Top 10 Bullpens

[Warner2BruceTD]

I have a lot of problems with this list.

The Cardinals? The bullpen is the least stable part of the team and KILLED them all year.

D'Backs had a bad bullpen all year, too. At least they added Saito & Breslow, but still overrated.

Speaking of Saito, the Brewers bullpen got worse by losing him. I don't like the Cleveladn bullpen, either. I can't see any of these teams being ahead of Philly or Texas or Washington.

[nflman2033]

Did not expect to see Reds on this one

[Warner2BruceTD]

Did not expect to see Reds on this one

Why not?

Very underrated bullpen.

In fact I think they are too low, but that's fair until they establish roles for everybody. It was a good group before adding Marshall.

[Woy]

The Cardinals? The bullpen is the least stable part of the team and KILLED them all year.

Almost a completely different unit though. Ryan Franklin was the definition of awful for the first month or so of the season, then you had guys like Brian Tallet, Miguel Batista and Trever Miller getting regular work.

You lose Dotel who was great in the post-season and slide Eduardo Sanchez (1.80 ERA in 26 appearances, 10.5 K/9) into a regular spot (I argued all post-season that he should have gotten a spot on the roster instead of Boggs), along with Lance Lynn (just 18 regular season appearances) and Kyle McClellan (only in the bullpen when Edwin Jackson came over). Not to mention a full year of Scrabble back there will help out a lot.

There's much more stability in that area coming into 2012. I'm not really going to argue about their position in the rankings (other than they're a tad too high IMO), but to judge their slot because of last year's failures isn't really fair when it's almost a completely different group of guys compared to last season.

[Warner2BruceTD]

My gripe is that some of these teams are ranked ahead of solid units like Philly, Texas, and Washington.

[NAHSTE]

Yeah Washington is underrated. Clippard and Storen were one of the most unhittable back end duos in the game last year. Depth is lacking a bit but with those two they are set for the 8th and 9th.

[Guest]

All the Nats really need are Storen and Clippard. Their top four in the rotation are likely to go 6-7 innings in just about every start. The Nats also do a good job in developing relievers, so I imagine someone else is going to step in this year as well. Same thing with Philly really, as both teams will be helped by their starters taking on a lot of innings.

That is also why a team like the Orioles typically end up with the worst bullpen in the league. Their starters are weak and don't go deep into games, so while there are some good relievers on the team, they get overworked and blown up.

I also can't really argue against the two teams at the top of the list. It is scary to see how good that Braves pen might be at the end of this next season.

[Rudi]

If we manage to bring Cordero back, our pen is going to be incredible. Although I think if we did bring him back, that means Chapman will be in the rotation [uh oh]. Cus theres no way we would have 3 leftys in the pen with Chapman, Bray and Marshall. Guys like Sam LeCure and Logan Ondrusek don't get enough recognition in my book.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I kinda hope they don't bring back Cordero, because i'm afraid he's about to hit a wall. His K rate went south in a hurry last season, and he wiggled out of more jams than usual.

I'd hate to see this potentially very good bullpen bridge leads into the 9th, only to see the guy who could be the 4th or 5th best guy in the pen blow leads.

[nflman2033]

I kinda hope they don't bring back Cordero, because i'm afraid he's about to hit a wall. His K rate went south in a hurry last season, and he wiggled out of more jams than usual.

I'd hate to see this potentially very good bullpen bridge leads into the 9th, only to see the guy who could be the 4th or 5th best guy in the pen blow leads.

I want him back, but I hope you're wrong, its hard to replace a guy who is guaranteed 40 saves if you give him 45-48 chances. Especially when you consider how much I hated the years of David Weathers and Danny Graves (the second time around)