I'm not very confident in our bullpen

[docjj]

I think Johnson is decent when healthy, same with Uehara. Gregg and Gonzales scare me, though. I realize their performance last night was only one game. But if you look at their career numbers, they haven't exactly been stellar. Saves are the most useless statistic in all of baseball. Ignore the save totals and you have 2 mediocre guys.

[Don]

Yeah but one thing I really like about this setup is that it has forced the best pitchers into the 7th and 8th innings, which to me are more crucial to keeping and holding leads in games. The probability of teams coming back in the 9th inning are so slim that you can troll out a guy who may not have the stuff of your "clutch" bullpen pitchers.

Gonzo is very streaky, but once he finds his groove he can have it for months....the Orioles are paying the man and might as well use him when healthy. Gregg is going to take some time because that dude was tinkering too long in spring training. Still no harm, no foul and the bullpen came through in back to back games.

[DougDE]

While they certainly tried to scare the heck out of us last night, I actually think our bullpen is decent. There have been a ton of bullpen meltdowns across baseball already in the first 3 days but not by the O's. 4 innings, 2 runs so far, and we've had multiple run leads when the single runs were given up...I'll take it. Like Don said, no harm no foul

[joecap1946]

Because Gonzo is so streaky, I wish we had another lefty in the pen. My opinion, Buck is not sold on Gonzo. I can recall last year when he took over, Gonzo's work load was diminished. Correct me if I'm wrong. I know he was hurt last year, and that could be the reason for the reduced work load. Go O's.

[BuckMagic]

Because Gonzo is so streaky, I wish we had another lefty in the pen. My opinion, Buck is not sold on Gonzo. I can recall last year when he took over, Gonzo's work load was diminished. Correct me if I'm wrong. I know he was hurt last year, and that could be the reason for the reduced work load. Go O's.

I would have Rapada up here as the second lefty.

I'm not sure what Buck was thinking last night. Why take Koji out?

[oriolesmagic28]

He's still testing out his closer situation. Its the 2nd game of the year, I feel like Koji will beat out Gregg. Gregg almost blew it, thank you Nick!

[Old Sneakers]

I have to agree with what has been stated above. Gonzales is not a guy I have confidence for him having command of his pitches. Kevin Gregg is not so extreme a case though and at least he has had experience closing games. Something Gonzales really did not have coming in last season. Koji Uehara would make a fine closer IMO, but the injury history is a huge red flag.

As is now the team simply doesn't have a true closer. Will Alfredo Simon get another opportunity at some point? I know I don't want to see the team lose another draft choice on a reliever next year. I remember George Sherrill driving me a little crazy a few seasons ago. Though in hindsight, not to this extent.

[Oriolefan88]

Gregg did ok last night.Let us not forget that he should have had 2 outs and no one on.The first base ump in my opinion blew the call on the double play.But that is the game

[Don]

Very true about the blow call, but it is "bang-bang" and late innings the umps tend to make you "earn" the outs.

[docjj]

Rupe has a live arm. I'd never seen him before today. His numbers don't overwhelm, but 95 MPH is 95 MPH. That's not easy to hit. His fastball is straight, so he can't get by on the speed alone, but I didn't realize he threw as hard as he did.

[DougDE]

Because Gonzo is so streaky, I wish we had another lefty in the pen. My opinion, Buck is not sold on Gonzo. I can recall last year when he took over, Gonzo's work load was diminished. Correct me if I'm wrong. I know he was hurt last year, and that could be the reason for the reduced work load. Go O's.

I dont think Gonzalez even came back until roughly the time Buck showed up

[oriolesmagic28]

Whats going on with Simon?

Will he be inserted into our bullpen this year?