Loading ...Jayson Stark has an interesting point in his latest column:
We’ve heard a lot of talk about how the Orioles’ bullpen undid Sam Perlozzo. But Perlozzo did his share to undo that bullpen, too. Until Danys Baez headed for the DL, four Orioles relievers (Chad Bradford, Jamie Walker, Chris Ray and Baez) were on pace to pitch in nearly 90 games this year. And here’s all you need to know about how insane that is: No pitcher in the history of the franchise has ever appeared in more than 76 games in a season. Those four, said one AL executive, “were totally abused.”
I’ve complained about Narron’s treatment of his relievers before. Interestingly, he hasn’t ridden anyone nearly as hard as Perlozzo did — Coutlangus leads, and he’s only on pace for 82 appearances. Of course, this is mostly because David Weathers and Victor Santos are the only guys who has actually been in the Reds bullpen for the whole season.
The Reds have 228 separate bullpen appearances (on pace for 506). That means he’s using an average of 4.11 pitchers per game. Last year they had 475 relief outings.
On a side note, in that same column, he mentioned that the Yankees have Scott Hatteberg on their list of first basemen to pursue.
That’s cool. The Yanks need Scottie more than we do. And I think Narron should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors against the bullpen.