How Deep Is Your Pen?
Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 2, 2010
One way to see which teams in baseball have the best/deepest bullpens this season - through games of 7/1 - via Play Index:
For 2010, requiring "WHIP" <=1.20, At least 80% games in relief and At least 20 Games, sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria
| Rk | Year | Lg | Tm | #Matching | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2010 | NL | San Diego Padres | 5 | Mike Adams / Luke Gregerson / Edward Mujica / Joe Thatcher / Ryan Webb |
| 2 | 2010 | NL | St. Louis Cardinals | 5 | Mitchell Boggs / Ryan Franklin / Kyle McClellan / Trever Miller / Jason Motte |
| 3 | 2010 | AL | Tampa Bay Rays | 5 | Grant Balfour / Joaquin Benoit / Andy Sonnanstine / Rafael Soriano / Dan Wheeler |
| 4 | 2010 | NL | Colorado Rockies | 4 | Joe Beimel / Matt Belisle / Manuel Corpas / Randy Flores |
| 5 | 2010 | NL | Atlanta Braves | 3 | Takashi Saito / Jonny Venters / Billy Wagner |
| 6 | 2010 | AL | Detroit Tigers | 3 | Eddie Bonine / Jose Valverde / Joel Zumaya |
| 7 | 2010 | AL | Minnesota Twins | 3 | Brian Duensing / Matt Guerrier / Jon Rauch |
| 8 | 2010 | AL | Texas Rangers | 3 | Neftali Feliz / Darren O'Day / Darren Oliver |
| 9 | 2010 | AL | Boston Red Sox | 2 | Daniel Bard / Jonathan Papelbon |
| 10 | 2010 | AL | Chicago White Sox | 2 | J.J. Putz / Matt Thornton |
| 11 | 2010 | NL | Florida Marlins | 2 | Clay Hensley / Leo Nunez |
| 12 | 2010 | AL | Kansas City Royals | 2 | Kyle Farnsworth / Joakim Soria |
| 13 | 2010 | NL | Los Angeles Dodgers | 2 | Jonathan Broxton / Hong-Chih Kuo |
| 14 | 2010 | AL | Oakland Athletics | 2 | Andrew Bailey / Craig Breslow |
| 15 | 2010 | NL | Philadelphia Phillies | 2 | Jose Contreras / Chad Durbin |
| 16 | 2010 | NL | Pittsburgh Pirates | 2 | Joel Hanrahan / Evan Meek |
| 17 | 2010 | NL | San Francisco Giants | 2 | Guillermo Mota / Sergio Romo |
| 18 | 2010 | AL | Toronto Blue Jays | 2 | Shawn Camp / Scott Downs |
| 19 | 2010 | AL | Baltimore Orioles | 1 | Jason Berken |
| 20 | 2010 | NL | Chicago Cubs | 1 | Sean Marshall |
| 21 | 2010 | NL | Cincinnati Reds | 1 | Arthur Rhodes |
| 22 | 2010 | AL | Cleveland Indians | 1 | Chris Perez |
| 23 | 2010 | NL | Houston Astros | 1 | Wilton Lopez |
| 24 | 2010 | NL | New York Mets | 1 | Francisco Rodriguez |
| 25 | 2010 | AL | New York Yankees | 1 | Mariano Rivera |
| 26 | 2010 | AL | Seattle Mariners | 1 | Brandon League |
| 27 | 2010 | NL | Washington Nationals | 1 | Tyler Clippard |
| 28 | 2010 | AL | Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | 0 | |
| 29 | 2010 | NL | Arizona Diamondbacks | 0 | |
| 30 | 2010 | NL | Milwaukee Brewers | 0 |
.
It's very interesting to see how many teams this season have less than 3 guys who can make this cut...
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:00 pm
These data show a very atypical situation for the Reds -- in their glory years, one of the Big Red Machines' notable characteristics was the presence of strong bullpens and {Usually, but not without exception} less than memorable starting rotations. It was this that made Anderson knopwn as "Captain Hook" -- a moniker that he deserved perhaps, but with some understanding. Now, it appears like there is no big he-bull of the Pen.
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:03 pm
And no, I do not consider Rhodes performance as a LOOGY this year to overcome the absence of a few good middlers. Owings hardly qualifies -- he is still in danger of being remembered more for his hitting than for his pitching.
July 3rd, 2010 at 11:15 am
[...] ancient history as the 2010 Angels bullpen ranks last in ERA in the American League. According to Baseball-Reference , the Angels have no relievers with a WHIP under 1.20 (min 20 games) on their roster. The Angels [...]