and that’s what i voted for.

i think tejeda will ultimately end up being the 8th inning guy once we get a month or so into the season. he’s ready for a breakout in my opinion.

I know he wasn’t as bad as his numbers indicate, but man, I would have guessed you could non-tender him and sign him to a lesser deal and if he walks, he walks and you have Mahay and Musser as your lefty relievers with HoRam also a possibility as well as the numerous replacement level lefty relievers available on waivers all the time.

Assuming HoRam ends up in the pen, (please) we have plenty of lefties. And I’d rather have Peralta than a 3rd lefty anyway.

I think a lot of us were a little surprised Mahay wasn’t flipped last summer. During this offseason it seems like every transaction has resulted in at least a few people speculating we would flip them at the deadline, including Farns, Jacobs, Crisp. But, the other speculation has been that Moore thinks and wants to contend this year. So, I guess it’s going to depend. If we’re anywhere near the mix in July do you think he’ll flip people? Probably not – even though he should.

And, I’m very surprised at Gobble. I would have dumped him and kept Peralta (minda’s experience not withstanding). I was also not impressed at all by Musser.

For me, not being a stathead, it is really hard to tell if we’re improving the pen or not. However, for me, the last two years of the pen turned out better than I expected but that’s partly due to years and years of Royal cynicism, disappointment, and doubt. I’m hoping that DM can do it again and surprise us to the upside – especially since it’s more expensive now. Unfortunately, here comes that cynicism and doubt again. Most high priced things have tended to disappoint in the Royal’s past. Meche being the recent bright light.

One of the biggest problems last year was the streakiness. If the 2 really bad streaks could simply be replaced by even typical wishy washy .400 ball the season would have been much improved. Unfortunately, how do you evaluate the reasons when a whole team goes bad and eliminate such streakiness.

significant dropoff in bullpen performance. Both due to the acquisition of Farnsworth and just natural regression to the mean. I’d explain what I mean more, but I need to study for my final and just posting this is making me aggravated with myself for procrastinating.

Later people.

a little bit for your first job but never for another job. It will matter a little for grad school if that’s in the future. Otherwise, grab a beer with us and read some posts.

I think Carlos Rosa is every bit capable of putting up Leo Nunez-like numbers, next season. I told Greg Schaum that, when all is said and done, Rosa could very well be our primary setup man. His two pitches – and command – are that good in a limited role. We have many options, but we had borderline dominance last year from several men. Ramirez won’t be replaced, Tejeda will be lucky to put up 2008 numbers for an entire 2009, Mahay won’t replicate last year, and Farnsworth will likely be a little better than Yabuta or Peralta. Bullpens are volatile, but on paper, no way our 2009 bullpen beats last year’s.

is I’m happy my s/n still has relevance for another season.

Don’t lie. I wasn’t around so I’m not sure. But I think this pen will be better going into the year. There is obviously more depth and some proven players than last years going into the year.

of Ho-Ram? He’s in the bullpen mix as well

I think even if the bullpen staff was exactly the same in 2009 as it was in 2008, there would’ve been a slight dropoff — just because they were outstanding last year.

However, we’ve replaced two of the really good relievers with 3 mediocre ones.

The talent level is not the same in the bp as it is has been the past two years.
Mahay
At this point we don’t know how Mahay will recover from his injury. It’s not like that is an easily shaken off injury.
Gobble
There is no proof that Hillman will use him correctly.
Farnsworth
Just based on the past few years stats he can’t really compare to what RamRam/Nunez or Greinke have done over the past couple years coming out of the pen.
HoRam
Not too concerned with him hopefully he and McClure can have a repeat performance. If nothing else he is a nice long reliever to have in the pen for bad Bannister/Hoch/Davies games. Every bullpen needs a guy like that and looking at the other guys with the exception of Bale I don’t think you would want anyone else filling that role especially if Tejeda turns into a 7th or 8th inning guy.
Bale
I don’t understand why KC picked him up and what role he will serve. Maybe he is Mahay/Gobble injury insurance.
Waechter
Hopefully he continues his Rh dominance from ‘08.
Soria
Can’t really expect him to put the same numbers up.

The encouraging sign is that with keeping Yimmy and the signing of Waechter maybe just maybe GMDM has convinced Hillman to use more Righty-Lefty matchups. He crushed the bp last year by overexposing Yimmy.

It’s really a crapshoot there is no way any of us could’ve expected RamRam or even Soria to perform the way they did last year. Soria should regress slightly but if Hillman would use matchups better the bullpen could actually be equal to last year if they get a few better 5th thru 7th innings. Any addition of Rosa either in the bullpen or the rotation is gonna help the talent level on the backend greatly.

Worthless spot there. Get in a fresh young guy that needs to learn. Buck has shown what he is in the bigs.