Is Brad Lincoln Better Suited as a Reliever?

Over the first 31 games of this season, I've developed a bit of a man crush on Brad Lincoln. He started the year in AAA but made his way up to the big leagues when Jeff Karstens went on the disabled list. Since then, Lincoln has been fantastic, giving up just one run in 14.1 innings pitched.

His most recent performance was his best, throwing three innings without giving up an earned run after Erik Bedard left Wednesday's game with back spasms. Lincoln put the Pirates in a position where they didn't have to exhaust their entire bullpen to cover eight innings, and he was rewarded with the win.

During that performance and as far back as spring training, I was bargaining for Lincoln to get the first shot at being a starter when one of the initial five would go down. It turned out that Kevin Correia was that guy, and I wasn't happy with it. However, now I might be realizing that Lincoln could be better suited as a reliever.

Lincoln has been throwing his fastball two miles an hour faster than he did last year, that's because he doesn't have to hold back when he's only out there for an inning or two. He can use his full stuff and doesn't have to worry too much about mixing things up. His change up isn't a great pitch - you can get away with that when you're a reliever; you don't often get away with it a starter. Lincoln's fastball-curveball combination is solid, and we've seen it on full display early on this year.

Do I still think that Lincoln is a better starting option than Correia? Yes. But I do think that Lincoln's best role is that middle reliever. It comes in really handy having a guy that can cover three or four innings in the middle of a game if a reliever goes down or gets beat up early on. Lincoln is that guy. He'd find more value in the rotation, but he wouldn't be as good. He's not beyond the point where he couldn't be a serviceable starting option, but I think for the long term he's a good bet out of the bullpen.

The Pirates are in a position where they have five starters that you would absolutely rather have in there than Lincoln. Although Charlie Morton has been struggling a lot and Jeff Karstens still doesn't have much in terms of stuff, you'd like to keep those guys in the rotation.

Lincoln will never be the guy they expected him to be when they drafted him. The Tommy John surgery seems to have ended those possibilities, but it's nice to see the Pirates getting something positive out of him at the major league level. Lincoln may have found his niche, and he could be a very valuable reliever moving forward.