Forecasting the 2015 Buffalo Bisons Bullpen

Mar 3, 2015; Dunedin, FL, USA; A general view of Florida Auto Exchange Park prior to a spring training baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Buffalo Bisons will open their season on April 9th versus the Rochester Red Wings. The Red Wings finished the season half a game behind the Bisons, 4.5 games back of the Syracuse Chiefs and the wildcard winning Pawtucket Red Sox.

The Bisons 2015 roster was completely overhauled, with a whole new set of outfielders, a few new infielders, and bunch of new arms. There will be some familiar faces that the Herd faithful will remember.

With the first couple of spring training games just getting under way, player movement is expected which will impact exactly what the Bisons roster look like on April 9th. Since I am an impatient fan. I want to forecast where the Blue Jays future stars will start the 2015 season.

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The potential candidates for the Buffalo Bisons starting rotation, infielders, outfielders have all been covered. Now it’s time to forecast the potential Buffalo Bisons bullpen for 2015. The Herd’s 2014 BP consisted of minor league veterans Bobby Korecky, Mike Zagurski, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Raul Valdes, and Luis Ayala. Last year the Bisons saw Kyle Drabek converted from a starter to the bullpen and the emergence of Ryan Tepera and the continued development of John Stilson and Chad Jenkins as future MLB relievers. The Bisons played host to a pair of Toronto relievers that fell from the good graces of the fans, Sergio Santos and Steve Delabar.

Santos has moved on and Delabar has looked good so far in Spring Training. There are a few guys taht I feel will start the year with Toronto; therefore, they will not appear on the list below.

• Steve Delabar
• Kyle Drabek
• Chad Jenkins

Much of last seasons veteran RP were released or left via free agency but Alex Anthopoulos has done a good job in replenishing the Bisons pen with quality arms that all could challenge for a spot in Toronto’s bullpen this spring. Bullpen arms are notoriously tough to predict and that’s why we need so many of them.

Let’s get to it