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The Best Bullpen in Rays History

The title did belong to the 2008 bullpen, until now:

Year tRA FIP AL R/G
2009 4.41 3.87 4.81
2008 4.58 4.18 4.78
2007 5.93 5.31 4.9
2006 5.34 4.87 4.97
2005 5.41 4.86 4.76
2004 5.01 4.4 5.01
2003 5.15 4.68 4.86
2002 N/A 5.2 4.81
2001 N/A 4.63 4.86
2000 N/A 4.49 5.3
1999 N/A 4.45 5.18
1998 N/A 4.36 5.01

A little over half of a season remains, so the argument can be made that I'm being a bit trigger-happy with the proclamation. Still, the front office has successfully avoided regression by adding a surplus of depth and useful parts that most glazed over when talking about the Rays bullpen this year.  The Rays best additions were Lance Cormier and a pair of LOOGY. None of which came very expensive. Joe Nelson might be the biggest bust in the entire pen and his salary is 1.3 million.

Hitting on every single signing is an unabashed fantasy, but the facts are the team has shown an affinity for low-cost relievers and the propensity to select the best of the bunch. Luck absolutely plays into the equation - from injuries, to a downed-market, to teams potentially undervaluing ‘soft-tossers' - the reality of it all is this; the Rays are running out the best pen in team history and most of the success has came without two of their higher paid relievers.

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You could tell that this was the better pen compared to last years

They just seem to be able to hold it down better. To me the reason is that the biggest change was stabilizing the pen by having some form of role(No rotating the relievers) which gets more of a rhythm going. JP becoming the “closer” is what really made the pen become solid(Especially seems so after the Meltdown that the committee stuff died down more than it used to be).

by Transplanted on Jun 29, 2009 5:00 PM EDT reply actions  

If by closer, you mean designated relief ace.

Certainly it has helped that Wheels has been demoted from regular late inning duty and (anecdotal) it seems like Maddon isn’t forcing Balfour to come in for a batter, sit down, and pitch the next inning. For a guy with off the scale intensity, that probably isn’t ideal.

by Suttree on Jun 29, 2009 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions  

Is Sonnanstine down only because the FO wants him to continue to get innings every 5 days?

Because if not for that, him in Cormier’s role would allow Cormier to move into a more high leverage role, which could be great given his stuff so far. Guess it’s a safe bet to leave him where he is but it would be interesting to see Cormier get Wheeler-type innings.

by digs the long ball on Jun 29, 2009 5:08 PM EDT reply actions  

Possible Closer

So I know Sternberg has already come out and said that they won’t add anyone at the trade deadline. But do you think we would make a move if Percy decides to retire and we get relieved of his contract? If we do I think Huston Street would be a great addition and with the Rockies they already have another potential closer on staff (Manny Corpas) so we probably wouldn’t have to give up much.

by Bluechips85 on Jun 29, 2009 5:09 PM EDT reply actions  

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