In light of the recent trade between Cincinnati and Washington, we must ask ourselves: what is the price of legit relief pitching today? Are bashers of the trade right in saying that the Reds overpaid, or does it really cost two up-and-coming players in their prime to obtain said relievers? There are many different ways to construct a bullpen. In order to decide how much one should pay for a high-level bullpen arm, let?s look at the salaries of the league leaders (top 15) in ERA among relievers. Jonathan Papelbon (BOS): ERA: 0.57; 2006 Salary: $335,000 B.J. Ryan (TOR): 0.84; $8 million Jamie Walker (DET): 1.13; $1.25 million Rheal Cormier (PHI): 1.13; $2.5 million Tim Corcoran (TB): 1.57; contract unavailable (minor league contract) Denys Reyes (MIN): 1.59; contract unavailable (minor league contract) Mike Myers (NYY): 1.62; $1.15 million Joe Nathan (MIN): 1.70; $3.75 million Trevor Hoffman (SD): 1.77; $5 million Armando Benitez (SF): 1.90; $6.6 million Juan Rincon (MIN): 2.00; $700, 000 Takashi Saito (LAD): 2.05; contract unavailable (minor league contract) J.J. Putz (SEA): 2.06; $415, 000 Akinori Otsuka (TEX): 2.08; $1.75 million Mariano Rivera (NYY): 2.11; $10.5 million There are some very interesting trends in this list. Four of the pitchers are making ?proven closer? money (upwards of $5 million). There are five pitchers making anywhere between $1 million and $3.75 million. What would seem to be the most shocking number, though, is that six pitchers are making under $700, 000, three of whom are on minor-league contracts. If you stretch the math, that?s nearly half. Everyone?s favourite closer, Jonathan Papelbon, leads the league in ERA, and is an example of one way to build a cost-effective bullpen without sacrificing the ?effective? part: trusting the farm system. While it?s irrational to think that every minor league arm will perform as well as Papelbon, there are many other success stories. When looking at this season, Adam Wainwright and Jonathan Broxton ? of the Cardinals and Dodgers, respectively ? are both prospects that have been plugged into the bullpen and have thrived. Other names that fit this category include Fernando Cabrera in Cleveland (2005) and Francisco Rodriguez (2002), who was a key cog in the Angels World Series win. Not every team has pitching prospects ready at its upper levels to emerge as good relievers, though. The second key to a cheap but serviceable bullpen: an open mind. You might be looking over the list of pitchers at the beginning of the article and wondering who the hell guys like Tim Corcoran and Denys Reyes are. Well, they?re both journeyman pitchers with decent minor league profiles and a willingness to play for the league minimum. Players like this are everywhere if you just look for them. Rather than paying Todd Jones millions of dollars to potentially suck, why not give a minor league contract to someone who?s been pitching well in the minor leagues and will cost almost nothing? ?Proven? relievers are nice, but once they get to that ?proven? level they almost always reach an expensive level as well. There are plenty of guys pitching effectively in the minor leagues or even in another country who have the potential to be just good but at a much lower cost. The third and most important rule of building a bullpen: reliever success is often fleeting. Whether it?s due to the small sample sizes in which they pitch or plain old luck, relievers? ERAs tend to fluctuate from season to season. Of the top fifteen relievers (according to ERA) this year, only one ? Mariano Rivera ? is on the list for the 2005 season. This is to say that while a guy like Reyes may seem effective this season, chances are he won?t stay that way forever. It can be easy for a team to become attached to its unexpected success stories and go on to pay them big money, but one needs to remember that if you found a good pitcher off the scrapheap, then chances are you can do it again. This also points out that long-term contracts should not be handed out to relievers, because the chances of that pitcher being dominant for the length of the contract is very slim. Some unnecessary albatrosses this year include J.C. Romero of the Angels (owed 2.2 million, 6.75 ERA) and Scott Schoeneweis (owed 2.75 million, 5.70 ERA). There is so much money to be saved in major league front offices if they would open their eyes to what the true market value of relievers really is. Three of the most dominant closers in the league this season ? Pabelbon, J.J. Putz, and Takashi Saito ? are currently playing for near the league minimum. Cincinnati believes they paid a very fair price for a guy like Gary Majewski when they gave up two potential all-stars; Denys Reyes disagrees. Darren Sharp can be reached for comment at [email protected]