Nobody likes bullpens. Even teams with objectively good bullpens hate their bullpens. Pretty much every reliever is a failed starter and the bullpen only shows up when the starter has gotten tired or started to fail. The bullpen is the cleanup crew and sometimes they make the place messier.

You also can’t really predict bullpens. Reliever performance varies so much from year to year outside of the very elite arms that the difference between pretty good and pretty bad usually comes from nowhere. With that said, I’m going to offer a little tidbit about each reliever.

Joe Nathan

Be healthy.

Ian Krol

Find a way to neutralize righties.

Joba Chamberlain

Better command.

Al Alburquerque

Be healthy.

Bruce Rondon

Command the breaking ball.

Phil Coke

Better command, don’t pitch against guys who stand in the right handed box.

Luke Putkonen

Trick them into letting you pitch in non-blowouts, you’re pretty okay!

I don’t mean for this to be a blow off post, but I felt like I had to write it to complete the series. I don’t really have a lot to say about the bullpen other than that they could be really good if everyone meets their potential and really bad if everyone finds their realistic floor. There is talent, but there might not be performance. It’s a tough thing to predict. We can analyze when they start playing games, but for now, you just kind of wait.