Links 7-1-2010: Bullpen troubles, Beltre’s increasing value, Rivera’s cutter

The bullpen woes continue. Manny Delcarmen, who has actually been pretty good the last month or so, has an elbow issue that led to a terrible outing against the Rays yesterday. He may go on the DL, which leaves us with precious few relief options other than Daniel Bard and the rapidly deteriorating Hideki Okajima. If he goes on the DL, I expect to see Robert Manuel up here shortly. To improve depth, the Sox have signed Milton native Rich Hill to a minor league deal, and he will start out at Pawtucket.

His success this season pretty much guarantees that Adrian Beltre won’t return next season, but Brian MacPherson points out another likely benefit of Beltre’s great year – Type A free agent status and two compensation draft picks for the good guys.

Via David Pinto’s Baseball Musings, the New York Times has a really cool video explaining what pitch makes Mariano Rivera the best closer of all time.