Historically only pitchers who can't cut it as starters go to the bullpen for any role, unless you have a situation where a guy can't pitch several innings anymore, e.g. John Smoltz. Once in a great while someone will blossom into the role after the move from the rotation-- Dennis Eckersley, Mariano Riveria-- but they're the exception, not the rule. It would seem a dumb move with Hanson to me. If you have six quality starters, just be grateful. Most teams are desperate just to get four. Put one in the bullpen or stash him in AAA for awhile. Every single team inevitably ends up needing more starting pitching at some point in the season. Look at how even the mighty Yankees went to a three-man rotation in the WS because they didn't trust anyone beyond Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettite.

I also agree that closers are overrated. In fact, I've contemplated an article about it. Look at how many teams had their postseason run end because they were depending on that one guy and he blew it. Huston Street, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Brian Fuentes, and (forgot his first name-- for the Dodgers) Broxton were all in there in the ninth when their teams were eliminated. Lidge got his mojo back against the Rockies and Dodgers, then lost it again in the World Series. The only one who was truly reliable, Riveria, was of course on the only team to survive it all. It's almost as severe a situation as the kicker in football lining up at the end of the game, except that you're hopefully only depending on that one kick to win a game three or four times a season. Closers are expected to get the job done 40, 50 times and even if they're flawless through the regular season, they can have one bad inning, maybe even just one bad pitch during the postseason and blow it all. And the ones who do implode usually never come back (see: Mitch Williams, Mark Wohlers, John Rocker, Eric Gagne, etc.).

A football team usually only has one other kicker to try, and maybe none, but a baseball team has a half dozen pitchers in the bullpen, and it seems to me a safer bet to go with the hot hand of the moment rather than depending on a single individual to never screw up. And there's no magic rule that you have to have a guy who comes in just for the ninth inning, either.