Lidge surgery - time to worry about bullpen?
by Scott Butler 1/16/10
Lot's of fans have been telling me lately that they are worried about Brad Lidge and the rest of the bullpen. Should we be worried? Uh, yes, maybe we should.
At the top of the list is Brad Lidge, of course. Most people are scared because of his two surgeries this off-season. That's not what should worry you. In fact, those surgeries are probably good things, because his injuries clearly had some effect on his brutal season last year. The question is simply which pitcher will we see: the 2008 version or the 2009 one? If anyone had answers to that, we probably would have seen it last year. We can only sit and hope.
JC Romero. He recently had left elbow surgery and is expected to return after Lidge. For a guy who was suspended for most of last season and hurt for much of the rest, it's hard to decide what we can expect. One thing is for sure, it is not a good thing when two of your top relievers are hoping to recovery quickly from surgeries.
Baez and Madson are now pretty key pieces. Ruben Amaro has been pretty good with his decisions so far, and we need to hope that Baez is the Raul Ibanez deal of 2010. But Madson is the one we need to rely on. He will be the veteran reliever in the pen and he must step up. It is pretty evident that he is not best utilized as a closer, so why even try. Put Baez in that spot and keep Madson as your setup man. That should at least hold them over until Romero and Lidge return.
With Scott Eyre and Chan Ho Park now gone, we will definitely see guys like Sergio Escalona, Antonio Bastardo, Kyle Kendrick, or even Scott Mathieson.
If you want to be worried, it is the names above that should do it.
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