This is a listing of relief pitchers available for free agency. This follows the earlier post on starting pitching.
Left Handers
Options LHPs
Jason Christiansen
Felix Heredia
Non Option LHPs
Valerio de Los Santos
Mike Stanton
Armando Almanza
Terry Mulholland
Alan Embree
Joey Eischen
Eddie Oropesa
Ricardo Rincon
Scott Sauerbeck
Mike Matthews
Mike Myers
Donovan Osborne
C.J. Nitkowski
Buddy Groom
Scott Eyre
Chris Hammond
Billy Wagner
B.J. Ryan
Right Handers
With Options
Danny Graves
Eddie Guardado
Scott Sullivan
Shigetoshi Hasegawa
LaTroy Hawkins
Jose Mesa
Scott Williamson
No Options
Doug Brocail
Octavio Dotel
Trevor Hoffman
Bob Howry
Dan Miceli
Byung-Hyun Kim
Grant Roberts
Bob Wickman
Mike DeJean
Ricky Bottalico
Ugeuth Urbina
Matt Mantei
Brian Falkenborg
Rick White
Ryan Dempster
Russ Springer
Julian Tavarez
Tim Worrell
Felix Rodriguez
Paul Quantrill
Tom Gordon
Mike Timlin
Matt Herges
Antonio Osuna
Jay Powell
Jeff Nelson
Jim Mecir
Kerry Ligtenberg
Kyle Farnsworth
Cal Eldred
Lou Pote
Rudy Seanez
Jason Grimsley
Todd Jones
Al Reyes
Antonio Alfonseca
Brian Meadows
Chad Fox
Roberto Hernandez
Jay Witasick
Steve Karsay
With two starters on the free agent list the Nats need to make several
decisions and this will be the key to their success next season. As stated signing Loaiza seems like the best choice with the team adding a #5 starter. Hopefully Hernandez will be healthy through 06 without a recurrence of his knee problems (and his age is correct).
As seen by the call up of Rasner there is no help on the immediate horizon. The two best pitchers in the system (Hinckley and Everts) (according to Baseball America) had off years.
Both may be factors later next year but I doubt the team would want to rely on them. Others who looked good and are in the upper reaches of the system include; Maust, Galarraga and Stevenson. Galarraga looks solid and Stevenson despite his numbers has promise. Next September may be a lot different with the Nats able to call up some reliable starters.
Rauch, Beltran, Tucker and Drese are parts of the puzzle but where they fit in is hard to tell.
The bullpen has been the rock for the team this year but the number of injuries makes me wary of next season. Frank went through the bullpen like Sherman went through Georgia.
The Nats have talent in the bullpen. Bergmann pitched well in the minors and deserved a call up. Hughes has been great and Bill Bray battled some aches and pains and looks to be a factor in 06.
I found two Nats on the Free Agent list; Eischen and Osuna. Management will need to determine if both are worth keeping. Joey gets my vote. Osuna never got the chance because of injuries; given his past I think he is worth considering (my baseball advisor disagrees with this opinion). So do you pencil in Hughes, Bray and Bergmann and let the two go or bring in outside help?
BJ Ryan is available but unlikely to come to the Nats for so many reasons but it would be a great pickup giving the Nats a solid bullpen.
Another possibility is the other lefty stopper. Wagner is from Virginia had last year made some positive remarks about the return of baseball to DC. It would be great to see him and Chad sitting in the right field bullpen on a hot August afternoon. My baseball advisor has since talked me out of this.
A spot starter/innings eater in the pen would be a big plus. Of these Kim would seem like the best fit. My baseball advisor has talked me out of this one too.
One option might be to grab a Rule V starting pitcher. Since the Nats were successful this year I doubt one would be available by the time they got to pick but it is worth considering. Another option later in the season is to sign someone from an independent team.
