Two of the most overlooked parts of a baseball team are the bench and bullpen. But in the past two decades, I’ve never seen a team win a World Series without them.
Since you win with pitching, we’ll start with the Nationals’ bullpen. Even though every manager, pitching coach and general manager would prefer 12-man pitching staffs, the National League reality is 11 is normally the right number because you need position players to pinch hit and double switch.
In building a bullpen you start with the most important part — the closer. We have one of the best in Chad Cordero, who led the National League in saves last year. He may not be as dominating as a healthy Mariano Rivera or Billy Wagner, but he’s aggressive, throws strikes and is fearless.
The set-up men are expected to hold the lead in the seventh and eighth innings. Set-up men are where middle- and small-market teams must be strong to contend. Most high payroll teams have solid starting pitchers and successful closers. A lot of times the bigger market clubs can just outspend the other teams in these two areas.
However, with set-up relievers, history shows that except for the Yankees and Cubs, most teams in big and small markets spend about the same for these pitchers. Therefore, this is the area small- and middle-market teams must succeed to stay competitive. The best chance you have to beat a higher payroll team are innings six through eight where more than likely you are competing on an even financial playing field. Last year, set-up men Luis Ayala and Gary Majewski were two of the main reasons we stayed in the pennant race the entire year.
Then there are the southpaws. I have never met a manager that didn’t want two or threeleft-handed relievers. They want a situational lefty to get lefties out, preferably with a good breaking ball, and one who can pitch at least two innings. We have Joey Eischen and Mike Stanton, both effective relievers last year.
Next is the long reliever — former manager Davey Johnson called him the “sixth starter” and former manager Jack McKeon called him the “bullpen saver.” This pitcher is supposed to eat up innings when a starter gets knocked out early or the club either has a lead or trails by five runs or more. Jon Rauch is our long reliever. However, he has been pitching so much better his role is evolving into a more important position. If a starter gets scratched, he’ll take his place.
Every manager from Sparky Anderson to Jim Leyland has told me that experience, versatility and accepting the role are three of the most important ingredients in a good bench player. Here are two more: the ability to have quality at-bats without much playing time and make-up.
We have really improved our bench. Marlon Anderson (the National League’s best pinch-hitter the last three years combined) and Damian Jackson add versatility with the ability to play most infield and outfield positions. Daryle Ward and Matthew LeCroy give us a left-right combination, respectively, capable of quality at-bats with power. Marlon Byrd adds speed, power and defense. Wiki Gonzalez is a solid back-up catcher.
As told to The Examiner’s John Keim.
Bench breakdown
» Hitting, left side: Anderson and Ward.
» Hitting, right side: LeCroy, Byrd and Jackson.
» Power: Ward and LeCroy.
» Speed: Jackson, Byrd and Anderson
» Versatility: Jackson and Anderson.
» Defense: Byrd and Jackson.
» Make-up: All of them.
Most importantly, all of our bench players are into the game. They study from the bench, support their teammates andare prepared whenever they get to play.
Our bullpen and bench should play a major factor in many of our victories this year.
Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden provides an exclusive column to The Examiner each week, ranging on topics from the Nats to the state of Major League Baseball.
