The Pirates emphasis on the bullpen is strange

    Over the past few seasons, the Pirates have been able to put together some of the best bullpens in all of the major leagues. They have done a great job finding "Diamond in the rough" type players that have thrived for the Pirates. It's been really enjoyable to watch. However, this offseason, the Pirates have been spending a lot of money on the bullpen and have seemed to put an emphasis on the pen that they haven't before. Whether it be signing guys or claiming guys off waivers, the Pirates have put together unimaginable bullpen depth. 

     The Pirates appear to be rolling into Opening Day with a rotation that includes both Locke and Vogelsong. The rotation depth come Opening Day will be very slim while the bullpen depth is very strong. The idea is for the bullpen depth to be good enough so that the starters don't have to be superb all year long. It also means the starters wouldn't have to go as deep in games, making them fresher later in the season. 

     It's easy to see exactly what the Pirates are doing. They want to play on the strength of their bullpen while putting their starters in good situations all year. I get it. However, I think it is really strange for a team to try this. In fact, it's playing with fire. 

     Though a good bullpen is becoming a popular way to shorten a game, you can't ignore the rotation. In some ways, I think the Pirates have ignored the rotation for 2016. I get that Taillon, Kingham, and most importantly, Glasnow will be ready at some point, but you can't count on a huge impact from them. I think the rotation isn't deep enough at this exact moment in time. Compensating with a deep, good bullpen is really the only thing the Pirates can do. 

     I think it's very curious that the Pirates are doing this. This method of pitching is something that hasn't been seen. It makes everything really unbalanced in my opinion. This is especially so when you consider the Pirates only LH reliever is setup man Tony Watson, who will not be a lefty specialist. They cover the rotation with 3 LHPs, but that doesn't help the bullpen. They've brought in so many righties, but no lefty relievers. I just think that is very curious also. 

     Now, I've been wrong about some of the Pirates previous methods in the past. I could very well be wrong again. However, I just don't see it right now. It's very strange, and could really flop (though it could be great, too). I just don't like the unbalanced nature of the roster because of it. Having too much of a good thing sometimes isn't the answer. We shall see if that is the case here or not.