This column takes a deeper dive into pens where the closers have weaker skill sets and could lose the role, giving other relievers hidden value.

[FREE] The chances you’ll find a diamond in the rough among NRIs are about the same as finding a box of chocolates in the garage because you forgot today is Valentine’s Day.

If you don't have guys like Parker, Slowey, Owings, Volquez, Volstad, and even Zambrano on your watch lists heading into spring training, here's why you are making a mistake.

Part 2 of last week's bullpen article—evaluating bullpen options in the event that the incumbent or designated closer is traded, injured or otherwise replaced. This article covers Milwaukee through Washington.

This column is the first of two parts that examines which relievers are in line should an incumbent get hurt, traded or replaced and discusses potential scenarios. Arizona through Florida this column; Milwaukee through Washington next column.

Assigning gains or losses after a player move is a bit of a mug’s game. The change in home ballpark affects only half the games, after all, and we have to consider such other factors as lineup differences, new managers and teammates, even weather.

It's easy to fall in love with strong half seasons. It's also easy to read too much into them. After all, the midpoint of the season is an arbitrary cutoff, and there are bound to be performance swings between any few months of data. That said, many starting pitchers who surge down the stretch often are better speculations than others. Let's take a look at the SP whose BPV increased the most between the first and second halves of 2011:

Friday the 13th. Perfect for discussing the frightening Orioles, White Sox, Twins, A's, Reds and Astros bullpens.

Last month, the Batting Buyers Guide examined hitters who had very poor seasons in 2011, looking at which of them might be most likely to “regress to the mean” of their weighted average performance from 2008-10. As with last time, we started by finding the batters whose 2011 seasons varied sharply from their norms, this time by doing far better than their norms suggested.

You won't be able to earn a profit on these starting pitchers on draft day.

This column is a quick peek into the Baseball Forecaster's LIMA ratings of relievers for 2012.