Hentgen, Sidney Ponson, and Jason Johnson aren't Palmer, Cuellar, and McNally, but there are upwards of a dozen teams in the majors that would trade their three for that trio right now. And the bullpen is simply better by subtraction, losing Mike Timlin. I don't like to make too much of the idea that everyone in the pen has to know his role in order to perform. 9th inning, 7th inning, 3rd inning, you come in, throw strikes, and sit down. Don't cash the checks.
Strikeouts are very nice to get, firing up the home crowd or deflating rallies.
But an out's an out, and if I can find a pitcher who can get 27 groundball outs in a game, or 27 flyball outs, he can register a complete game just as well as a guy who strikes 'em all out, and in all likelihood, my guy will throw a lot fewer pitches. Velocity also has this romantic aura about it. Oooh, look at this guy, he throws 98 miles an hour. Which is fine, when it comes in over the plate. Randy Johnson could throw the ball through a wall when he came up with Montreal in the 80s, but he was just a hard-throwing freak until he harnessed that speed AND came up with that slider of his.