lost was Percival, and Rodriguez'll make a better closer anyway... And don't be singing the Tigers' praises until Urbina's velocity is back where it should be; last I heard, he was hovering around 88 mph on his fastball, and when the velocity dips that much, his change-up (his pitch of choice) becomes almost ineffective... 717862[/snapback] With no Lefty, and only 6 men, I wondering why you choose them, over deeper pens which contain a lefty... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iowa Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Tigers have the best 7-8-9 in the AL. 717149[/snapback] :lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flasportsfan88 Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 Tigers have the best 7-8-9 in the AL. 717149[/snapback] :lol 717895[/snapback] You can argue NY, Rivera, Gordan, Quantrill/Rodriguez or Minnesotta, Nathan, Rincon, Crain/Romero or Anaheim K-rod, Donnelly/Shields, but Detroit, if Percival does well, Urbina regains his velocity and Farnsworth steps up, its a big if but if it happens it not a bad opinion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iowa Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 That's a lot of if's Percival and Urbina just are't that effective anymore.... especially Urbina. Farnsworth.. ugh. I've had the pleasure of watching this headcase pitch for a few years now. He has a ridiculous straight fastball yet he'll insist on throwing his awful slider every pitch. The guy is about as consistent as a *insert punchline here.* As for best 7-8-9 in the AL, I'll take Minnesota. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flasportsfan88 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 That's a lot of if's Percival and Urbina just are't that effective anymore.... especially Urbina. Farnsworth.. ugh. I've had the pleasure of watching this headcase pitch for a few years now. He has a ridiculous straight fastball yet he'll insist on throwing his awful slider every pitch. The guy is about as consistent as a *insert punchline here.* As for best 7-8-9 in the AL, I'll take Minnesota. 717904[/snapback] The thing I like about Minnesotta if Crain emerges is that you almost have 3 setup man, You can have Romero pitch either the 7th or 8th depending on where the leftys would be, and have Rincon pitch the 7th and 8th if there are righties, And if its a righty based lineup you can pitch Crain in the 7th and Rincon in the 8th, alot of depth in the back of the pen and a whole lot of talent, I really like the MIN pen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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