It is no secret that the Indians and GM Mark Shapiro are looking for some new recruits to pitch highly leveraged situations late in games. Cleveland fans have witnessed it.
Over the past three seasons, the Indians and its bullpen have gone from very bad to lights-out dominating to again not-able to-watch bad, and it has shown in their records. These vital situations can make or break a team.
This is because the bullpen is such an important part of any championship contending ball club.
Just look at the teams in the World Series. Both Philadelphia and Tampa Bay were top-five in the Major Leagues in bullpen ERA. They had excellent late-inning relief, just as the Tribe had in ’07 when they were oh-so close to the World Series.
So where does the Indians bullpen go from here to recapture that magic, and again contend in ’09? It must get an infusion of outside talent on top of praying for a return to normalcy from a certain few arms if there is to be a sniff of any October baseball on the lake again, right?
That would be ideal, but contrary to general perception, the Indians' bullpen may not be as bad off as you think.
And one might argue that this year’s bullpen will be deeper and more talented than it was entering 2008 when it was viewed as a team strength, especially when taking into consideration the vast pool of talent at AAA.
I will deal with this in two parts. The remainder of this article will discuss pitchers on the Indians active roster that will be slated to start the season in the bullpen. The second article will feature upcoming minor league talent and external options.
Locked-and-Loaded for 2009
On any team you can pretty much write in that there will be six...maybe seven...guys in the bullpen at any given time. Currently, the Indians have already five names virtually locked in to start the season.
Starting in long relief, which the Indians really didn’t have entering ’08, is Zach Jackson. As we all know, Jackson was part of the infamous CC Sabathia deal in July. He made nine starts for the Tribe down the stretch, finishing with a 5.55 ERA.
He is by no stretch overpowering or flashy, but did do a respectable job. He enters this season out of options, and must be on the 25-man roster unless the Indians try to sneak him through waivers.
He could start the season in the rotation, but that is unlikely with other similar options present and Jackson being left-handed. He would be the second left-hander in the bullpen, helping to alleviate Rafael Perez from those duties and keeping Perez late in games where he belongs.
While Jackson has only a small sample size of major league experience versus left-handed hitters, his minor league splits suggest that he can get leftys out with a .263 BAA and a solid 3.5 K/BB ratio against left-handed hitters.
By no means is Jackson going to be the difference in the bullpen, and time will tell if he even sticks, but he initially looks to give the Indians options. He can go long, spot start, go into the rotation in case of injury, or be called upon to get a lefty out. Hopefully, the latter becomes his specialty, because his career as a starter will not last.
Working backwards, Masa Kobayashi will be next on the depth chart.
Signed with thoughts of him being the Indians version of Hideki Okajima, Kobayashi slowly turned into his hot-dog eating champion alter ego as the season wound down. Kobayashi past his usual innings worked load in August and found himself sparingly used by Eric Wedge the last six weeks of the season to save him from completely crashing.
The Indians still have Kobayashi locked through 2009 and own a 2010 club option. He will be on the team, but expectations have been lowered for the 34-year-old Japanese right-hander after his rookie campaign led to a very average 4.53 ERA.
He will likely start as a middle innings reliever with a slight hint of promise if he can keep his 89 MPH fastball in the ballpark. Kobayashi does have good command of the strike zone, not walking many batters, and does get a high number of groundballs. Don’t discount him just yet, but the Indians should remain cautious.
Following Masa on my hypothetical depth chart to enter 2009 is Rafael Betancourt. Raffy Right as we have grown to know him as suffered through his worst season as a pro.
Betancourt was inserted into the closer role in late April after much speculation that he was the rightful choice for that job, and blew up.
The Indians now must know that after two tries over his career, Betancourt just is not that guy. After quickly losing confidence and losing his pinpoint control of his fastball (which must have transferred into Cliff Lee’s arm), Betancourt took a long time to right himself.
Eventually he found himself closer to his usual self and posted a respectable 3.72 ERA after the All-Star break. I wouldn’t expect much different than that this year. He still has excellent command and once the fastball is back in his arsenal and he stops having to throw the slider/ change-ups, he will be tough to beat.
The Indians have him signed though ’09, with a ’10 club option, just as Kobayashi. Betancourt should again be a very good compliment to his pal Raffy Left.
Rafael Perez in my opinion is the man to take over as the Indians closer.
Too bad for him he is left-handed, which on a team that had no other LH options made it hard to take him out of his important role and actually finish games.
He is the one guy that the Indians can count on coming in and giving a great performance on a rather consistent basis. He has great stuff and is another Indians pitcher who generates a high number of groundballs. Mix that with his plus-strikeout skills and the Indians have one of the premier relievers in the game.
You could even argue that he is the closest thing to Billy Wagner in the league right now. If you get a chance, look at the splits. Not too different, Perez doesn’t quite match Wagner’s strikeout rate during his heyday, and does still have to work on the HR ball, but once he figures that out there is no stopping him.
Perez is arbitration eligible through 2012 with the Indians.
The last lock in the Indians initial bullpen, as it sets right now, is the incumbent closer, Jensen Lewis. If there is to be an upgrade to this bullpen as currently shaped, it will likely be in the closer role, but that is no slap in the face to Jensen and his abilities. He did an outstanding job, and may again do a very fine job if the Indians decide that the market will not allow for a replacement.
Lewis converted all 13 save opportunities with a 2.52 ERA and 22-to-4 K/BB ratio once given the job. He helped to solidify the bullpen and the team as the Indians coasted through the last two months of the season winning like it was 2007 all over again.
I, just as the Indians seem to hint at, would be OK if Lewis entered the season as the Indians' closer. He may never continue the dominating performance that finished ‘08, but he has the potential to become a respectable closer, and certainly numerous times better than Joe Bowrowski ever was.
So in a nutshell this is what the Indians have right now, signed and on the active roster entering 2009:
1. Zach Jackson
2. Masa Kobayashi
3. Rafael Betancourt
4. Rafael Perez
5. Jensen Lewis
6. TBA
7. TBA?
This leaves one to two more spots to fill before the season starts. The second part in this series will delve into the Indians options to fill these jobs, from outside of the organizations and inside from the strong core of minor league talent.
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