One of the longest held beliefs of the Sabermetric community is that the vast majority of major league managers are not using the assets they have in their bullpen to the greatest possible effectiveness. The major argument is that most teams use their best reliever as a "closer" save specialist, meaning they will be used to for 3 outs with a lead of 3 or fewer runs for the majority of their appearances. Some may get in for 4 or 5 outs from time to time and most will be used in "non-save" situations occasionally when they have been idle for a while and need to stay sharp. Most of the time, though, they get three outs in the 9th.

The problem with that usage is, of course, that very often those are not the key outs in a game. How many times has an inferior reliever been brought in to face the oppositions best hitter in the 7th or 7th inning representing the tying or fall behind run? How many times has the "closer" been asked to face the 7, 8 & 9 hitters in a weak lineup with a 3 run lead just to get a save? Shouldn't a teams best reliever be used to get the hardest and most important outs in games and not used in easier situations simply for the sake of adding a save to the total?

The arguments for the closer are not without some merit, especially the ones about guys wanting to know their roles and have a general idea of when they might be used. These are not machines being asked to perform a computation, after all. It is also true that very often the 9th inning does turn out to be the toughest situation in the game and that giving up a run in the 7th inning in a one run game isn't the same as giving up a run in the 9th inning of a one run game. Managers deserve some credit for coming up with this current bullpen useage system, they just haven't been flexible enough in it's employment.

With that in mind, how can the Brewers best build their bullpen for 2009 now that their 9th inning specialist from last year, Salomon Torres has decided to call it a career?

• Assuming that Carlos Villanueva and Seth McClung are both headed to the pen (and Melvin is on the record saying that Villanueva will be and McClung might be) the team would be well advised to keep in mind that both of those guys are capable of going more than one inning at a time and that using them as a classic save specialist is probably not the best way to go.

• The Brewers are going to need a LHP for the pen and would probably be best served with twol. The question is whether or not it's worth it to bring back Brain Shouse. At this point in his career, he's great against lefties and terrible against righties, which means that his uses are pretty limited in tight situations. Mitch Stetter is waiting in the wings, but his walk happy nature makes him less than a sure thing.
  

• David Riske's ability to come back from his trouble filled 2008 will go a long way towards determining how the middle relief will shake out. The Brewers need him to step up and earn his paycheck this season.
  

• There are veteran closers on the market this winter, like Trevor Hoffman and Jason Isringhausen, but they are also well past their primes and will probably command a premium for their names alone. If one of them could be had at a bargain price, however, it would allow the Brewers to go into spring training with an established situation in the pen, at least until the players prove their worth early on.

• Besides Mitch Stetter, the Brewers will head to Arizona with several options from the farm system to take a look at. Tim Dillard has the stuff to be long term big league reliever, though he has yet to show that he is ready to pitch in key situations. Mark DiFelice is a long time minor leaguer who strikes out a lot of batters and walks very few, but his lack of velocity leaves him vulnerable to the long ball. Luis Pena is coming off of a disappointing campaign in AAA, but still has the electric stuff to pitch late in games if he can harness it. Omar Aguilar has top notch stuff and he's been groomed as a closer in the minors. If he can build on his impressive 2008 and cut down on the walks, he could find himself closing in Milwaukee before the end of the year.
  

Melvin said in a radio interview on 1250 WSSP last week that he was going to wait a while to address the bullpen situation, which means that he's probably not interested in any of the top guys unless their price comes down later on and that he's willing to go with internal options, at least to a large degree. There are some very useful arms already under team control both at the major and minor league levels. If Melvin's track record is any indication, though, he'll probably end up bringing in multiple cheap options for a look see in spring training. It makes sense, because the best way to build a bullpen on a tight budget is to acquire as many cheap options as you can, throw them at the wall and see what sticks.