Back end of the bullpen

Boehringer will be out for more time, Joe Rutter notes. Mark Corey will be sent down to make room for Sean Burnett.

One thing I didn't consider when suggesting the Bucs move Vogelsong to the bullpen is Mark Corey. Any lateral move of a struggling starter to the bullpen is going to displace someone like Corey. Corey's a right-handed power pitcher.

I have no good sense of the relationship between the bullpen jobs and the starting pitching jobs right now. It's clear that the Bucs don't see the bullpen as a good way to break in starters; they've been using the minors to do that. They haven't called up Sean Burnett and used him, for example, the way the Phillies have been using Ryan Madson. Say they decide to convert a starter to relief work. Would they do that in the major leagues, or would they send the guy to Nashville for a few weeks? Does a starter like Vogelsong have a "right" to a big-league bullpen job, in the eyes of management? in the eyes of the coaches? in the eyes of the other relievers? Would many players grumble if Vogelsong took Mark Corey's job?

The Expos just put Claudio Vargas in the bullpen. (The early results, as you can see in his starter/reliever splits, are encouraging.) Lots of teams move starters out to the pen, and until I read some compelling argument to the contrary, I'm just going to assume that yeah, the Bucs would be better served with Vogelsong, and not Corey, in the pen. No doubt we have a lot more invested in Vogelsong, and he has the fuller repetoire and the better stuff. Maybe it's too early to give up on him as a starter, and maybe returning him to Nashville to start is the best way to go. It's not like he'd block Zach Duke from pitching there this year.

And yes, I guess it was a quality start last night, so it's not like this question interests me because I think it's urgent. The team is about 12-deep with starters who could or should start soon for the Pirates - or deeper if you count Figueroa or Frank Brooks (? when did he become a starter?). At some point we'll find out if the Pirates will find some relievers in this group.