=== Fizzlers:  The Lot of 'Em ===

As noted at the Bakery, the 2010 pen scrambled up the beach armed with 50-cal BMG's.

That ballclub had a 30-save closer, it had SSI swooning away over Brandon League, it had Mark Lowe and it had a guy that SSI liked even better than League, that being Shawn "94-into-a-knothole" Kelley.  

This club has none of the above, because League doesn't count when he's wasted in the closer role (and not even doing that well).

Somebody Save Meh, you lose 100 with those four hombres, what happens when you deploy the Rainiers' pen?  Can you lose double 100?

...........

Well, the 100 x 2 logic doesn't apply much for me.  

Clarke's Sixth Law:  too many moving parts.  The 1999 Mariners shed Ken Griffey Jr. and .... got much better.  (So did the 1995 Mariners, who took off right about the time Griffey smashed his wrist into diamond dust.)

But.  The pen is a problemo.  Ericcc sez as much, and he mean what he say.

.............

(When does Kelley get back, anyway?  I hadn't paid attention.)

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=== Sizzlers:  The 'Twist' Card ===

Wanna play me 5-card stud, if I get to pay a shilling to trade MY last card in one time?  Even for matchsticks?  It's the 8-to-make-3 principle.

The good news is, the relief pitcher spot isn't like the shortstop spot.

You get a hole at shortstop, or catcher, and you might wind up watching me or Cesar Izturis.  For a long time.

But relief pitcher isn't a baseball skill:  it's what happens to pitchers if they don't get the varsity shirts.

The Mariners have a whale of a lot of guys, these days, who hit 95 on the radar gun.  Orgs with pitching depth can cobble together bullpens.  It could be the Mariners do this.  It could also be they don't.

.........

No area on the ballclub that you'd rather be fixing than a bullpen.  And no area at which your intelligence and wisdom gives you a greater competitive advantage.

Zdurienick was sharp enough to make exactly the correct calls for the BOR:  Vargas and Fister.  Needs to re-peat in the 'pen.  

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