Anyone who knows anything about Ed Wade will first think of his affinity for bullpens. The Astros general manager, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies, is known to base much of his strategy around bullpens, and did just this when he took the job in Houston.
Wade's philosophy is pretty cut and dry. A bullpen is critical to a team's success, but you never know who may fizzle out or go down to injury, so it's important that your bullpen is deep and diverse. While this comes at an extra cost, it usually shields the team from adversity. Looking at this season, though, it seems like the payroll in Houston for the bullpen is quite high.
The Houston Astros team is paying an exorbitant $18,400,000 to its relievers in 2009. Whether this seems like a lot or not, the following stat will put it into perspective. The Dodgers pay $7,200,000 this season and the Cardinals pay $6,200,000. The $11-12 million difference could easily land the team an elite starting pitcher, or two very skilled ones at that
In Wade's defense, the entire problem isn't his responsibility. The Astros signed closer Jose Valverde to a large contract and the team had planned to ship him out during the off-season. Due to the economic difficulties of the past year, teams will no longer take on such a high salary unless they're fully confident in the player, and Valverde doesn't fit the bill.
The Astros bullpen has been a failure by all standards in 2009. With the second highest number of blown saves (only second to the Nationals of all teams) and a team bullpen ERA of 4.28, the bullpen in Houston has hurt the team more than it's helped it. Cecil Cooper may be to blame for at least part of the woes in Houston's bullpen.
Cooper has irresponsibly used many of the team's relievers, most notably LaTroy Hawkins and Chris Sampson. During the first three months of the season, Cooper showed little regard for their potential fatigue, and this resulted in injuries on the part of both players last month.
Good minds can disagree on whether it makes more sense to have four bullpen pitchers averaging $2 million a year or one starting pitcher making $8 million a year. Mistakes can be made either way (see Jason Jennings and Woody Williams as recent examples where spending on starting pitching didn't work out well). Given the Astros' budgetary constraints, Wade needs to decide whether relief pitching counts more than starting pitching and spend accordingly. There doesn't seem to be enough in the till to feed the need of both the rotation and the bullpen.
Wandy Rodriguez is going to cost a lot more next year although Bud Norris could provide financial relief for a few years if he plays as well as his early results suggest. If Felipe Paulino or Yorman Bazardo earn a starting job, that will be two slots in the rotation than can be savings-friendly. If that works out, maybe the Astros can afford to keep Valverde for another year. Keep in mind that Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn will be due nice raises for 2009 and Ivan Rodriguez will surely cost more if he comes back next year. Who knows if Miguel Tejada is staying and at what price? Through all of it, another $18 million dollar bullpen seems both unlikely and unreasonable, especially with the results they provided us this season.
Logically, you'd expect them to ship out some relievers...but this is Ed Wade, so who knows what happens from here.
Wade's philosophy is pretty cut and dry. A bullpen is critical to a team's success, but you never know who may fizzle out or go down to injury, so it's important that your bullpen is deep and diverse. While this comes at an extra cost, it usually shields the team from adversity. Looking at this season, though, it seems like the payroll in Houston for the bullpen is quite high.
The Houston Astros team is paying an exorbitant $18,400,000 to its relievers in 2009. Whether this seems like a lot or not, the following stat will put it into perspective. The Dodgers pay $7,200,000 this season and the Cardinals pay $6,200,000. The $11-12 million difference could easily land the team an elite starting pitcher, or two very skilled ones at that
In Wade's defense, the entire problem isn't his responsibility. The Astros signed closer Jose Valverde to a large contract and the team had planned to ship him out during the off-season. Due to the economic difficulties of the past year, teams will no longer take on such a high salary unless they're fully confident in the player, and Valverde doesn't fit the bill.
The Astros bullpen has been a failure by all standards in 2009. With the second highest number of blown saves (only second to the Nationals of all teams) and a team bullpen ERA of 4.28, the bullpen in Houston has hurt the team more than it's helped it. Cecil Cooper may be to blame for at least part of the woes in Houston's bullpen.
Cooper has irresponsibly used many of the team's relievers, most notably LaTroy Hawkins and Chris Sampson. During the first three months of the season, Cooper showed little regard for their potential fatigue, and this resulted in injuries on the part of both players last month.
Good minds can disagree on whether it makes more sense to have four bullpen pitchers averaging $2 million a year or one starting pitcher making $8 million a year. Mistakes can be made either way (see Jason Jennings and Woody Williams as recent examples where spending on starting pitching didn't work out well). Given the Astros' budgetary constraints, Wade needs to decide whether relief pitching counts more than starting pitching and spend accordingly. There doesn't seem to be enough in the till to feed the need of both the rotation and the bullpen.
Wandy Rodriguez is going to cost a lot more next year although Bud Norris could provide financial relief for a few years if he plays as well as his early results suggest. If Felipe Paulino or Yorman Bazardo earn a starting job, that will be two slots in the rotation than can be savings-friendly. If that works out, maybe the Astros can afford to keep Valverde for another year. Keep in mind that Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn will be due nice raises for 2009 and Ivan Rodriguez will surely cost more if he comes back next year. Who knows if Miguel Tejada is staying and at what price? Through all of it, another $18 million dollar bullpen seems both unlikely and unreasonable, especially with the results they provided us this season.
Logically, you'd expect them to ship out some relievers...but this is Ed Wade, so who knows what happens from here.
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