Bullpen help?

[monty57]

Thanks for the links.

 

Somehow I forgot about Estrada, who will be on the team as either a starter or a reliever. I'd agree that there's a really good chance that Fiers will be in the 2013 rotation. However, a rotation of Yo, Estrada, Fiers and two question marks isn't screaming "playoffs."

 

As to the bullpen, what the heck are we going to do? I agree with torts that it's a good thing we didn't rush to lock up Axford, as Melvin mentioned he may do last offseason. He'll be our closer next year, but we have him under control into his 30's, so there's no reason to guarantee him money long-term in case this year's problems continue. For the rest of the 'pen, do we want to pay millions of dollars to retain Loe, Veras and Parra? If we don't, then we don't have any bullpen arms, and if we do, then we're spending a lot of money to retain possibly the biggest weakness in a year filled with weaknesses.

 

I really hope Melvin's able to bring back some young pitchers who can step into MLB roles pretty quickly, or we will be spending a lot of money on free agent pitchers next offseason. This adds to my fear that Melvin will go with "MLB proven" guys rather than "MLB-ready" guys in the likely event he trades Greinke and others this season.