| Al's Ramblings | |||
|
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 (11/11/2008 08:52:00 PM) - Al "There are more relief pitchers out there than starting pitchers and left-handed bats we're interested in. It usually takes some time to put together your bullpen." Melvin mentioned hard-throwing right-hander Seth McClung as an internal option to try as closer. He said he didn't plan to bid on high-priced free agent closers such as Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes. "We're not going to spend a big chunk of money on a closer," said Melvin. "We've found closers in the past. You usually don't find that out until later (in the off-season). "It's way too early at this point."--JS As suspected, Doug will go cheap in the bullpen. Actually, I think much of the bullpen depth issue will take care of itself...Carlos V, Riske, and Stetter will almost surely be back, and if Doug is looking at McClung as a reliever, that's 4. Add in Dillard or DiFelice, that's 5, and they might bring back Shouse or Mota as well. UPDATE: "We're going to have to retool the bullpen a little bit," Melvin said. "We have [David] Riske back, [Seth] McClung back, unless he goes into a starting role, and then [Carlos] Villanueva. We do have some holes to fill, but we had holes last year to fill, too."--MLB.com Doug seems to know Seth will return, but not his role. I'd say they probably know 8 of the 12 man staff at this point, barring injuries, of course. 11/11/2008 08:52:00 PM |
| ||