Is the Bullpen-to-Rotation Transition Destroying the Future of Young Arms?

In recent years, more and more teams are easing their top young pitching talent into life in the big leagues by starting them out in the bullpen in either a setup or closing role. This tactic allows teams to take advantage of their talent without piling up innings and players to gain experience in a somewhat limited role.

The levels of success with this philosophy run the gamut from pitchers emerging as All-Star, front-of-the-rotation starters to pitchers flaming out and never finding success as a starter or otherwise. That begs the question, is this transition helping or harming these young pitchers' careers?

This season alone has seen five pitchers make the transition, as Daniel Bard (Red Sox), Neftali Feliz (Rangers), Chris Sale (White Sox), Lance Lynn (Cardinals) and Jeff Samardzija (Cubs) have all made the move.

Lynn (6-0, 1.40 ERA), Feliz (2-1, 3.38 ERA) and Samardzija (4-1, 3.03 ERA) have all thrived in the rotation. Sale (3-1, 2.73 ERA) has since returned to the closer's role after concerns about his arm arose. Bard (2-4, 4.83 ERA) has struggled after ranking among the best relievers in the game previously.

Through the years, there have been some very successful pitchers who began their careers as relievers and transitioned seamlessly into the rotation.

Pedro Martinez joined the Dodgers as a 21-year-old rookie, appearing in 65 games (two starts) and, over 107 innings, he went 10-5 with a 2.61 ERA and 119 strikeouts to finish ninth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

That offseason he was dealt to the Expos for second baseman Delino DeShields, where he joined the rotation and went 11-4 with a 3.42 ERA over 23 starts in what was only the beginning of a fantastic career as a starter.

Johan Santana was selected by the Twins as a Rule 5 pick, and after two years as a middling reliever he stepped into a swingman role for the Twins in 2002, going 8-6 with a 2.99 ERA over 27 appearances, 14 of which were starts.

The following season, he appeared in 45 games (18 starts) and showed signs of what was to come in going 12-3 with a 3.07 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 158.1 innings for a seventh-place Cy Young finish.

The next season he joined the rotation full-time and won 20 games, capturing his first of two Cy Young awards as he would quickly emerge as the best pitcher in the American League.

C.J. Wilson was a late bloomer of sorts as he took over as the Rangers closer at the age of 26 and tallied 50 saves with a 3.68 ERA in three seasons in that role.

He was moved to the rotation to open the 2010 season, as Feliz was called up and inserted into the closer's role that season. Wilson took to it immediately, going 31-15 with a 3.14 ERA in two seasons in the Texas rotation, earning a five-year, $77.5 million contract from the Angels this offseason.

On a smaller scale, Adam Wainwright and David Price served as closers during their teams' playoff runs, locking down saves on the biggest of stages before moving on to the rotation the following season.

It has not been all good though, and you need look no further than a pair of recent Yankees top prospects: Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes.

Chamberlain burst onto the scene in 2007 as a 21-year-old rookie, posting a 0.38 ERA and 12.8 K/9 over 24 innings of work. He enjoyed success the following season split between the rotation and bullpen, appearing in 42 games (12 starts) and posting a 2.60 ERA over 100.1 innings.

However, upon joining the rotation full-time the following season, he went an unspectacular 9-6 with a 4.75 ERA and saw his strikeouts per nine innings plummet from 10.6 to 7.6. Now he looks to be a full-time reliever moving forward.

Hughes struggled in his first two tastes of big league action, but broke out as a setup man in 2009 with a 3.03 ERA in 51 appearances (seven starts).

He followed that up with an 18-8, 4.19 ERA season in which he was named to the All-Star team and he looked ready to move into a front-of-the-rotation role.

However, he's posted a 6.03 ERA and a 7-9 record over the past two seasons and a move back to the bullpen could be in his near future.

While this was just a quick look back at some recent examples of major success and failures, it is clear that there is at least some risk involved in transitioning a pitcher to the rotation via the bullpen.

It is a trend that will no doubt continue, as teams with a full rotation can often times solidify the back end of their bullpen by calling up their top young arms, and it will be interesting to see how things play out for the five aforementioned pitchers who are making the transition this season.