Closer Time...

It's now official; Matt Capps is a Washington National. I don't know who'd want to willingly go to the Nats, but that's a moot point. The important thing is that Matt Capps will not be a Pirate come 2010. You could spend days talking about whether or not the move was correct or not, but that isn't the point of this entry.

The Pirates have openly discussed a few options for the closer rule in 2010. The internal options are between Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan. Both are attractive options, but Hanrahan is more likely because he has previous experience as a closer with the Washington Nationals.

However, the Pirates also have eyed some external options for the closer role. Free agent reliever Kevin Gregg is considered an attractive option. Last season Gregg was 5-6 with a 4.72 ERA and 23 saves in 30 chances with the Cubs in 2009. He wasn't great, but he did okay work. His ERA+was 95 and he put up a 1.321 WHIP, definitely not great, numbers but not exactly terrible for a relief guy. The other external option is Octavio Dotel. He was 3-3 with a 3.62 ERA with the White Sox last season. He had an ERA+ of 140 and a WHIP of 1.251. Not the best ERA+, but he did pitch in Chicago so I guess that isn't too atrocious. I'd be more accepting of the Gregg signing because he's 5 years younger than Dotel. We'll see what the Pirates decide to do in this situation.

Honestly, I remain nervous about the bullpen situation of the Pirates. The Javier Lopez signing was definitely nice, but other than that, we haven't exactly done much to shore up the bullpen. I know Neal Huntington's belief is that you can't predict bullpen pitchers from season-to-season, but that doesn't mean you have to just go with a series of minor league pitchers and mediocre free agents. You are allowed to spend a bit of money on the bullpen. I am not asking for a 10 million dollar relief pitcher, but spending a little money isn't necessarily a bad thing. It isn't the Pirates way, but the Pirates way has produced 17 consecutive losing seasons, so maybe change isn't a bad thing?

There's still time left, and maybe if t he Pirates sign Gregg or Dotel, they will do great work in the closers rule for the Pirates, but I remain somewhat pessimistic about the 2010 season. Hopefully things work out, because I really don't want to see an 18th straight losing season.