The Best Bullpen in Rays History

by R.J. Anderson on Jun 29, 2009 4:32 PM EDT Comment 32 comments

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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The Rays best addition

Lance Cormier

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Jun 29, 2009 4:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He is such a stud muffin.

I’d let him have his way with me.

by Suttree on Jun 29, 2009 4:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can we get a separation with the divide being the start of the Post-Percy era?

RD over and out.

by ReasonableDoubt on Jun 29, 2009 4:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't have those splits available to me.

But Percival was the anchor of the staff.

by R.J. Anderson on Jun 29, 2009 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

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 0 recs

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 0 recs

Yeah off the top of my mind it seems like Balfour never does good when he sits and then comes back out.

I doubt this is the case, but it seems like that is when he loses his control.

Rays Win!

by Sandy Kazmir on Jun 30, 2009 12:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

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 0 recs

on second thought Sonnanstine in the pen could be a disaster.

by digs the long ball on Jun 29, 2009 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sonnanstine in the pen would be fine.

~4-4.5 RA starters make fantastic relievers about 99% of the time.

by R.J. Anderson on Jun 29, 2009 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

(See: Howell, J.P.)

by R.J. Anderson on Jun 29, 2009 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i was getting at the fact that it could kill his trade value, not that he'd be bad at it.

He goes from serviceable #4-5 to long reliever and the Steve Phillips of the world see no reason for depth in long relief.

granted i hope there are less Steve Phillips of the world in baseball today than there were when Steve Phillips was actually in baseball.

by digs the long ball on Jun 29, 2009 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Phillips would've never seen value in someone who doesn't touch 90 MPH most nights.

by R.J. Anderson on Jun 29, 2009 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He made it to AA, he knows what he's talking about bro

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/Transactions/P/Steve-Phillips-1.shtml

Rays Win!

by Sandy Kazmir on Jun 30, 2009 12:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

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 0 recs