Our Bullpen

[Clapp]

Alright, there's gotta be a trade or two still coming.

Guzman
Wuertz
Gaudin
Marshall
Cotts
Vizcaino
Heilman
Samardzija
Gregg
Marmol

And then to get a better idea of what they might carry...

Zambrano
Dempster
Harden
Lilly

That's 14 pitchers. Depth is a great thing to have, especially when it comes to pitching. However, we also have guys like Hart, Ascanio, and Atkins down on the farm.

I didn't think it would happen before, but I could see Shark starting the year down in AAA now to work at being a starter. If a couple of guys are stinking up the joint in the pen with the big club, we could always call him up at any point to replace them.

I think Guzman's going to be traded. I love the guy's ability but you can't count on him to stay healthy, or do well for that matter. Let Guzman show off his arm a bit in ST for the scouts, deal him for a prospect.

Gaudin is my dark horse to make the rotation. Since he's pretty much just a fastball-slider guy, his stuff's best suited for the pen but I think he'd be fine as a #5. He started 34 games and threw 199.1 innings for the A's in 2007. We could use those innings.

We just signed Wuertz for 1.1 mil to avoid arb. He's frustrating and Lou hates him, but he's had an ERA under 4 the last 4 seasons. He's a plenty fine 6th inning guy. Good bet to be traded.

Marshall's a lock to be on the team as of now of course, likely in the swing role.

Cotts will be on the team simply because he's a lefty.

Vizcaino's usually a dependable 6th/7th inning guy but had a crap year in 08, and was absolutely atrocious against lefties as I pointed out in another thread. Still, he's making $3.5 million this year, and it's doubtful in these economic times anybody out there wants this contract. I think we're sort of forced to keep him and hopefully he pitches like he did from 04-07.

Heilman... we've talked enough about him. He'll obviously be on the team, either in the #5 role or anywhere in the bullpen. Although he sucked at it last year, he at least has some experience in the 9th inning. We'll love his versatility and we'll really love him if he gets back to his pre-08 form.

Gregg and Marmol are on the team.

I'm predicting Guzman and Wuertz are traded, but probably not until March. We should let this whole group battle it out a bit.

What do you think?

[rok]

Why did Cotts have to be born left handed?

I agree that Wuertz and Guzman will probably both be gone, but I'm starting to think that Gaudin is on thin ice as well. I thought he pitched great pre-injury last season, but some of the comments that Lou and Hendry made in the past about him make me wonder about where he fits in our plans.

I think we have plenty of good arms to build a nice staff, but I still would have liked another bonafide SP. I guess that's no longer in the cards though.

[Clapp]

<!--quoteo(post=14596:date=Jan 29 2009, 01:12 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Jan 29 2009, 01:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Why did Cotts have to be born left handed?

I agree that Wuertz and Guzman will probably both be gone, but I'm starting to think that Gaudin is on thin ice as well. I thought he pitched great pre-injury last season, but some of the comments that Lou and Hendry made in the past about him make me wonder about where he fits in our plans.

I think we have plenty of good arms to build a nice staff, but I still would have liked another bonafide SP. I guess that's no longer in the cards though.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And last year Cotts was much worse against lefties than any of those guys outside of Vizcaino. He's not a bad overall pitcher, but he's also not better than a couple guys that will be left off the team.

Yeah Gaudin had a few really bad outings late in the year. He was great before that. I'd really like to hang on to him but I agree if he were dealt it wouldn't surprise me at all.

[Destined]

Why isn't anyone talking about signing Brian Shouse to be a lefty specialist?
He's an Illinois guy, and gets out lefties (.180 BA vs LH).
He wants to stay in Milwaukee supposedly, but he's a guy that would be a huge step up from Cotts.

Or how even Tyler Johnson (.224 vs. LH, .211 vs. LH).

[deputymayor]

Maybe I've got it wrong, but I thought I remembered the comments about Gaudin possibly not being on the team only coming from Sullivan, with no actual supporting quotes from Hendry/Lou. In fact, I thought Hendry spoke highly or at least positively regarding Gaudin when he did make comments about him this off-season. I could be wrong on that though.

[veryzer]

if i was managing this team, marshall would be in the #5 spot. heilman can be the hardin stand-in.

[HTC]

So Marshall, Gaudin, Heilman and Shark could all start? That's not even mentioning Guzman or Atkins although I doubt either if them gets a chance to start this year unless they're dealt. If we're not getting Peavy, I'd just as soon let one of those first four guys start instead of going out and signing Looper or any other of the crap on the market not named Ben Sheets.

[Fella]

Yeah I agree we have too many arms already, no need to sign another mediocre one. If we aren't getting Peavy we should just stay with what we have at until the trade deadline.

As for Gaudin, I think that would be a big mistake to let him go, I think he has a good arm, he struggled after his back injury but he looked really before before and was always solid in Oakland. He threw around 200 innings just 2 years ago and I think he would be just as good as Marquis or Looper.

[ColoradoCub]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->The Twins have reportedly broken off talks with free agent Eric Gagne and are now looking to trade for a setup man.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Hopefully, Hendry's aware of this

[Fella]

I'm not sure why anyone would sign Eric Gagne, he is absolutely awful. I wish he was still a Brewer.

[kbwsb]

<!--quoteo(post=14658:date=Jan 29 2009, 11:20 AM:name=HTC)-->QUOTE (HTC @ Jan 29 2009, 11:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->So Marshall, Gaudin, Heilman and Shark could all start? That's not even mentioning Guzman or Atkins although I doubt either if them gets a chance to start this year unless they're dealt. <b>If we're not getting Peavy, I'd just as soon let one of those first four guys start instead of going out and signing Looper or any other of the crap on the market not named Ben Sheets</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Amen.

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo(post=14662:date=Jan 29 2009, 11:36 AM:name=Fella)-->QUOTE (Fella @ Jan 29 2009, 11:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I'm not sure why anyone would sign Eric Gagne, he is absolutely awful. I wish he was still a Brewer.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think CC is thinking more in terms of the Twins as a trade partner (since they're looking for a setup man and we have about 50 of them).

[ColoradoCub]

Yeah, that's the why I mentioned it... Brendan Harris would be nice to get as a backup since he can play every IF position, though I doubt they'd trade him... or Nick Punto even

[jeffy]

List looks pretty good. I'm just glad Howry's not on it [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

[Fella]

<!--quoteo(post=14673:date=Jan 29 2009, 11:21 AM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Jan 29 2009, 11:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=14662:date=Jan 29 2009, 11:36 AM:name=Fella)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Fella @ Jan 29 2009, 11:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I'm not sure why anyone would sign Eric Gagne, he is absolutely awful. I wish he was still a Brewer.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think CC is thinking more in terms of the Twins as a trade partner (since they're looking for a setup man and we have about 50 of them).
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Yeah I know, I was just sayin, Gagne blows.

I'm not sure any of our guys would be seen as true setup men in a trade though, other than Marmol and Gregg and they aren't going anywhere. I guess maybe Heilman, but since we just dealt for him that wouldn't make sense either.