Who has the best bullpen in baseball this year. Is it the Red Sox with Papelbon and Okajima? Is it the Reds with Cordero, Weathers and Bray? Here is a breakdown of the top pens in the big leagues.
#5: Cincinnati Reds:
Closer: Francisco Cordero
RH: David Weathers, Jared Burton
LH: Bill Bray
Weathers is a great setup man with closer experience. Burton has been a plesent surprise, with 31 Ks in 29.2 innings. Bray is as good as any lefty in the league (with the exception of Okajima). Cordero continues to be a force at Closer, throwing that nasty fastball-slider combo that he has dominated for the past few years.
#4: Arizona Diamondbacks:
Closer: Brandon Lyon
RH: Tony Pena, Chad Qualls, Max Scherzer
LH: Doug Slaten
Even though Slaten is not a very good LHP, the Right handers in the pen are too good to pass up. Scherzer and Pena bring the heat, while Qualls has a fairy speedy sinker with a huge break at the end.
#3: Boston Red Sox:
Closer: Jonathen Papelbon
RH: David Aardsma
LH: Hideki Okajima
Okajime proved his worth last year by making the All-Star team in his "rookie" season. It was a big surprise since he doesn't have great stuff, but his delivery is highly deceptive and makes the ball hard to pick up. It is truly sad that Aardsma is the best RHP pitcher in the pen (26.1 IP, 23 K, 2.73 ERA), but it is true. Delcarmen has lost his edge, and Timlin is flat out old. If Bucholtz, Masterson or Schilling can come to the pen later in the year, this could be unstoppable.
#2: Chicago Cubs:
Closer: Kerry Wood
RH: Carlos Marmol, Bob Howry
LH: Scott Eyre
Marmol is the best setup man in the league right now, and Howry has loads of experience and can be dominant at times. Wood seems to have found his niche in the closers role. He if can stay healthy for the long run, he could become an All-Star.
# 1: Atlanta Braves
Closer: Rafael Soriano/John Smoltz
RH: Manny Acosta, Soriano/Smoltz
LH: Blaine Boyer, Mike Gonzalez (when healthy)
When Gonzo comes back from his extended stay on the DL, this is definitely the best Bullpen in the big league. With Smoltz and Soriano together in the closer role, they can shut people down any day of the week. Boyer is already a good lefty, and Acosta and Soriano can make a great combo if they decide to use Smoltz at closer.
Comments
Most of this is spot-on, ZV, except I have to disagree about Dave Weathers. It's true he's got closer experience, most recently last year, but he hasn't been much more than adequate for several years now. And this season, he's been awful, with a 4.58 ERA, a 1.83 WHIP, and a K:BB ratio of 14:13, none of them acceptable for an MLB pitcher, let alone a guy you depend on to hand your game to the closer.
This follows a trend in descending numbers and ratios in recent years for Weathers, who's now 38. He hasn't seen the sunny side of a 3.00 ERA since 2002, when he squeaked under with a 2.91, and he hasn't posted a K:BB ratio of 2:1 or better since 1998. His career ERA and WHIP are 4.33 and 1.49, both fairly awful.
A better candidate for righty setup guy has been Jared Burton, whose 2.93/1.34 ERA/WHIP and 33:9 K:BB ratio are much stronger. If Dusty can shed his tendency towards veterans and give Burton a chance, he's going to perform far better than "Stormy" Weathers ever will.