azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Scott Bordow, Tribune Columnist
Here’s how unsettled the Diamondbacks’ bullpen is these days:
The guy sitting in the Colorado Rockies’ clubhouse, the one Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein called a $10 million "mistake," is a fond memory.
You might remember him. Fella by the name of Byung-Hyun Kim.
Kim returned to Bank One Ballpark Monday for the first time since Arizona traded him to Boston in May 2003, his career and right arm faint shadows of what they used to be.
But then, at least he has a history. The Diamondbacks’ bullpen is taking baby steps over barbed wire.
Injuries, youth and ineffectiveness have made the walk from the bullpen to the pitcher’s mound a high-wire act, and although the season is just seven games old, it’s not too early to ask:
Does Arizona need to trade for a veteran reliever? Or, perhaps, a closer?
The bullpen was superb in Monday’s 2-0 victory over the Rockies — Brian Bruney, Mike Koplove and Brandon Lyon pitched three scoreless innings, with Lyon getting his third save — but one night does not mask the carnage of the past weekend, when Arizona’s relievers coughed up two saves against the Los Angeles Dodgers and turned what could have been a 5-1 start into a 3-3 record.
Nor does it change the uncomfortable reality:
• The bullpen had a combined 11 saves entering this season.
• It includes three secondyear pros and four relievers 25 or younger.
• There’s not an overpowering arm among the bunch.
"Obviously when you don’t have a lot of experience down there, you’re going to have a lot of questions," Koplove said.
Lyon has been a revelation since spring training began, and he showed he has the mental toughness to be a closer by recording consecutive saves Sunday and Monday after yielding four unearned runs against Los Angeles last Friday.
But Lyon had surgery to repair a nerve in his elbow just 13 months ago, and while there’s mounting evidence he can be an effective closer, he’s never gone solo in the ninth inning before.
(He was part of Boston’s bullpen-by-committee in 2003.)
The bullpen’s shortcomings are, in part, a byproduct of the Diamondbacks’ belt-tightening.
In reducing the payroll from $80 million to $57.5 million, Arizona had to cut corners somewhere, and the bullpen took the hit.
Going cheap might have worked had the relievers stayed out of the trainer’s room. But projected closer Greg Aquino and set-up men Jose Valverde and Oscar Villarreal are all on the disabled list, and the Diamondbacks aren’t sure when they’ll return or how effective they’ll be upon their return.
"To have three guys down this early, that’s the concern," said general manager Joe Garagiola Jr.
It might seem premature to consider a trade. As manager Bob Melvin said, "to do a kneejerk reaction after six games is something you really have to (be careful about)."
But if the Diamondbacks believe they can contend in the weakened state that’s the National League West, how long should they wait before attempting an upgrade they know is needed?
Three veteran arms are available — Detroit’s Ugueth Urbina, Tampa Bay’s Danys Baez and Oakland’s Octavio Dotel — but those clubs want one of Arizona’s top prospects, a Conor Jackson or Carlos Quentin.
Thankfully, the Diamondbacks have hung up the phone at that point. They’re not so foolish to trade a player they believe will be a star for a closer who’s available only because he has some warts.
Arizona isn’t one player away from a pennant, as was the case in 1999, when it acquired Matt Mantei.
"You don’t want to mortgage the future right now," Melvin said. "I think it’s fairly evident what our weaknesses are, but I still like those guys (the relievers)."
The problem is, Arizona’s bullpen is so shallow Melvin’s admiration has its limits. Koplove, Bruney and Lyon all have pitched in five of Arizona’s first seven games. At this rate, their arms should fall off sometime in July.
"If it gets up to 120 appearances, that’s probably too many," Koplove joked.
The Diamondbacks are looking for help. One interesting name on the waiver wire is former Atlanta Braves closer Kerry Ligtenberg, 33, who was released by Toronto at the end of spring training. But Ligtenberg is a spare part. At some point Arizona will have to determine whether it can trust its young arms and, in particular, Lyon. The season could ride on the decision.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=39442
Here’s how unsettled the Diamondbacks’ bullpen is these days:
The guy sitting in the Colorado Rockies’ clubhouse, the one Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein called a $10 million "mistake," is a fond memory.
You might remember him. Fella by the name of Byung-Hyun Kim.
Kim returned to Bank One Ballpark Monday for the first time since Arizona traded him to Boston in May 2003, his career and right arm faint shadows of what they used to be.
But then, at least he has a history. The Diamondbacks’ bullpen is taking baby steps over barbed wire.
Injuries, youth and ineffectiveness have made the walk from the bullpen to the pitcher’s mound a high-wire act, and although the season is just seven games old, it’s not too early to ask:
Does Arizona need to trade for a veteran reliever? Or, perhaps, a closer?
The bullpen was superb in Monday’s 2-0 victory over the Rockies — Brian Bruney, Mike Koplove and Brandon Lyon pitched three scoreless innings, with Lyon getting his third save — but one night does not mask the carnage of the past weekend, when Arizona’s relievers coughed up two saves against the Los Angeles Dodgers and turned what could have been a 5-1 start into a 3-3 record.
Nor does it change the uncomfortable reality:
• The bullpen had a combined 11 saves entering this season.
• It includes three secondyear pros and four relievers 25 or younger.
• There’s not an overpowering arm among the bunch.
"Obviously when you don’t have a lot of experience down there, you’re going to have a lot of questions," Koplove said.
Lyon has been a revelation since spring training began, and he showed he has the mental toughness to be a closer by recording consecutive saves Sunday and Monday after yielding four unearned runs against Los Angeles last Friday.
But Lyon had surgery to repair a nerve in his elbow just 13 months ago, and while there’s mounting evidence he can be an effective closer, he’s never gone solo in the ninth inning before.
(He was part of Boston’s bullpen-by-committee in 2003.)
The bullpen’s shortcomings are, in part, a byproduct of the Diamondbacks’ belt-tightening.
In reducing the payroll from $80 million to $57.5 million, Arizona had to cut corners somewhere, and the bullpen took the hit.
Going cheap might have worked had the relievers stayed out of the trainer’s room. But projected closer Greg Aquino and set-up men Jose Valverde and Oscar Villarreal are all on the disabled list, and the Diamondbacks aren’t sure when they’ll return or how effective they’ll be upon their return.
"To have three guys down this early, that’s the concern," said general manager Joe Garagiola Jr.
It might seem premature to consider a trade. As manager Bob Melvin said, "to do a kneejerk reaction after six games is something you really have to (be careful about)."
But if the Diamondbacks believe they can contend in the weakened state that’s the National League West, how long should they wait before attempting an upgrade they know is needed?
Three veteran arms are available — Detroit’s Ugueth Urbina, Tampa Bay’s Danys Baez and Oakland’s Octavio Dotel — but those clubs want one of Arizona’s top prospects, a Conor Jackson or Carlos Quentin.
Thankfully, the Diamondbacks have hung up the phone at that point. They’re not so foolish to trade a player they believe will be a star for a closer who’s available only because he has some warts.
Arizona isn’t one player away from a pennant, as was the case in 1999, when it acquired Matt Mantei.
"You don’t want to mortgage the future right now," Melvin said. "I think it’s fairly evident what our weaknesses are, but I still like those guys (the relievers)."
The problem is, Arizona’s bullpen is so shallow Melvin’s admiration has its limits. Koplove, Bruney and Lyon all have pitched in five of Arizona’s first seven games. At this rate, their arms should fall off sometime in July.
"If it gets up to 120 appearances, that’s probably too many," Koplove joked.
The Diamondbacks are looking for help. One interesting name on the waiver wire is former Atlanta Braves closer Kerry Ligtenberg, 33, who was released by Toronto at the end of spring training. But Ligtenberg is a spare part. At some point Arizona will have to determine whether it can trust its young arms and, in particular, Lyon. The season could ride on the decision.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=39442