I don’t understand how anyone can be down on the Red Sox bullpen. It’s the 2nd or 3rd best in the AL. And the two arguably better bullpens — Houston and NY — have blown more saves.
I dont understand how anyone can think the Red Sox HAVE the 2nd or 3rd best bullpen though.
KImbrel is obviously great if not 100% automatic, then who is left
Hembree? awful body language, not someone to rely on come playoff time
ditto Johnson, Barnes, heck even Kelly is all over the place.
Smith has great stuff but is inconsistent.
They might have put up decent numbers in the first 30 odd games but no way can anyone think that is indicative of their relative quality around the league. I mean we never know how they might improve or be bolstered, but as things look right now, the bullpen is a huge weakness and I think that is going to be exposed over the coming months. Hopefully it can be improved, hopefully our offense and starting pitching can hide it to some extent.
Im not one of those who feel like we are entitled to win or even play great baseball every game, theres a lot of fun to be had with the Red Sox as they are right now, but bullpen? Come playoff time, *as things are now* our bullpen will be seen as clearly the worst of the contenders.
or are you really arguing that the guys we have in the pen are good? I think the only reliever I've enjoyed watching this season is Poyner, mainly because at least he doesnt seem to shit himself at the prospect of throwing strikes in a big league game