Whaddya Call The Rays Bullpen?

Comic Relief.

Seriously, 6.16 ERA last year...was that pretty bad? Sorry 'bout that...

Since it's too early to know the full layout of each of the bullpens, let's take a look at the two elements of the 'pen that are at least mostly decided.

Closers:

Billy Wagner - never one to shy away from expressing his opinion, Wagner has mostly backed up his open persona as solid back end to a recently historically weak part of the Mets roster. He's been having a little more trouble staying fresh all the way to September for the last two years, and he's not going to blow you away with a 100+ mph heater anymore. What he can provide, though, is a solid fastball change-up combo, a good mentoring influence to the younger relievers, and a beanball for Wolverine, Kevin Cislo.

Mariano Rivera - turns out the soon-to-be 38 year old *IS* mortal! His 3.15 ERA was his worst since his rookie campaign in 1995. Yet he still managed to hold the Indians scoreless in the ALDS, further solidifying his career postseason record as best in history. He still has one of the filthiest cutters in the MLB, and he'll continue to rack up plenty of bad swings, broken bats, and unsuccessful drudges back to the dugout.

Jonathon Papelbon - look at that mug. He kind of reminds me of John Rocker, if John Rocker were good at baseball and not a racist. One cannot deny his abilities as a closer - a darting 95 mph fastball and a hard biting slider. If he can put his change-up together, he'll be literally unhittable this season. He's shown that he has the stamina to go the whole year, and although he's shown difficulty handling outings longer than three or four outs, the rest of the bullpen has proved adequate enough to bridge a lead to Papelbon in the 9th.

All three should have pretty good seasons, but Papelbon gets the nod.

Setup men would be the other category worth covering at this point:

The Yankees look to be trying to prime LaTroy Hawkins for the setup position so that they can get Joba Chamberlain into the rotation post haste. Kind of a curious situation - if Hawkins can't get it done, look for Chamberlain to dominate again. Otherwise, Hawkins should be just about serviceable in the job.

The Mets are also in a bit of flux in this spot as well. Dauner Sanchez has, by all accounts, been looking pretty good this Spring and figures to compete with Aaron Heilman for 8th inning duties. If Sanchez can return to 2006 pre-taxi form, the bullpen will be in good shape. Otherwise, they may be looking at another roller coaster ride.

There's no doubt about who owns the 8th inning in Boston. Hideki Okajima was arguably more dominant than Papelbon for most of last year, and has just as filthy a repertoire of pitches.

Okajima gets the point on performance, if not just by virtue of being the only solid setup man of the three.

Leaderboard: Red Sox pretty much dominate this category and take the top spot overall.
Red Sox 4 1/2, Yankees 3, Mets 2 1/2