Farnsworth has great defensive independent numbers, posting over 11 strikeouts per nine (31% of batters faced), 3.5 walks, and .65 homers. Not too shabby, especially when you factor in his superb performance in Atlanta.

I don't mind the Farnsworth signing, though I'm AMAZED relievers are making this kind of $$$.

However, when it comes to Myers, I'm of the opinion that he's not a great fit. He's great against lefties...but righties have battered him over the course of his career (.312 avg against over the course of his career) and he's had a WHIP of less than 1.40 twice in his career. The avg against righties is troubling because you KNOW that there will be times when he has to be left in a game to face some righties and they will probably hit him...and hit him hard.

In order of preference, this is how I rank the LOOGYs:
1) Ricky Rincon
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb...
2) Joey Eischen (Type C)
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb...
3) Mike Myers (Type B, I think)

Good pickup. I do agree, this has been a very good offseason if you're a free agent reliever. Such is the product of the vast competition for a number of coveted relievers and the number of big-market teams that struggled with their bullpens last season (Yanks, Braves, Mets, Red Sox, etc.).

As far as Flash goes, I think it becomes almost a necessity now that some of the other guys we wanted have turned us down. Farnsworth will give us a big boost, but having him alone to set up Rivera will only give us the same problem we had last season with Gordon. He wants three years, I'd give him two with a little extra money per.

Bah, forget Gordon. He's aging, he's shown signs of decline, and he's not a gamer. I'd much rather give the stop to a guy like Colter Bean and see if he can develop (no sense in giving him 2 innings and shipping him back to Columbus).

Or even Octavio Dotel. He presents a similar gamble to Gordon (age vs. injury), and has a much higher ceiling.

I think Gordon can be effective down the stretched if he isn't overused like he was the last two seasons. Octavio Dotel or Mike Myers would not be a bad pickup either, but I'd like to see them signed along with Gordon rather than in place of him.

I don't know if we can throw a guy like Colter Bean into that kind of role without him having shown anything. I know we got a few nice players out of Columbus last season but I still don't place that kind of trust in our farm system yet. I'd like to have Bean play a lesser role as maybe a short middle reliever first and see what he can do and have guys like Farnsworth and/or Gordon and Sturtze deal with the 7th and 8th.