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How the Sox Stack Up: Bullpen | Print |  E-mail
Written by Ken Boehlke   
Sunday, 07 February 2010 15:38

The White Sox bullpen was a big question mark in 2009.  The addition of J.J. Putz was supposed to sure up the pen in 2010, but the losses of D.J. Carrasco and Octavio Dotel leave the Sox in a similar situation as they were in last year.  Jenks is still a strong closer at the back and the Thornton/Putz combo in late relief gives the bullpen some hope.  But there are still questions in the middle relief with Tony Pena and Randy Williams.

In the division the Sox fall somewhere in the middle.  The Twins consistently have the best bullpen in the division and there's no reason to think that will change this year.  With Nathan at the back end, and Mijares, Guerrier, and Condrey nailing down middle relief the Twins pen is nothing to take lightly.  With the addition of Jose Valverde, the Tigers vaulted themselves into the race fThorntonor top bullpen.  The Royals still have the dominant closer in Soria, but they didn't make any real strides to make the rest of the pen any better.  Finally there are the Indians.  Easily the worst bullpen in the division last season, and returning basically the entire team, they are most likely going to be right there at the bottom again.

If I had to take one of the four dominant closers in the division, I'd probably take Jenks last.  So that immediately puts the Sox behind the 8-ball when it comes to the bullpen rankings.  I like the Zumaya, Seay, Galarraga trio more than Mijares, Guerrier, and Condrey, but I'm not willing to say the Tigers are better than the Twins yet.  I'll say those two tie, the Sox are next, followed by the Royals and Indians.

You have to like the Yankees bullpen as long as Rivera is the closer.  The Angels have a very solid bullpen with the acquisition of Rodney.  The Red Sox are always good.  I like the Orioles move to add Mike Gonzalez.  The A's have the reigning Rookie of the Year and a few more young studs out there.  But to give an accurate rank on bullpens as they stand right now in the entire AL is nearly impossible.  So I'll say this, the Sox are not in the upper echelon, but they are also not near the bottom.  It's going to come down to how well Putz can rebound from his season in New York.  If he steps up, the Sox will be fine, if he doesn't, they may need some extra runs late more often than they had hoped.

Photo courtesy of i.cdn.turner.com.



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