2005  2.80 ERA  1.13 WHIP  446 IP
2006  4.81 ERA  1.46 WHIP  379 IP

In '05, they got great innings from Wickman, Cabrera, Miller, Rhodes, Howry, Betancourt and Riske.  In '06 Wickman and Betancourt reverted to their norms, Cabrera stinks, Miller has hardly pitched and Rhodes, Howry and Riske are all gone.  You can see that kind of volatility in our pen also.  Last year our best relievers (by ERA) were Cotts, Hermanson and Politte.  We all know how that turned out this year.  Bullpens are fragile creatures.  An organization needs perception, guts and luck to be good in relief for a sustained run of years.  

I have this vague theory that the place where managers and coaches can have the biggest impact is in the care and feeding of the pen.  I don't think it was an accident that the Braves had great pens all those years, even though they hardly ever had a Proven Closer (tm).  I don't think its an accident when bad managers like Larry Bowa or Kevin Kennedy end up with crappy pens.  I think Williams has worked very hard this year to give the Sox a solid pen, but I think it is still an open question whether Guillen, Cooper and Williams are good enough to allow the Sox to be consistently excellent at this difficult task.