The Pen

The bullpen of a baseball team is fascinating to me. It’s always a deadline need for contending teams, and it seems like a cool place to spend your time. Have you ever seen videos of these guys messing around, you spend all game every game with these guys with nothing to do but wait for your name to be called. A lot of times there isn’t a great view of the game, so you have to amuse yourself somehow. I feel like in the dugout goofing off should be kept to a minimum, but the bullpen is like its own world with its own rules, I mean they really have nothing to do until mid-way through the game when they might warm up. First of all, I believe the bullpen is always a need at the deadline for contenders because for one, it is a cheap thing to acquire (relatively speaking). Starting pitching as well as any position players with the ability to start for a contending team are going to be much more expensive because they play a lot more, and have more value to teams. Bullpen help is sort of a cheap way to make your team better. Also I feel there is a lack of depth in relief arms, the better pitchers are starters, or high leverage situation guys out of the bullpens, like closers. Middle relief is filled with guys who can pitch, but a lot of those guys are mediocre and can falter at any time leaving them as undesirable options. Financial commitments to these players aren’t too high, and they are a dime a dozen, so getting a guy who is a step above the rest is going to really help your team in the middle innings. Bullpens seem to change an awful lot, and that’s the way baseball works. Adapt of die I guess. Improve the weak links or lose in this case. Now to the fun stuff. Watching a lot of Red Sox games, I’ve seen the guys in the bullpen making music with assorted items they can find in the bullpen. Seems fun, but I’ve posted a couple videos of the “pen” having a good old time.