The Free Agency Free 2013 Boston Red Sox -- Bullpen

It’s crazy, the week I’ve been having. Still, looking to finish before Tuesday rolls around.

The bullpen is harder to predict than the starting rotation, mainly because its harder to spot talent which is not quite starter grade, but still good enough to pitch in relief, and also because (as mentioned above), the propensity to bring in veteran guys for short money and years is greater – making the pen more fluid. That said (including only Red Sox property):

Daniel Bard (RH) – Closer
Ramon Ramirez (RH) – Set-Up/7th Inning
Alex Wilson (RH) – Set-Up/7th Inning (Long-Relief Capable)
Kendall Volz (RH) – Reliever
Manny Rivera (LH) – Reliever/LOOGY
Dustin Richardson (LH) – Reliever (L-RC)
Renny Parthemore (RH) – Reliever/Guy Who Plunks People

Daniel Bard (closer): Bard has evolved in reverse-Papelbon mode, developing and employing his secondary stuff as he gained experience with the big club, rather than locking into Fastball Mode. The triple-digit heater is the “little-something-extra” fastball now, with the standard pitch sitting effortlessly at 97-98 mph. The slider/slurve is a decent secondary pitch, which becomes a plus when used in conjunction with the high heat, generating lots of swinging strikes. Has developed his cutter to the point where its a major-league average part of his arsenal. Effective inside pitcher, given his velocity – backs opposing hitters off the plate to a degree wildly disproportionate to the actual proximity to their bodies. Having Paps around for much of his major league career has allowed him to not be the “emotion” guy in the ‘pen, which has aided his psychological development, and allowed him to effortlessly handle the transition to Red Sox closer. A demeanor like J.D. Drew, complete with the almost-furtive, almost-endearing celebration of big outs (a’la the $ 14MM grand slam). Nicknamed “Shakespeare,” but it never actually catches on.

Also peripherally involved in Bob Watson’s resignation “for personal reasons,” after his office issued a suspension of “eleventy-billion games” to forty-three separate players for “PLAYING GUD AGINST DA YANKS.” The letter was written in all-caps with a crayon, and included sixteen misspellings (seventeen, if you include “TESHARA” and “TEXYERA” separately) and seventy-two exclamation points. Watson retired, and penned the foreword to the fifth edition of E.Coli’s book the following year.

Ramon Ramirez (set-up): The trade for Coco continues to pay off reasonably well. Ramirez is a dependable NL-closer-quality pitcher, who continues to effectively nail down the eighth for Boston. Reliably good, but overshadowed by Bard and the farmhands. 2 years, AAV $ 3.5MM remaining on RamRam’s contract, which will likely provide adequate return, but is unlikely to be renewed for the 2015 season.

Like I said, it’s hard to project the rest. I would imagine that the Sox let Papelbon, Okajima and Delcarmen all sign elsewhere (let’s say: Phillies, Mariners and Dodgers, respectively). As a function of the large amount of relief pitchers (and hence, the larger number in the top percentiles) all three are projected to net a first-round compensation pick as of August, Paps and Oki by a comfortable margin. The Sox will probably elect to try and get these compensatory picks, allowing them to deepen/restock their farm – their principle advantage over the Yankees, whose 2013 farm consists entirely of Jesus Montero – who turns out to actually be 45 and have andro instead of blood, and Graham Stoneburner – who turns out to be a Frank Herbert fan who has never played organized baseball, totally fabricated his qualifications, and demands to be called “Muad’dib.”

I think Kendal Volz and Alex Wilson will both be prominently involved in the 2013 ‘pen. The Sox farm will straighten out whatever mechanical issues need to be tweaked with Volz, and he will scrap his change-up. Effective, but a borderline malcontent, Volz consistently imagines better things for himself. Wilson, however, will end up the seventh inning-guy at the beginning of the 2013, and will have assumed the set-up spot from RamRam by the time September rolls around. As a beneficiary of the training-staff’s shoulder program, Wilson can reliably pitch for two innings if needed, and has the variety and quality of stuff to go three or four if the Sox are pressed. He’s got a starter’s arsenal and teams have begun to leave Theo fruit-baskets with starter-type trade proposals. Cocky and beloved.

Beyond these four, I think the Sox might see more starter-to-reliever conversion than might be expected, considering that the 2013 Nuthin-Sox have Lester, Buch, Kelly and Tazawa, with Pimentel and Youninger (“Mad-Yo” to his fans) waiting and able to replace Beckett, plus Weiland and possibly Mendez. If Manny Rivera doesn’t end up developing his curve, he could probably be a LOOGY guy who you wouldn’t burn for just one batter.

People I wouldn’t expect to see: Javier Lopez, Fernando Cabrera or Hunter Jones. Jones is bouncing around as a fringe major-leaguer in the NL West, Cabrera is pitching well in Cleveland again, and Javier Lopez mysteriously disappeared one night, never to be heard from again. Additionally Bowden and Fife are absent because the Nuthin-Sox traded them and Lars in Spring ’11 to the Padres for Adrian Gonzalez, contingent on a window to ink an extension – which they did.