The more I watch the stretch run, the more I realize just how much work Melvin & Co. have ahead of them this offseason. The pitching staff as a whole is in need of a revamping, especially in the bullpen. I would not be surprised to see more than one of our SPs shipped in the offseason, primarily for relief help. On top of that, my concern is whether or not we have enough trading chips to get anything of good value in return without giving away what remaining little depth we have (of advanced players) in our minor league system. Re-signing Linebrink seems almost a necessity, Turnbow may be our lone "valuable" trading chip (but why trade from a position of need to try and help fill that same position?) from the 'pen, and Shouse's value is made clearer with each passing game. I worry about teams figuring out Shouse after him being featured so prominantly this season. I don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm really getting concerned about our pitching as a whole in 2008. SP - Sheets, Gallardo, Villanueva, Suppan, Bush, Capuano, Parra, (Vargas? he seems a perfect non-tender candidate) RP - Turnbow, Shouse, Wise, Linebrink (FA), King (FA - hope he's back), Spurling (ughh), Stetter (http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/mad.gif), Aquino (http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/sick.gif), Jackson (?) Yikes. That's a scary overall picture, sadly. While I feel that Bush & Capuano will return more to form in '08, Parra has much to prove at the MLB level (though I remain optimistic), and who knows how the younger arms of YoGa & Villy will respond to the heaviest workloads in their young careers? For the 'pen, TBow, Shouse, & Wise are all decent options, but beyond that it seems entirely up in the air. Out of upcoming LHRP FAs, honestly, Ray King is about as nice as available. The Cubs' Eyre is eligible, but I doubt they let him go, and if they do, he'll likely be in very high demand. RHRP FAs obviously are of greater number, and there are some decent options. Kerry Wood is appx. the class of the bunch, but again I doubt the Cubs letting him go. I guess at this point I simply wish we had some arms available within the organization, as spending on relief pitching is almost a complete gamble, and we have much to upgrade.