How the Astros ended up with Lyon/Lindstrom

Richard Justice has another excellent blog post on how the Astros ended up with Brandon Lyon, and why Ed Wade continues to get slammed.

Justice got a hold of some scouting reports on both Lyon and Lindstrom. An excerpt from Lyon's:
Strong compact athletic body. Can field position. Holds runners. 1-3 delivery. Has good stuff. Has closed on occasion early in the year. Has in the past. Effective setup reliever. A couple of strikeout pitches with slider and curveball. Occasional fastball stuff is mostly hard. Curveball defuses the style some. Aggressive with first-pitch strikes. Both sides of the plate. Uses curveball early in count. Competes well, has intangibles, which allows to use all of his pitches and go after hitters. Is more sinker-slider type, who can run a four-seamer into right-handed hitters. Can be stretched out multiple innings. See him as a good piece at the back of the pen as a depth reliever who has some flex in use, including closing.''

On Lindstrom:
"Big tall kid. High three-quarter delivery. Power arm. Quick delivery out of stretch. Often rushes, leaving fastball up in the zone. Gets hitters to chase, who will learn in time to stay off that pitch. Needs to get fastball down in the zone more often. Challenges hitters. Will use both sides of the plate. Fastball occasionally will have short cut action. Slider is his next-best pitch. Tight bite with tilt, primarily away from left-handed hitters and occasionally backdoor to lefthanders. Sliders to right-handed hitters when ahead in the count can be chaseable off the outside edge. Good arm. Still a bit of a thrower. Has trouble putting hitters away. Occasional spit-finger, some tumble out of the zone, primarily a show pitch. Still a work in progress as a closer. Like his arm and power."

So basically, this is what Brad Arnsberg is charged with correcting. If Arnsberg can produce according to his history, the Astros were able to save some money, get younger in the bullpen, and manage to avoid a drop-off in the loss of Valverde/LaHawk. I've always been okay with the decision to cut Valverde and Hawkins loose, but I'm continually worried about getting filleted by the likes of Keith Law.