FanPost

No Mercy for the Bullpen: Can it get Wuertz than this?

Overall, I'm pleased with the bullpen.  But there is room for improvement.

Jim Hendry has a philosophy about building a bullpen that says to pay whatever it takes to acquire veteran players who will fill specific roles on the team: Howry, Eyre, Remlinger, Hawkins, etc.  He is also open to rehabbing players (Dempster, Williamson) and guys with a good strikeout pitch (Farnsworth, Wuertz last year).  

An alternate philosophy is to find relievers who just did not succeed in other roles, and try them out until you find someone effective.  Many good teams, even with a "proven" closer, will have a few of these castoffs in the pen.  And some clubs, like the Brewers, will take these guys (Kolb, Turnbow) and turn them into closers.  

The key to the second philosophy, and a weakness of the first, is that bullpen pitchers seem to be streaky.  I believe there are physical reasons for this, both the health of the player and the sequence of work that comes when a team is dipping into its pen too often (or not enough to get everyone steady work.)  If one of your selected veterans is going through a rough stretch, you keep running him out there, even if in less pressure situations (a la Remlinger or Hawkins).  If some guy you took in the Rule V draft or picked up the last week of Spring Training is going bad, you send him down or put him on waivers and try somebody else.  

The point of this diary is what to do with Michael Wuertz and Will Ohman.  Yes, Wuertz was effective the last two years.  Yes, he is a prince of guy who works hard.  (I even talked to him once in the stands of a AAA game where he was sitting with the guy charting the pitches, and HE started the conversation!)  But he's not right just now.  He needs to be sent down to AAA to work on something specific (maybe a second pitch besides the slider?)  Bring up Novoa or Guzman and give them a shot.  

Ohman has pitched less, and probably should be used just as a LOOGY for a couple weeks to see if he can right the ship.  If not, he goes down or gets traded, with Rusch moving back to the bullpen.  

Of course, some of these decisions will be affected by how the starters do in the meantime.  But I'd like to see Novoa up in place of Wuertz ASAP, and Ohman given a little more time, even if Rusch moves back as the long man in the pen.  

There are also teams whose bullpens are thinning: Atlanta and the Dodgers come to mind.  Getting our bullpen right could free up a pitcher with some value to those clubs.  

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