My thoughts on: Bullpen Woes

[Pronk48]

Okay, last year the bullpen was one of our biggest strengths. Borowski saved 45 games, most in the AL. Rafael Bentancourt was excellent as the setup man. Rafael Perez was just kick ass. We had one of the best bullpens in all of baseball, probally second behind the Red Sox.

So far this year, our bullpen isn't looking good. Borowski has blown two saves and is now on the disabled list (more on this later). Bentancourt is being hit, Perez is being hit, Lewis is being hit. Kobayashi isn't impressing me either. We cut Fultz at the end of spring training and grab Craig Breslow off of waivers from the Red Sox, but I haven't seen enough on him to form a full opinion.

So the roles were as goes in the bullpen:

Joe Borowski- Closer
Rafael Bentancourt- Setup
Rafael Perez- Mid-relief/Setup
Jensen Lewis- Mid-relief
Masa Kobayashi- Short Relief
Craig Brewslow- Mid/Long Relief
Jorge Julio- Short Relief

Now with Borowski on the DL, it changes the roles of the bullpen. We called Tom Mastny up from AAA Buffalo, and he'll pitch mid-relief.

Who's going to close? The first thought is Bentancourt, but he has struggled as the featured closer in his career. He's done well closing on nights when the normal closer gets the night off.

Perez definatly has good stuff, and I think he could do it.

Kobayashi was an elite closer in Japan, but hasn't shown me enough in this season to let him close out games. He's also new to the team and the country and can't communicate as well with Victor Martinez or Kelly Shoppach.

Julio blew 9 saves last year and never saved a game. He also walked the first two batters he faced tonight. I would have less faith in him that I did in Borowski, and that's really saying something.

I just hope Borowski can return to last year's form and save 35-45 games for us this year. His ERA is at 18.00 as of today so no matter what happens, he's gonna have a high ERA to end the season. I just hope that saves column has a high number to. If it turns out his struggles this year is due to his arm injury, I'll give him a pass. But if he comes back with a clean bill of health, then we are screwed.

I hope we have a Jonathan Papelbon just waiting in our minor league system to show up and wow everyone next season, because Borowski will not be in an Indians uniform no matter how the rest of the year goes.

[Kingdom]

It's worth letting Betancourt run with the job for awhile. If they even consider putting Julio back there, I'm writing off the indians. That's like a Jerry Narron or Grady Little move.


It's also still early on Perez and KobaBryant, the woes may be short lived.