The rising cost of a strong bullpen

With David Price and Zack Greinke signing contracts worth more than $200 million, do you think the price of starting pitching is skyrocketing this season? Check out the cost of bullpen help. The Orioles and Darren O'Day held a press conference Tuesday at Camden Yards after O'Day, 33, signed a four-year, $31 million contract to stay in Baltimore. Others teams, such as Washington, San Francisco and Atlanta, wanted to sign O'Day, who stabilizes the Orioles bullpen's setup role with Brian Matusz, Brad Brach and possibly Mychal Givens. There's also Chaz Roe, and who knows whether Dylan Bundy will start the season in the bullpen or on the disabled list? A decade ago, middle relievers were part of the roster that saved teams money. The rotation and the closer got big money, but not the setup guys. That's all changing. Check out what's going on around baseball: * The small-market Royals, World Series champions who won with a strong bullpen, brought their former closer Joakim Soria back to Kansas City at a cost of $25 million for three years. * Oakland, another small-market team that has made a reputation for having a strong bullpen with power arms, picked up former Royal Ryan Madson for $22 million. Madson was out of baseball for three years because of arm injuries before he re-established himself as a setup pitcher for Kansas City last season. * How about lefty Tony Sipp getting three years and $18 million from the Houston Astros? He's pitched 105 innings combined in the last two years. But he has had 125 strikeouts and 32 walks in those two years. * In a major bullpen overhaul, the Nationals spent $23 million on Shawn Kelley and Oliver Perez. They another $2.5 million to pick up Yusmeiro Petit, who is Craig Stammen's replacement as the long guy, and traded infielder Yunel Escobar to the Angels for hard-throwing Trevor Gott. * At 32, Mark Lowe got an $11 million contract from the Detroit Tigers, a team that has tried to save money for years by putting together a bullpen on the cheap. Now the Tigers bullpen is strong with Justin Wilson and Lowe setting up closer Francisco Rodriguez. * The Red Sox gave the Padres four prospects to get closer Craig Kimbrel. Then, in a trade that involved starter Wade Miley, they picked up Carson Smith and Roenis Elias from Seattle. Elias has pitched two games in relief, and Smith 79 games. Elias will be a backup starter.