There's lots of interest in who will man the bullpen next year, and one of the questions I was mulling over was who looks best on paper. I also thought it would be useful to compare these gentlemen with the pitchers now on the staff. The data here report strikeouts per nine innings, bases on balls per nine innings, and Bill James's predictions for FIP in 2010. Of course FIP depends solely on home runs, strikeouts, and bases on balls. A couple of points do jump out at me, but I wonder what others see.

First, Octavio Dotel and Kevin Gregg do look like attractive candidates, but Kiko Calero looks pretty impressive. Of course he has had a series of arm miseries over the years, but he might be a good player to gamble on. Second, Jose Valverde might have a problem. While he does look like the best available player, he may be pricing himself out of the market.  Third, the projected FIP for Evan Meek looks pretty good, though he does have this nasty habit of walking tons of people. Fourth, what about Chad Bradford? My understanding is that he is thinking about retirement, but if he would be willing to take a flyer, the PBC should be as well.