Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Season 20 NL All Star Candidates: RP

Minimum of 30 IP, have to be pitching primarily from the pen.  This means tandem starters would also be candidates here.

1.Harry Owen:  Owen is 24 for 24 in save opportunities but when reached for comment he attributed all of his success to Ronald Milton's glovework in left field as well as his offensive contributions says, "If not for Milty we would not even be in position to win those games and no wins means no saves."

2.Paxton Gaetti:  Gaetti is part of a flex tandem rotation.  He has been on the vulture half of the tandem team and been the one to earn the wins for the solid performance.

3.Alex Kata: Katadoesn't get the saves for his role but he has been a key player in the pen, without his performance Owens would not have been able to credit Milty.  I almost went with Ken Hansen on this list but Kata's appearances and Hansen's ERA made me lean towards Kata.

4.Randall Anderson:  Another member of the flex tandem rotation.  Anderson isn't able to go as long or as often as he was able to as a young man but he is still effective.

5.Domingo Valenzuela: Valenzuela would be a heck of a starter if given the chance.  It says a lot about the Tampa rotation that this guy is coming out of the pen.

Rich Sierra, Jim Becker and Douglas McCullough are pitching great but did not meet the IP requirement

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