[jaykno14]

Surprisingly enough, your Red Machine isn't to bad in this category of the many positions in baseball. Out of the six guys that are in the active bullpen, three of them have ERA's under 4. I decide to take a look at the age of the five guys on the active staff (the sixth guy Joe Valentin, our closer, is injured), and am happy to see that there is only one guy that is over the age of thirty, but, and this is a big but, that one guy is earning $9.5 million f*cking dollars a year. (Jaw drop) How the HELL, could anyone managing a baseball team spend almost $10 million on a friggin relief pitcher who isn't even that good. Scott Eyre. Must be thinkin' he is hot stuff right now with that much money. Sorry man but you ain't gonna last more than a week on my team with that kind of salary. Anyway, on with the show.

As mentioned above, our oldest AND richest relief pitcher is Scott Eyre who is 34. Our genious owner before me decided to sign him to a four year contract that is worth $9.5 million a year. What an idiot. I have no clue what he was on that day, but it had to be something pretty strong. Scott Eyre isn't even that good of reliever. He had a 3.95 ERA and was 6-5 this past year. In fact, the year before that he was even worse with a 5.55 ERA with the Giants. What was this owner THINKING?! I then decided to take a look at his scouting report (beware) and see what my friend "The Scout", thinks of him. I then figure out why he was signed to such a big deal. "He is an intimidating reliever!" I laugh and decide not to even finish reading the rest of the report has to say about him. I decide to place him on the waiver wire and pray that he is taken off my hands.

The next reliever is a 29 year old named Luke Henson. This is the first time I ever see this name so I decide to take a look at his profile. Thanking the lord, I see he is only earning $300,000 a year. This past year he appeared in 38 games going 0-3 with a 3.77 ERA. He can pitch up to 94 miles an hour and will make a good middle reliever for me next year. This is the kind of guy I want for my bullpen. Someone that won't take up too much payroll space and is serviceable. Not some 34 year old washed out veteran making almost $10 million.

I look at the next reliever and it is another guy I have never heard of. His name is Orber Moreno and he is 29 years old. He was signed at the beginning of this season after spending the last two seasons with the Mets. Not to my pleasure, he is making a million and a half dollars a year for this year. I decide to offer him a contract and see what he wants. Two and a half million dollars. No way. You can try to get that from some other team who is willing to spend that on an average middle reliever. I will briefly give you his stats. He hade a 6.75 ERA. Done. Over with. Good Bye.

Dave Riske is our second guy who has an ERA over 3. But, he actually has potential, unlike Moreno. After spending 5 seasons with the Indians, he was picked up off waivers by Milwaukee last year and then we picked him off waivers. With all the moving, he struggled with a 5.85 ERA and a 5-5 record. He has shown that he can be a true bullpen ace but in the last two years he has a combined ERA of 5.83. We will give him one more year and if he doesn't succeed, then he will be placed on waivers or released from his 3 year contract that is worth $1.5 million.

The fifth and final reliever out of our bullpen is Ryan Wagner. Out of all the guys on my staff, Wagner in my eyes has the brightest future. He is 24 years old and has the talents of a future closer for my staff. This year as a setup man, Wagner was 3-4 with one save and a 3.57 ERA. He is making $300,000 this year and is eligible for arbritration. His fastball touches 99 miles per hour and he is a ground ball pitcher. Truly everything that I look for in a pitcher. Oh and I almost forgot he has above average control which is also a plus for a pitcher with that kind of velocity.

The closer for the 2006 Machine was Joe Valentin and don't ask me who the hell he is. All I can tell you is that he is 26 years old and has all the makings for a set up man not a closer. With him and Wagner in red over the next 5-7 years I think you won't see very many leads given up. The past year, Valentin struggled as a closer with a 5.13 ERA. He did manage to get 27 saves but also blew nine games. (eek!) He is also eligible for arbitration and I will give you his arbitration numbers when my money guy gives them to me.

In the minors, we are stacked with relievers and I would be up all night if I told you them all. In AAA we have former St. Louis prospect Rick Ankiel. One of the few smart things the past management did with him was make him a reliever and he responded well with a 2.63 ERA. He will make $940,000 over the next three years which is reasonable enough for me and he will take the place of veteran and rich guy Scott Eyre. Ankiel can pitch two or three innings at a time which is a bonus in a relief pitcher. His control is the only downfall but it is average and won't hurt him too much. The 26 year old had an above average 1.27 WHIP in AAA.

David Bailey is 20 years old and was a former starter but is now a reliever. In AAA last year, he had a 7.04 ERA, but my gut feeling is giving me the indication not to give up on him so I sign him to a one year deal worth $600,000. He will be invited to spring training this year but will most likely remain in AAA to work as a reliever some more.

Bob Hollingsworth is a 24 year old reliever who was drafted in the fourth round in 2005 by Philadelphia. He was released and this year we picked him up to for depth. He appeared in 24 games at AAA and had a 3.71 ERA and was 1-0. He pitched 50 innings so he pitched just a little over 2 innings an outing which shows me that he has very good endurance.

Also in AAA we have 26 year oldDavid Mattox and 31 year old closer Jason Middlebrook who are both going to be career AAAer's.

In AA we have one notable reliever who is Bubba Nelson. He is 22 years old and probably will be at AAA next year to start the season. He had an ERA of 3.55 and even started 9 games but appeared to be best at reliever. He has very good talent ratings which project him to be an above average middle reliever.

In A we have a bunch of 20-24 year olds who can't make it out of there and probably never will.

All in all, I wasn't too displeased with our relievers. Once we get rid of Scott Eyre's $9 million contract I will be one happy man with this bullpen.