Saving Grace

By Ed "In Westchester" Semlies
Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2007

One of the concerns coming into this year was the bullpen. Last year, by many measures, the pen as a whole did very well. Probably more so than could be reasonably expected. Darren Oliver was a revelation, acting as both a situational guy as well as a long man. Pedro Feliciano, back from a year in Japan, was quite good. Chad Bradford combined with Pedro to make a formidable duo. Aaron Heilman, after a tough first half, did well after early season surprise Duaner “Dirty” Sanchez was injured. And Billy Wagner was the closer we had longed for. Late addition Guillermo Mota chipped in as well. All in all, the best bullpen in baseball, quite the change from the year prior.

This past offseason though, several pieces of the pen went missing. Oliver went to the Angels. Chad Bradford went to the Orioles. Mota was suspended for 50 games for steroids. In the spring, Dirty suffered a fractured shoulder. Heilman was complaining about tendonitis is his elbow. The only constant was Billy, and some were concerned because he was talking about adding a new pitch. New additions included situational lefty Scott “The Show” Schoeneweis”, Aaron Sele a veteran, Ambiorix Burgos, obtained from the Royals for Brian Bannister, and Joe Smith, who was drafted last year, quite the turnover. Would the pen be able to repeat the performance of last year? How would we replace Dirty? Could Heilman recover from Yadier Molina? We needn’t have worried. The pen is as good as last year.

Until this past Saturday, both Smith and Feliciano had not given up a run all year. Now, with Pedro Dos, that is not totally unexpected, as he had great stretches last year. But Smith, of whom one local loudmouth sports-talk host said in the spring:” I haven’t heard of him, so he can’t be that good”? The kid is just out of college, and he is going 15.1 innings without giving up a run? We have a new combo here, and it’s working quite nicely. Even the aforementioned blowhard has taken note.

The Show, despite a couple of bad outings early on, has done well also. The walks could come down a bit more, especially against lefties, but of late, he has been getting the job done. Sele is not Oliver, but has done OK for the most part. Burgos has had some good moments, and some not so good ones, but is basically the last guy out of the pen. He is a project, and will take some time to recover from the damage pitching in KC may have caused.

Of the returnees, Heilman has been up and down. One game, he is lights out, the next, he is giving up two-run home runs. He has been better as of the last couple of weeks. I like that Willie is putting him out there to erase the memory of any mistakes. Take the game against Florida May 1. He gave up a 2 run homer, but Willie put him right back out there for another inning, and he went 1-2-3. That has to help the confidence. One, that he can get the outs, and two, the Willie has faith in him. Heilman is a key cog to the pen. We need him at his best. Hopefully, whatever pain he was feeling is gone, and we can see the good Aaron again.

Wagner on the other hand has been great. Perfect in saves at 9-9, several 1-2-3 innings, only 2 runs allowed all year, and only 1 earned for a 0.56 ERA to go with a 0.86 WHIP. The only blight was a run he gave up April 24 to Colorado in the tenth inning of a 0-0 game. He gave it up in his second inning of work. Personally, I think he needs to be a 1 and done guy. I feel he has problems his second inning of work. But we have to be happy. He is close to dominant now. It is nice to say that about a Mets closer.

The bullpen as a whole has an ERA of 2.55 to go along with a WHIP of 1.23. That is damn good. Add to that a k/9 ratio of 7.09, and we have ourselves a pen. A good bullpen is key to winning championships. Ours is quite good, and will only get better with the return of Mota. When you have a couple of guys that typically go 6 innings, as well a couple of younger guys, you need a bullpen that can pick you up, and keep you in games. Save for the Brewers game Saturday, the pen has done a good job at that. Again.

Ed is a big Joe Smith fan and likes it when his bullpens don’t cause an ongoing need for Tums. Feel free to heckle him in the forums, or at his site, The Blue, Orange and Green Cafe