2010 Starters/Relievers: Surprise, Surprise - not much changes

As it stands, here are the pitchers for 2010.  The analysis was to look at who remains, can we jettison some dead weight, and are there any holes to be filled.  (Obviously there are some holes to be filled, just hopefully not by the likes of Sidney Ponson or Lamey Wrong.)  --Salaries adapted from Cot's, with some estimations made (nothing crazy).

Starters $27M - I think the general consensus is that this group's not too shabby.  My guess is that, unless one or more gets traded, we have Greinke, Meche, Bannister 1-2-3, with Tejeda, Hochevar, Davies battling for 4-5.  My hope is that the odd man out goes to the 'pen, at the very least to be one of the long relievers/spot starters.  I don't see a lot of holes to fill, and with some young arms coming up, the guys at the back-end of the rotation get a chance to prove themselves (before they get usurped by Crow et al).  I was a bit surprised at how Meche's $12M stands out next to the other guys--it's been discussed before, but again I wonder if the pending old-age-decline means we should be looking to move him (I'm a fan of Meche in general, but he just might not be the cheap option the Royals need).

Relievers $14M - Since the starters are pretty much set, this is what I really wanted to get in to.  Seems like Soria, Farnsworth, and Cruz are locks and will be the high-leverage portion of the pen (for better or worse), unless Cruz doesn't rebound or unless Tejeda doesn't make the starting rotation.  I'm being a bit optimistic here in penciling Rosa into the pen, rather than a holdover such as Bale - he's cheaper and he has some upside.  Same goes for Hughes, although this actually happening seems a bit less likely. 

Now for the dead-weight portion.  Wright is my presumptive middle-relief holdover, and this seems like an opportunity to get a young arm into the pen as a replacement.  While I'm mostly OK with having Wright begin the season and eventually replacing Wright/Rosa/Hughes (whoever isn't getting it done) with an up-and-comer (Crow, Lowery, etc.), this means spending about $1M to sign Wright when he's essentially used as a space-filler.  I'd really rather see DiNardo/Marte/Lerew/Lowery/cheap FA in Wright's spot to start the season, but that would be ignoring the love-fest between Treyton HillMoore and Lamey Wrong, so I'm not really holding out hope.  For the last spot, which I would figure to be a long reliever, there aren't any sure-thing options.  Chen seems like a good fit since he's cheap, can be a spot starter, and doesn't totally suck, but he's a +30-year-old space-filler.  Rather see a younger guy get a chance to fill in there, but until Crow's ready, there aren't guys (besides DiNardo, also 30) who can be spot starters.  So someone like Marte or Lerew or John Bannister could be there instead of Chen (or dare I suggest Chris Hayes), but it doesn't seem like this roster spot is going to make or break the 'pen.

All-in-all, not a lot has changed.  Some starting pitchers need to show improved consistency, and the bullpen's fate rests on young arms and the Professor (and Juan Cruz needs to remember that he's actually supposed to be good).  While the bullpen wasn't good  was terrible last season, at least it wasn't expensive, and if (when) Farnsworth doesn't pan out (though he did have a good tRA/FIB this season), there's another $4 or 5 M to reinvest in young arms for the 'pen.  Personally, I'd like to see Hoch and Crow throw out of the 'pen to some extent this season, mostly from a development standpoint since they would experience a different manner of approaching pitching (to shake things up for Hochevar and to ease Crow into the majors).  The salaries seem about right for an $80M payroll team, with just over half being spent on pitching, though I could also see a higher percentage going to the bullpen in the coming seasons.