It's Been More Than 5 Hours

If you read DRob's article regarding Crawford, you will note that my pre-teen take on the situation was given at the end. I said that the bullpen can wait for 5 hours. Well, it's been about 5 days, and that is far too long.

The winter meetings are over and the Red Sox are the clear winners this winter. The line-up just got exponentially better and scarier. Theo has worked his magic and brought huge talent to Beantown.

But more work needs to be done. For example (the only example, really): the bullpen.

We don't have one. Well, a full one, anyway.

Papelbon should (I hope...ugh) have a good final season in Boston. But it will be his last. He's going to walk and try to make some money. Bard still remains, so the 8th and 9th innings shouldn't be any problem (the word 'should' is making me cringe).

And this is where it ends. Well, for me anyway.

Do we have arms to fill the bullpen? Yes. Scott Atchison is still around. Him and his 4.50 ERA..and he's 34, and not getting any younger. Reliable? Sometimes. Then we've got the two young guys, Feliz Doubront and Michael Bowden. Both groomed as starters, they are looking to make an impact on the Sox this summer out of the 'pen.

We no longer have any of the trio that held down the bullpen in 2009. Delcarmen was shipped off to the Rocky Mountains, while Ramon Ramirez was sent to the eventual World Series Champion Giants. And more recently, Hideki Okajima was non-tendered and is now a free agent.

The other arm left in the bullpen discussion is old reliable himself, Tim Wakefield. The issue is, Knucklehead has been anything but reliable ever since the 2009 All-Star break, where he made his first All-Star Team.

Ultimately, they need help. And there is help out there. Brian Fuentes has been a name thrown around in the past week or so. Other names on the market include Grant Balfour, a workhorse out of the Tampa Bay bullpen, Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier, who posted a 3.17 ERA with Minnesota in 2010, Kevin Gregg from the Toronto bullpen, and most notably Rafael Soriano, the top closer in 2010.

If they Sox can't grab any of these younger arms, there are plenty of veterans to choose from. There are some big names out there this offseason. Trevor Hoffman, Bobby Jenks, J.J. Putz, and Kerry Wood are all current or former closers who would want to go to a championship caliber team. Non-closers include Kyle Farnsworth, J.C. Romero, Octavio Dotel, and Arthur Rhodes, whose coming off one of the best seasons of his career in 2010 at the age of 41.

There are plenty of options. It's just a matter of picking the right ones. Hopefully this gets done sooner or later. If this bullpen is not figured out, Carl Crawford or not, the Red Sox will struggle to continue deep into the 2011 playoffs.

Oh, and I will be joining DRob with a slight hiatus from posting. Something about finals....College..

Have a great week!