The US Express and The Orient Express (3/2/16)

For the past 3 seasons I nicknamed the tag-team of Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa "The Orient Express." For the past 3 seasons they have lived up to that billing, forming a 1-2 punch that terrorized AL hitters in the back end of the bullpen. A freak injury felled Uehara and overwork shut down Tazawa at the end of last season. The record books show the Sox finishing 78-80, but they also blew 5-6 games down the stretch relying on "Mean" Jean Machi and Alexi Ogando to close out games.

To relieve the stress on the Express, the Red Sox traded Wade Miley to Seattle for Roenis Elias and Carson Smith, the side-armed phenom. The Sox also traded mega prospects Javier Guerra, Manny Margot and Carlos Asuaje to San Diego for closer Craig Kimbrell. Kimbrell and Smith both had ERA's under 2.60 last season.

So if Tazawa and Uehara are the Orient Express, then its safe to call Smith and Kimbrell the US Express. After all, Kimbrell is one of the hardest throwing relievers in the game and Smith has the savy of an Uehara. By themselves, the US Express would be formidable. Combine those two with the Orient Express and you have a back end bullpen that's 4 men deep. Imagine Clay Buchholz going 5 innings, Smith pitches the 6th, Tazawa pitches the 7th, Uehara the 8th and Kimbrell closes it. Not that you want your starter to go just 5 innings, but its nice to have that kind of relief if needed. The Sox last year burned out Tazawa because Alexi Ogando, Edward Mujica, Anthony Vavaro and Robbie Ross Jr early on couldn't get the job done. Mujica and Ogando are gone, Vavaro is a longshot to make the team and Ross became their lefty specialist last year. If the Sox are in contention, a guy like Ross could be valuable down the stretch when you need to get that one specific batter out.

It seems to good to be true for the Sox to have 4 stars out of the bullpen. In 2004 they had Alan Embree, Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke. In 2007 they had Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon. In 2013 they had Tazawa, Uehara and Craig Breslow. That's not counting the lefty specialists (Mike Myers in 2004, Javier Lopez in 2007) either.

The talk around baseball is the New York Yankees trio of terror consisting of Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman and Dilan Bentences. If the Orient Express and the US Express can match them, the Sox will be in good shape to battle for the AL East this season.