Working out of the bullpen in long relief is perhaps the least enviable pitching position on a team, as viewed from the player's perspective.
Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston believes it's one of the most important. When he inherited the Blue Jays last June 20, Gaston discovered that the team didn't have a defined long reliever in their bullpen. He plans to rectify that for the 2009 season.
"Last year, I didn't feel I had one guy in that bullpen who was stretched out, so you had one inning, maybe two," Gaston said. "We just didn't have anybody who could go three or four innings."
Hastening his concern is the state of the rotation that lost A.J. Burnett to free agency and Shaun Marcum (elbow) and Dustin McGowan (shoulder) to injury. Their replacements don't figure to give Gaston the same number of innings, of being able to consistently go deep into a game.
"That (long-relief) guy is going to be coming into play more than in our past years because you don't have four or five guys that you are confident are going to be probably be out there for at least 180 innings," said pitching coach Brad Arnsberg.
Candidates for the job include left-hander Brian Tallet, plus right-handers Casey Janssen, Scott Richmond and Jeremy Accardo.
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