Bullpen outlook

Time for the bullpen outlook for 2006. Though we know a lot more about the guys in the pen than we do about the starters, I'm not going all in depth with numerical predictions because, well, it's the bullpen.

Mike Gonzalez- One of the few Pirates that's exceeded expectations in recent years. In two years in the bigs he has 113 strikeouts in 93 1/3 innings, compared with only 104 hits+walks. Plus, the guy is incredibly intense. He pitches equally well against righties and lefties (lefties' OPS against him is .517, righties' are at .636). I don't understand where the concern over him closing comes from, I think he's gonna be fine.

Salomon Torres- Maybe the most reliable guy in the pen the last two years. He just turned 34, but his arm took a five year break in the middle of his career so that may not matter as much. He put up WHIPs of 1.19 and 1.18 the last two years, I don't see much to worry about here.

Roberto Hernandez- Here's a case where age is a question mark. Hernandez is very old and very overpaid. Besides last year, he's looked very Jose Mesa-ish since 2001. He's supposed to be in the pen for set-up duty and to teach Gonzo how to close, but with only one lefty set-up man healthy at the moment, he may close. The big question is whether last year's good numbers were a fluke, or whether it was due to Rich Peterson's fixing a flaw in his delivery. If it is the latter, we might be able to expect a decent year out of the old man.

John Grabow- I'm not a big Grabow fan (I've been known to refer to him as "Grablow" from time to time), but he was respectable last year, especially in the first half (he collapsed in the second, especially late in the year). He brought his WHIP was down from his awful rookie season. He was also tied for best in the league last year in allowing inherited runners to score (allowing only 4 of 37, I'm still not sure if that made up for the debacle that was Rick White). Still, I think he can be a decent lefty out of the pen, though him being the primary left-handed set-up man makes me nervous.

Ryan Vogelsong- Though I like Vogelsong, I think what we've seen so far is what we're going to get. Hopefully he can continue on from his strong second half of last year and be a good middle innings eater.

Giovanni Carrara- Don't know much about him, but he's one of Tracy's favorites and I'd expect him to make the team. He's put up good numbers in every year he's been with Tracy and Colborn, so I think we can expect him to be a decent reliever this year.

Damaso Marte- He's downright nasty against lefties when he's healthy, which is all we need him to be. Unfortunately he isn't healthy at the moment and I have no idea how long he's out for.

We also may see some Jonah Bayliss, Brandon Duckworth, and Scott Strickland if Marte is hurt. I don't want to think of a situation in which we see anyone else, because below them it's not especially pretty. Still, this bullpen seems like a good (and deep) group at the outset of the season, and I think we can count on them to be pretty solid if we do ever actually get a lead to them.