Sunday, June 13, 2010

Relief help

The Reds offense is humming, and the starters have been good enough to keep up. But the bullpen is in trouble. You think Dusty wants to use Rhodes in the seventh inning of an 11-5 game? The pen has some good arms, but the guys seem to be getting tired. Masset has been plain bad, and probably needs to move out of the high-leverage role he filled so well last year. But for who? A lot will depend on Sam LeCure today. If he looks good (and he's already down 1-0 in the first) today, he can stay in the rotation while Bailey heals. But he could also move into the bullpen and just give the guys some relief (no pun intended).

But I think the real answer is Edinson Volquez or Aroldis Chapman. Either could do probably do what David Price did for the Tampa Bay Rays during their 2008 post-season run. Those two are raw (Chapman) or rehabbing (Volquez) so the Reds don't want to rely too heavily on them in the rotation. But boy could the Reds use a couple of live arms in the bullpen.

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