Posted on 5/1/2008 3:01:52 PM

MLB Baseball Betting Which Bullpens Are NOT Hot?

By Mike Rose

1) Texas Rangers – The men down south are the not so proud owners of the worst bullpen in all of baseball. The unit as a whole has surrendered 100 total hits and a whopping 67 earned runs with a woeful K/BB ratio of 48/59. That’s right folks, they’re walking more than they’re striking out and the fact that they’re allowing teams to hit close to .300 off them pretty much paints the picture as to why this unit’s so bad. Seven of their 12 save opportunities have been blown. The only guys with half a clue are Franklyn German and C.J. Wilson who both sport ERA’s under 2.00, but everybody else is 4.50 or higher with Kazuo Fukumori topping out with a lofty 20.25 ERA. Don’t look for Manager Ron Washington’s club to turn anything around until this unit at the least cuts its marks in half.

2) Seattle Mariners – What was a decent component to its team a year ago has simply been trash to start 2008. Most of this could be due to J.J. Putz going to the designated list right off the bat, but the Mariners had other guys step up last season when he was injured. The M’s haven’t had problem securing victories when they have the lead late (6/3 save/blown save ratio), but they’ve had a heck of a time holding teams at bay in the middle relief and setup innings. They currently sport a pen ERA of 5.43 allowing 65 hits and 40 earned runs, but its decent in the K/BB department sporting a ratio of 54/37. This unit isn’t as bad as its numbers suggest, and I expect it to turn its fortunes around now that Putz is back in the closers role allowing everyone to move back down a spot.

3) Boston Red Sox – Surprisingly, the defending champs pen ranks amongst the leagues worst at this point in the season. That said, the Red Sox have murdered a number of its opponents to date allowing the bullpen to put forth lackadaisical efforts which in turn has seen their team ERA bloat up to its current mark of 5.31. When asked to clamp down, the unit has and Jonathan Papelbon has come in and closed the door in all eight of his save opportunities. With the battery this club boasts within its line-up, the bullpen won’t be counted on to help them win many games in the early stages of the season. That said, the unit will have to step up once their hitting goes cold, and that’s something this pen has already showed it can do in the past. No real need to worry right now, but start getting nervous if this unit is still ranked in the bottom third come the end of May.

4) Pittsburgh Pirates – It’s got to be really tough being a fan of the Buccos. This team never has a chance squaring off against clubs in larger markets within its division, and it never really has a chance overall either playing against teams with twice its payroll. That said, boasting the 27th ranked pen doesn’t make matters much better. The teams has an overall ERA of 4.78 and has allowed opponents to score 51 earned runs off 100 hits in just 104 combined innings of work. That said, they do know how to seal the deal with the lead late as closer Matt Capps is a perfect 6-0 in six save opportunities. So, if you begrudgingly backed the Pirates and have the lead in the 9th, the streak would have to come to an end for you to lose your wager.

5) Los Angeles Angels – Manager Mike Scioscia’s squad has a different look to it this year, but it’s shocking to see the Angels ranked in the bottom third of the league in bullpen ERA. Their 4.75 ERA currently has the Angels ranked 26th out of 30. With the offense currently ranked second in the league with an overall .283 batting average, the pitching has suffered. It has allowed the pitching staff a false sense of security that hasn’t seen them throw at the top of their games like we’ve seen in the past. Gone are the days of looking to the under whenever a premiere pitching match-up takes place; at least for now.

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