Or rather someone.

Like the inadequate concoction of the cocktail of your choice, the construction of the bullpen is lacking a key ingredient that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. You can’t quite place what it is, but you know the omission of the essential additive is imperative to the completion of the drink. In the realm of the Athletics bullpen, everyman has a job. There’s the closer (Grant Balfour), right-handed setup man (Ryan Cook), left-handed setup man (Sean Doolittle), LOOGY (Jerry Blevins), and middlemen (Pat Neshek and Chris Resop). What the A’s don’t have is an effective longman.

There really isn’t a suitable reliever capable of giving the Athletics multiple innings, while Jesse Chavez may give it the old college try he is not a long-term answer. Neither was Evan Scribnerfor that matter. Although Scribner won a place in the hearts of A’s fans everywhere for his multi-inning game saving effort in game 162 last season, he proved to be much more effective pitching limited innings at a time.

 Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Ideally, the Athletics need someone who can come into a game on short notice and effectively shut down the opposition over a prolonged period.  As unsexy as the job sounds, the duties involve much more than simply tossing garbage innings in blowouts. This candidate may also add to their value, by becoming an emergency starter and filling in when necessary over the course of the season. If these qualifications sound familiar, you may be reminiscing about that certain tattooed Australian southpaw, Travis Blackley. The fan favorite filled in admirably last season, but was unceremoniously cut loose before the start of the season in favor of Scribner.

As unpopular as the move was at the time, it now seems all the more ill-advised. With the Athletics left scrambling to fill innings on numerous occasions, thanks to multiple poor outings from the likes of Brett Anderson and Jarrod Parker the time is now for someone to step into the role and round out the bullpen.

There are candidates, both internally within the organization and outside the system. If the A’s were to look for help from Sacramento, there are a few candidates of note to choose from. Amongst the River Cats collective, one will find pitchers Justin Thomas, Brian Gordon, and Bruce Billings. All three have major league experience, and Billings and Thomas are currently slotted in the River Cats rotation, with Thomas in particular pitching well posting a 3.32 ERA and 9.5 k/9 in four starts in the hitter-rich PCL.

Outside the organization, the underachieving Toronto Blue Jays recently designated southpaw Aaron Laffey for assignment. When not sharing a similar name with a member of Thor’s villains gallery, the former Indian has pitched serviceably over a 6-year career. Most recently, Laffey served as a swingman in Toronto last season starting 16 games and appearing out of the bullpen for 6 appearances. In 100 2/3 innings, he posted a 4.56 ERA with a 1.36 WHIP and held lefty hitters to a .239 AVG.

The longman. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. I’ll take another, bartender.

This group of players is often overlooked, but they are essential to any team’s success.  They spend most of their time finding ways to past the time during the games, but when they’re called upon they have to snap into game form in a matter of minutes and enter in some very dicey situations.  They’re expected to bail out starters, and walk the tightrope constantly, and if they’re good at it the team will have great success holding onto leads.  The bullpen for the Athletics really came together in 2012 and became a strength down the stretch.  A mix of firepower and deception, with an adrenaline pumping emotion undercurrent made the Athletics bullpen a force to be reckoned with.

August 2, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics bullpen dance to “call me maybe” during the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The likes of Grant Balfour and Ryan Cook, along with Sean Doolittle get the bulk of the spotlight for the manner in which they dominate hitters in the late innings, but the middle relievers led by Jerry Blevins, Pat Neshek, Jordan Norberto, Evan Scribner, Travis Blackley, Pedro Figueroa and new addition Chris Resop will bridge the gap between the starters and the late inning guys.  So the question is whether or not they will continue to be a strength in 2013.

ZiPs Projections

Grant Balfour: 61 games, 57.1 innings, 3.14 ERA, 57 K, 3.23 FIP

Ryan Cook: 67 games, 68.1 innings, 3.42 ERA, 66 K, 3.52 FIP

Sean Doolittle: 61 games, 71.1 innings, 3.15 ERA, 83 K, 3.04 FIP

Jerry Blevins: 59 games, 57 innings, 3.79 ERA, 51 K, 3.83 FIP

Pat Neshek: 57 games, 56.2 innings, 3.49 ERA, 48 K, 3.32 FIP

Jordan Norberto: 48 games, 55.1 innings, 3.90 ERA, 53 K, 3.98 FIP

Evan Scribner: 52 games, 59 innings, 4.27 ERA, 50 K, 4.16 FIP

Travis Blackley: 26 games (13 starts), 88 innings, 4.40 ERA, 61 K, 4.30 FIP

Chris Resop: 55 games, 58.2 innings, 4.30 ERA, 49 K, 3.83 FIP

Pedro Figueroa: 52 games, 4.82 ERA, 61.2 innings, 40 K, 5.10 FIP

There are many other relievers who may find themselves riding the pine down the left field line in 2013, like Mike Ekstrom, Jesse Chavez, Andrew Werner, and perhaps even a youngster like Arnold Leon.  Time will tell as the guys in the back end of the bullpen begin to go through the revolving door.

Balfour, Cook, and Doolittle are all expected to build on their strong 2012 seasons, and ZiPs thinks two of them will do just that.  Balfour became a truly dominant pitcher when he took charge of the closers role late in the 2012 season, and there is very little doubt that he’ll let that go.  I expect Balfour to lead the charge in 2013, and his numbers may look even better than ZiPs thinkgs.  Cook walked a bit of a tight rope when he struggled with his control, and it caught up with him at times, and it may do so once again for the 2012 All Star.  Sean Doolittle has the talent to continue to dominate hitters, and will take his stuff to a whole new level this year.

Jerry Blevins was still prone to the long ball, despite his success otherwise.  If he can cut those down, he can easily beat his projections, but if he doesn’t then his good fortune that kept his numbers down in 2012 will likely run out.  Pat Neshek absolutely needs to face right handed hitters unless there is literally nobody left to pitch to a lefty, his wild deception and nasty movement will give hitters fits, a 3.49 ERA seems like it very well could be a bit high.

Jordan Norberto and Evan Scribner will be mostly in lower leverage situations unless they prove too dominant to ignore, they’ll both take their lumps, but will provide the A’s with many valuable innings throughout the season.  Travis Blackley will be the long man when he’s in the bullpen, but as ZiPs projects will likely grab a few starts here and there, I don’t know if he’ll get up to 13 starts, but 6-8 seems more than reasonable.  He won’t blow anyone away necessarily, but he’ll get the job done when he’s needed, his projections seem about right.  Besides, his midseason hashtags on Twitter are top notch (#canwin #ourbad).

Then there’s Chris Resop, the new guy in the mix.  He’ll be in a similar role to that of Scribner and Norberto, pitching in mostly low leverage situations.  A 4.30 ERA seems about right for him.  Pedro Figueroa will likely ride the I-80 corridor numerous times between Oakland and Sacramento, his projections will probably be about right if that’s the case.

With that, I officially conclude the evaluation of the ZiPs projections for 2013.  These projections are often a bit on the conservative side, as evidenced by many of the numbers expected from various members of the Athletics roster.  The fact remains no matter what though, this is the team to beat in the AL West in 2013, and they seek to defend that title and build on the success of 2012.

July 29, 2012; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies pitcher Mike Ekstrom (47) delivers a pitch during the eighth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field. The Reds won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-US PRESSWIRE

Ekstrom has been on a very similar career path to that of current Athletic Evan Scribner.  Both passed through the San Diego Padres organization at one point in their careers, and both have had trouble finding success at the Major League level consistently.  Ekstrom appeared in 15 games in 2012 with the Rockies, pitching 15.2 innings and posting an ERA of 6.32.  He allowed 21 hits, but only walked 2 batters.

Much like Scribner, Ekstrom throws his fastball in the low 90′s along with a changeup and a slider to go along with it.  His signing came as a very unheralded move, and he’ll go into Spring Training looking to impress the Athletics brass in hopes of breaking camp with the big league squad.

Evan Scribner began the season solidified as the team’s mop up reliever, an he did an admirable job in that role.  As the season progressed Scribner began to be called upon in more and more situations with higher stakes.  Scribner performed well in those situations as well.  His finest moment came in game 162 against the Texas Rangers.  Starter A.J. Griffin struggled against the Rangers tough lineup and put the A’s in a deep hole.  Scribner came in and gave the A’s 3 stellar innings that set up their dramatic comeback, and helped propel them to their AL West championship.

Ekstrom could absolutely begin the 2013 season in very much the same type of role Scribner began 2012 in.  Billy Beane is known for being able to find value in under appreciated relief pitchers.  He did it multiple times in 2012 with Scribner and Pat Neshek being added for next to nothing.  In the past, relievers like Craig Breslow, Chad Bradford, and Brad Ziegler went from unnoticed players, to critical pieces in a solid bullpen.  There’s no reason to believe Ekstrom doesn’t have a chance to join that same class of relief pitcher plucked from the scrap heap.