I have heard many comments about this subject. I feel this would be a bad and rash decision. First of all, many people overlook the fact that Neimann is a giant, and takes a long time to warm up. Also, Neimann has good stuff, but not overpowering stuff like Garza or Price could have as a closer. The final point is that he did so well as a starter. No reason to move him to the closer.

rays should get wagner...

Theres an idea.....

The rays should not convert any of the starters they have into closers,or relievers with one exception,Sonnentine who should become the garbage time guy out of the pen until he can either pitch his way into a better position,or out of a job completely.I doubt the Rays get Wagner,it would be nice to see them get a strong live arm or two for the pen,either thru a trade or FA market.

I'd wait until all the arbitration cases are completed before making a decision on a closer. Somehow I think the RFO will do better than expected on some of these cases and may even trade or decline arbitration to a few of the players freeing up some cash (Balfour?). Wagner could be had for the decent price of 4 or 5 million. Billy will wait until he finds the right spot and that may take a few months so he could end up a Ray in 2010.

Some of these bullpen spots might be filled out via the trade front. I see Andrew making a trade in November or December that includes picking up Aki's option in a sign and trade deal for quality bullpen help. Last year signing low cost FA's for the bullpen didn't workout so well so I'd like to see the front office get back to trading value to get value something Andrew did well in 2006 and 2007.

Wagner would be a great addition no doubt and we need at least 2 quality pitchers like that,who can come out of the pen and get those last 6 outs.Howell is ok,wheeler can be counted on most of the time,Cormier gets the job done most of the time.Balfour is shaky,Bradford has'nt shown much,Shouse,Choate etc,etc,etc.Rays need to improve this bullpen or they will finish in 3rd or worse again next year.There needs to be some flexibility in the payroll when you have a team on the precipice of the playoffs like this team was last year and should be this upcoming year.Our starters are good and we have guys coming up from the minors who might be able to take a spot in the pen,but the talk of using Niemann or Garza as a closer is silly to me.

Nieman has proven to be very consistent as a starter. I'd leave him in that roll and look elsewhere.
I would try Garza and Price ... but then we would be short a lefty starter ...Howell should make a decent starter ... he NOW has experience, he has a good K rate and he seems to pitch better with
some rest between outings. When he was starting he was a rookie and made alot of rookie mistakes. I would give him a look see as a starter. If it works great, if not he is a solid two inning pitcher that can provide an effective bridge to a power arm closer type.

ridiculous!