Boston Bullpen Help Bit By Bit

The Boston Red Sox are trying to improve their bullpen little by little, piece by piece. The first two pieces are now in place and with some work, righty Taylor Buchholz and lefty Andrew Miller, a former first round pick and a "can't miss" miss type of guy who landed with the Marlins but because of control problems probably linked to mechanics, they will prove to be valuable until the game gets to the Bard/Papelbon moment. Remember his name. Andrew Miller. A good lefty coming out of the 'pen to retire a couple lefty hitters is invaluable.

Piece number two has a very familiar last name. Yes, that would be Taylor Buchholz. He's coming off Tommy John surgery and did not pitch in 2009 and the first half of 2010. Before the surgery, his numbers were impressive. He had a 2.17 ERA for the Rockies in '08 in a late inning setup role. Setup men are essential for a team that wants to play through October. Here's an unidentified AL scout...

“I saw him a couple years ago before he got hurt, and I really liked him. He really took off under Rockies pitching coach Bob Apodaca in the bullpen. He was repeating his delivery. Great curveball. Good fastball. And he pitched aggressively out of the ’pen, where he didn’t do so earlier in his career as a starter.”

Sounds good to me. It will be these little pieces that Theo is collecting that will determine so very much in the coming season. These are just the first two steps. Expect more to come, and some won't be little. One might be mega. Have a great weekend, click on this post's title for more on baseball and as always, BE WELL. See ya.