Leyland rationally believes, as do I, that his team’s starting pitching will be more important than his team’s relief pitching in 2008:
“I’m not as concerned with bullpen as much as everybody else is,” Leyland said during TigerFest. “I think it’s going to be fine.
“Assuming that Todd Jones is going to do another good job for us and Fernando Rodney continues to be a quality major-league pitcher, not a great pitcher, but a quality pitcher, I think those looking at the bullpen are probably looking at the wrong area.”
Then what’s the right area?
“We need to extend our starting pitchers more,” Leyland said. “I think the big keys will be (Jeremy) Bonderman, (Nate) Robertson and (Dontrelle) Willis. If those guys can take you an extra out or an extra 2/3 of an inning, that’s going to be the key to this team.”
Thanks for the support, Jim. I also enjoyed your labeling of Fernando Rodney as a “quality pitcher,” but not a “great pitcher.”
