[情報] The 10 best bullpens

看板MLB (美國職棒/大聯盟)作者Westmoreland (Westy)時間14年前 (2012/01/03 14:26)推噓22(22推 0噓 12→)

留言34則, 21人參與討論串1/1

1. Atlanta Braves At the end of the season, it got very ugly for this bullpen, as all of the young Atlanta relievers appeared to wear down under the strain of a staggering workload. Typically, the bullpens that rack up the most innings are those attached to terrible rotations, but incredibly, Atlanta compiled almost 50 more innings than any team that made the playoffs -- and remember, the Braves nearly won the NL wild card. Jonny Venters, Eric O'Flaherty and Craig Kimbrel all pitched in more games in 2011 than either Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman pitched in any season of their entire careers. That's crazy. Venters threw 88 innings in 85 games, and Kimbrel had 77 innings in 79 games. But for most of the season, the Atlanta relief was spectacular. The Braves' bullpen was No. 1 in relief ERA in 2011, and there's no reason to think the Braves' pitchers can't repeat that performance. Kimbrel and Venters have ridiculous stuff, and presumably, with the benefit of hindsight, Atlanta's staff will make adjustments on how their three primary relievers are utilized. This year, Kris Medlen -- now fully recovered from elbow surgery -- will join the group. And the Braves also got great work out of two waiver claims, Cristhian Martinez (who had an 0.97 WHIP) and Anthony Varvaro (1.08 WHIP). 2. New York Yankees There will be a day when Rivera will walk away from baseball, when the greatest closer in history will finally retire; No. 42 just turned 42 years old. But he's got one year left on his contract and there are still no major signs of regression in his performance -- with his fastball in the 89-92 mph range, he held opponents to a .534 OPS last year. David Robertson is to right-handed setup men what Venters is to lefties: arguably the best going. He allowed one homer in 235 at-bats last season, and with the bases loaded, opposing hitters were 1-for-19 with 14 strikeouts. Rafael Soriano is probably overpaid for his position on the team, but he pitched more effectively in the second half of the year, and sometime this season Joba Chamberlain will probably join to split the work in the middle innings. The Yankees don't have a shut-down lefty, as the Braves do, but their right-handers are excellent against lefties. 3. San Francisco Giants They ranked second in the majors in bullpen ERA, despite the intermittent physical troubles of closer Brian Wilson. Sergio Romo averaged 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings, and right-handers had a .177 on-base percentage against him last season. And the Giants have balance, too, with Javier Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt. 4. Cleveland Indians Chris Perez was an All-Star closer, racking up 36 saves, and he is surrounded by a dangerous and diverse group -- Vinnie Pestano, Joe Smith, Tony Sipp, Rafael Perez and Nick Hagadone. The Indians' bullpen may well benefit from a solid (if unspectacular) rotation that should consistently take the ball into the sixth and seventh innings. 5. Arizona Diamondbacks The D-backs have gone from having perhaps the thinnest bullpen to having arguably the deepest. Takashi Saito and Craig Breslow will join a relief corps that already has J.J. Putz, the underrated David Hernandez, Brad Ziegler, Joe Paterson and Bryan Shaw. The health of Putz will be crucial, as it was last year, because his presence as closer creates a structure. 6. Milwaukee Brewers John Axford is firmly entrenched as an elite closer now, after collecting 46 saves and 86 strikeouts last season, and now Francisco Rodriguez is gritting his teeth and agreeing to come back to be a setup man. K-Rod was something of a distraction when he popped off about his role late in the year, and that overshadowed just how well he pitched for the Brewers. Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin places a lot of emphasis on the bullpen, and so it figures this group will improve as the season progresses. 7. St. Louis Cardinals At the end of the regular season, the Cardinals ranked 17th in bullpen ERA. But this was a group that evolved during the course of the season, as young relievers settled in, and by the time the Cardinals got to the World Series, it was a very different bullpen than it was in the frustrating days of early September. Jason Motte was never formally named the closer under Tony La Russa; maybe he'll get that title from Mike Matheny. Marc Rzepczynski is viewed as an untapped gem, and maybe with a full season working under pitching coach Dave Duncan, he'll become a dominant setup man. 8. Washington Nationals The Nationals finished fifth in the majors in bullpen ERA, and a lot of that success was because of the work of Tyler Clippard, who had an 0.84 WHIP and held opponents to a .535 OPS. Clippard had the lowest BABIP among relievers with at least 60 innings last season, at .187, almost 100 points lower than in 2010, a sign that there could be some regression in 2012. But either way, Clippard is an effective setup man for Drew Storen, good anchors for what should be a good bullpen. 9. Miami Marlins The turnaround for this group last year was remarkable, and now Heath Bell steps in for the closer formerly known as Leo Nunez. He is surrounded by Mike Dunn, Edward Mujica, Ryan Webb and Randy Choate -- and remember, the Marlins' new ballpark is thought to be favorable for pitchers. 10a. Texas Rangers They've got a lot of great pieces and this could be a special group, depending on how a few things shake out: A. Can Joe Nathan get back to being a frontline closer, as he takes over for Neftali Feliz? B. Can Koji Uehara bounce back, after pitching terribly for the Rangers following a midseason trade? C. Will the Rangers add another bullpen piece -- perhaps Alexi Ogando, if Texas chooses to shift him back to a relief role, or Andrew Bailey, who has been the subject of Rangers-Athletics trade talks? 10b. Philadelphia Phillies The Phillies' relievers have an enormous advantage over other bullpens because, generally speaking, their workload is limited by the huge number of innings contributed by the front part of the team's rotation; because of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, no NL bullpen threw fewer innings than Philadelphia's Jonathan Papelbon, who takes over as the Phillies' closer, and while Antonio Bastardo appeared to tire in his first full season as a reliever, he was dominant for most of the summer. Michael Stutes and David Herndon were effective, as well, and it's possible that Brad Lidge will come back in a middle relief role. 10c. Cincinnati Reds The Reds have a lot of weapons, and they've added Sean Marshall, who is one of the best lefty relievers. But with Francisco Cordero still in free agency, the structure of the Cincinnati bullpen is still uncertain. Will Aroldis Chapman be a setup man? Who will be the closer? How will some of the Reds' relievers bounce back after a year of heavy work? -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 118.160.196.80

推

IABigHead

01/03 14:51, , 1^F

01/03 14:51, 1^F

推

jardon

01/03 15:31, , 2^F

01/03 15:31, 2^F

推

ultratimes

01/03 16:23, , 3^F

01/03 16:23, 3^F