Breaking down the bullpen

MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince has a breakdown of how the bullpen is formulating so far for the Indians.

These six guys are already locks:

Kerry Wood
Joe Smith
Rafael Betancourt
Rafael Perez
Jensen Lewis
Masa Kobayashi

As for the final bullpen spot, Castrovince provides these names with some commentary by me.

Adam Miller – a top pitching prospect who always seems to find himself in training rooms instead of on the field. Until this season, Baseball America ranked him as the Tribe’s best prospect for three straight years.

John Meloan – A hard-throwing pitching prospect, who came to the Tribe last season from the Dodgers organization in the Casey Blake Trade. Meloan, a right-hander, has a blistering fastball but needs to learn how to control it.

Ed Mujica – Well, I will just copy and paste what the 2009 Baseball Prospectus book says about Mujica and you can judge for yourself:

Mujica contributed more to the Tribe’s bullpen flame-out than did all others except Borowski, giving up four or more runs in an inning or less on four occasions. Wedge actually got desperate enough to try him in the closer role in early August – Mujica was handed a 7-4 lead against the Rays and promptly allowed the first three batters he faced to score. Although he was always vulnerable against lefties, last year his power fastball/splitter combo was thumped by righties as well, and he kept getting hammered in his native Venezuela after the season.

NON-ROSTER INVITEES
Matt Herges
Vinnie Chulk
Greg Aquino
Jack Cassel

STARTERS WHO COULD END UP IN THE BULLPEN:

Zach Jackson
Kirk Saarloos