It is amazing how many LOOGY guys are around though. They are like NFL kickers in a a way. And they end up playing for many teams if they stick around.

Is that YOUR dad that writes comments on occassion?

I agree that O’Day, Wilson, and Francisco were strong. But the primary middle innings guys — Guardado, Jennings, and Grilli — were bad as a whole. Nippert and Mathis are long relievers, and McCarthy’s only year in the pen ended with a 4.68 ERA. If Feliz goes back to starting, I figure the Rangers need to find at least two quality arms that can bridge the gap from the starters to the back of the pen.

Like you said, with a limited budget, they might have to try to find answers internally. Strop, Madrigal, and Moscoso could be the best options they have. But for as strong as the back of the bullpen was in ’09, the pen as a whole ranked 15th in baseball in ERA. It was good, just not great.

This bullpen, once Grilli and then Feliz came on board was a major strength. The biggest hole was/is a middle inning lefty, as Guardado was a complete failure and not reliable.

The biggest concern that i have is the unpredictability of the pen from year to year. Mathis and O’Day could easily be horrible next year. There are enough arms in Frisco and OKC that they should be able to have a solid pen put together by May 15th.

I really think Kiker could be a key, as he could fill the role that Holland was serving early last year. I think in short burst, he could/should see a velocity spike, added with the fact that they guy throws at about 27 different speeds. He could be really effective.

I also think McCarthy could be really strong filling the role that Feliz performed.

But bottom line is this bullpen didn’t keep the Rangers out of the playoffs and was important as anything in keeping them in it until very late.

In 11 innings on 0 days rest, Francisco’s ERA was 9.00, and dropped to 4.60 in 15.2 innings on 1 day rest. In 13.2 combined innings on 2, 3, and 4 days rest, he didn’t allow a run and gave up only 5 hits in 47 at-bats.

Wilson allowed a slash line of .377/.479/.475 to the first hitters he faced. In other words, not good. In fairness, first batters had a BAbip of .468 against him, but it’s hard to tell if that’s just luck or a result of consistently getting great pitches to hit.

Nice read.

They have three very good relievers in Frank Francisco, CJ Wilson, and Darren O’Day. Doug Mathis (2.14 ERA in relief) and Dustin Nippert (1.86 ERA in relief) were also strong in 2009 and can be penciled in to the bullpen in 2010.

Moscoso showed some flashes in 2009, and McCarthy has a track record as a solid reliver. The Rangers also have some high ceiling guys like Warner Madrigal and Pedro Strop as AAA insurance.

And that doesn’t even include Neftali Feliz. If he starts the year in the bullpen, he might be one of the top 5 relievers in the game.

The only real hole in the bullpen is a situational lefty, and the market is saturated with them. They can nab someone like Joe Beimel, Will Ohman, Darren Oliver, etc.

The bullpen is, far and away, one of the strengths of this team. If this team has only 15 million to spend in the off-season, I’d prefer they spent it on one impact hitter, or a top of the rotation starter.

What was the OBP for 1st hitters faced by CJ?

Understatement of the year!