Predicting the New York Bullpen, Part 1 of 1.

So I just wrote this pretty long and well-researched post on the Mets bullpen situation, figuring out what I thought was probably going to happen. I almost always do the research as I’m writing a post (I don’t know if that’s normal or not, but it seems to add a degree of objectivity and/or authenticity). About half way through, I glanced at the 40-man roster and saw the name Rocky Cherry at the top. This name has two things significant about it: One, it’s an absolutely awesome name to have. Two, the Mets just drafted him in the Rule 5 (not Rule V) draft, so he fills the last spot in their ‘pen. So this was supposed to be a two part piece, but now you only get one. Such is life.

The Yankees have recently adopted the “throw shit at a wall and see what sticks” approach to building a bullpen. After Mariano Rivera, that is. The bullpen thrived in 2008 under the watchful eye of Joe Girardi, despite consisting almost exclusively of unproven pitchers. There was some debate over whether or not the same success would have happened under Joe Torre, but that’s outside the scope of this post. Much of the bullpen was a revolving door for a lot of the season, but it seemed to settle in during the second half. With that, we look ahead to next year. Here are the lead-pipe locks to make the team next spring: