Throughout the flurry of moves that the Colorado Rockies have made to strengthen the bullpen this offseason, perhaps, the best reliever of them all has already been here.
This offseason featured many pickups for the Rockies. Especially in the bullpen, as they netted both Bryan Shaw and Wade Davis, two big time players. Now, people are saying (and rightly so), that this bullpen could be one of the best in the league. But, the best piece to this bullpen could be a guy that everyone is forgetting about, and that is Chris Rusin.
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Rusin, at age 31, can do just about everything that a bullpen could need from a reliever. He can get a save if necessary, and he has shown that he can enter the ballgame for any situation, and give his team a chance to win. Not to mention his stats were great last season, as he produced a 2.65 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 85 innings. With a bullpen that looks very strong, they will need that glue guy who is going to piece games together in those bridge innings, and Rusin has shown his capability for this in countless occasions.
Not to forget that he can go for long periods, as he used to be a starter not more than two years ago. He has also caused some deception with hitters due to his varied leg-lifts on his pitches.
He may not be the flashy name, or have the flashy reliever jobs, but he will still be one of the keys to this new and improved bullpen.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Rockies may have transformed themselves into a team that is not going to solely rely on scoring runs this year. This bullpen has a chance to do great things this season, and although he might not be the biggest name, Chris Rusin will definitely have a vital role in it.
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If he can continue the success that he had from last season, teams will have no wiggle room when facing this Rockies bullpen.