Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Rays Bullpen


Everyone is going to be writing about the Mets bullpen tonight and tomorrow. Rather than offer one of thousands of fantasy opinions on that topic, I thought I'd take a look at the Rays instead.

A reader asked me if I thought Jake McGee could wind up closing for the Rays if Kyle Farnsworth were dealt. My short answer? It's a definite possibility; however, I believe it's unlikely the Rays will deal Farnsworth.

McGee has done very well for AAA Durham, posting a 2.70 ERA and a 3.29 FIP in 33 1/3 IP since his demotion. I'm not sure if the Rays have any concrete plans to call him up, but it wouldn't surprise me to see McGee back with the Rays at some point in the second half.

But Farnsworth has been solid all season long. And while his ERA says that he's been slipping as of late, his xFIP says that his component numbers have been incredibly consistent.

And I would assume that the Rays won't deal Farnsy unless they stumbled big time out of the gate Post All-Star and fell eight or nine out in the wild card race. Even then, the Rays still might not deal Farnsworth. His $3.3M option for 2012 makes him affordable, so the Rays have little incentive to move him unless they get a great return.

If you have a deep reserve list and can add McGee I don't see anything wrong with that. But I wouldn't pick him up hoping for saves in the second half. The possibility seems unlikely.

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