The Blue Workhorse 2009 Outlook:
After a 63-win season, you might expect a drastic face lift to a ball club. However, it almost seems general manager Kevin Towers spent all offseason going over and entertaining offers for Jake Peavy — so much that he forgot to try to improve the team in any other manner.
AND…more…including why the Hometown feels…The San Diego Padres WILL win the World Series…
Let’s play a quick game of name those numbers. Who has produced these incredible statistics?
151.1 IP / 9 W / 2.28 ERA / 195 K / 1.13 WHIP
Jake Peavy? Johan Santana? Many of you might see the line and figure it must have been a line from Peavy, Santana, or one of the other top-flight starting pitchers 151 innings through the season.
However, these stats were the combined 2007 season statistics of Carlos Marmol and Jonathan Broxton, two of the most dominant middle relievers in the game.
In terms of fantasy baseball, middle relievers are often forgotten when they can be a huge weapon as an added bonus to your pitching staff. They can be the secret key to lower WHIP and ERA, and many of these guys also pile up the strikeouts:
…more…
For the past two seasons, there have been concerns about a couple of the most known and dominant closers in the game. Last season, it was New York Yankees’ stopper Mariano Rivera after he got off to a rough start. This season the troubles are in the other league, on the other coast as Trevor Hoffman, the man who enters to “Hell’s Bells,” has left without the lead, or a save, already twice in the early stages this season.
After week one of the MLB season, there have been several teams, including the Padres, that have already run into bullpen issues, particularly on Opening Day, so we decided to examine each of the 30 major league teams bullpen performances thus far and see which teams should really be concerned with their bullpen.
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| By N2H | |||
