[情報] The 10 best bullpens

[Westmoreland (Westy)]

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?



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推 IABigHead:沒教士隊@@
推 jardon:沒SD不意外阿 原SU CL全跑光了
推 ultratimes:費城牛棚超爽的...
推 zwchih:竟然有遊騎兵 = =
→ zwchih:去年遊騎兵的牛棚比金鶯還破耶
推 gonzalez0528:是呀BR哥~ 除了看數據照您的意解讀外還有其它見解嗎?
推 tunababy:hahaha...
推 signorange:hahaha...
推 daniel834:www...
推 wuchianlin:少講兩句話可以不用被笑 真的
→ Herlin:只看BR也不會有這種結論吧 除非他只認識上原浩治
推 terry955048:洋基有MO就贏半數以上的球隊了..尤其是季後跟世界大賽
推 yeng1217:BR哥是否該寫一篇來講條子牛棚了?
推 maxspeed150:去年條子的牛棚破??????????? 我們看的是同一個MLB??
推 zwchih:去年遊騎兵牛棚ERA全MLB第27 你看的?
推 Valter:這就是標準的只會看整年數據不會看球隊變化...
推 Tukiyomi:ERA 哈哈哈哈哈哈
→ Westmoreland:Mike Adams 和尤哈拉都是季賽後段才交易來
→ Westmoreland:而且你用 ERA 來評斷一個打擊天堂的投手會不會太武斷
→ Westmoreland:ERA+ 平均(100)的水準在阿靈頓是ERA 4.5
→ Westmoreland:在教士 PetCo 大概是 3.6
→ EEERRIICC:終於出桶了T.T
推 jimmihg:有Mike Adams+Feliz的牛棚是有多差?
推 CGary:其實我們有Petco Park 的話, 牛棚應該自動前三才對 XD
推 whalelover:不過Feliz要轉先發了...
推 gonzalez0528:zwchih:去年遊騎兵牛棚ERA全MLB第27 你看的?
→ gonzalez0528:挖哈哈 還有沒有其他的? 快說出來讓大家領教一下咩
推 maxspeed150:well, 愛BR的話 那我們也來BR一下吧
→ maxspeed150:Feliz ERA+163,Oliver ERA+195,Lowe ERA+118
→ maxspeed150:建山差一點 ERA+100, 季中換來的Adams 214
→ maxspeed150:牛棚一抓可以抓出那麼多ERA+漂亮的牛 破在哪?
→ maxspeed150:順帶一提 即使是看起來被打很慘的上原 ERA+ 118
推 maxspeed150:BR很好用 可是隨便亂做解釋的話 那這些數字不過是垃圾
推 fuan791013:啪啪啪啪啪啪啪