Is Yost using the pen properly?

[uwisfan]

I'm going to go on record now, since the Brewers won convincingly, so I feel now is a good time to make the point about my perception of misuse of the pen.

 

Obviously Yost is in love with what Riske brings to the table for good enough reason. But you can only use your favorite relievers so much. Riske has averaged about 50 innings over his last 2 years and he has now pitched 3 in the first 2 games. In the first game, he pitched in some miserable conditions. There are pitchers in the pen right now that the teams needs to see in live action, to see what they have so that they have confidence in putting them in games when it counts. It also helps to keep Riske's innings down and to keep these pitchers "warm" If they go a week without pitching, it can mess with their confidence and they start pressing in games. What I've seen from Yost is a tendency to avoid using these pitchers in obvious situations (like tonight with a 6-run lead in the ninth), yet throw them in the fire after riding the pine for 2 weeks with a game on the line. Why waste Riske's arm and why not keep the other pitchers involved when the game is over.

[JohnBriggs12]

Riske threw 9 pitches Monday, then had Tuesday off. I don't think it was an issue. Mota is totally rested and ready to go tomorrow.

 

That they didn't use Turnbow in either game is telling though.

[sbrylski]

1) Its two games.

2) Any manager with a designated closer isn't quite using the right guys at the right time, IMO.

3) Its Ned Yost, why would you expect him to effectively manage a pen?

[endaround]

Riske was the only other guy warming up. If this wasn't April in Chicago it might make more sense to hurry and warm up another pitcher, but it is April in Chicago

[Fear The Chorizo]

it's the second game, with an off day in between, and there's already a thread about Yost misusing his bullpen? With all the new arms out there, it's going to take some time for any sort of roles to be defined on the pitching staff - which I think is a good thing. I think there's going to be question marks all season long as to how the bullpen's managed, because for the first time in a long time, there are more than 1 or 2 options for Yost to use in many different situations out of the pen. Aside from Shouse facing a lefty in situations and Gagne currently listed as the team's closer, the rest of the arms in the pen can be asked to come in whenever...it's not like there's a 7th, 8th, and 9th inning guy like in year's past, when if one of those guys had a rough outing the rest of the bullpen couldn't pick him up. so Riske and Torres are unavailable tomorrow...what are we ever going to do with only having five completely rested arms in the pen, two of which who are easily capable of working multiple innings if need be?

[dvoiss]

I knew the criticism of Yost was coming but I thought people would at least wait until after Tax Day. He may not use Riske for another week it's way too early to be drawing conclusions about use or misuse of the pen.

[dadofandrew]

There are not really "rights and wrongs" about bullpen use. However, I would not have wasted Riske in the 9th, especially with Turnbow, Shouse, and McClung having yet to work.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Riske was already warm so pitching him in the 9th was just fine. He gets tomorrow off and has Turnbow, Gagne, and Mota available. Sounds fine to me.

[Ennder]

If he misused the bullpen it was by sending Suppan out with 96 pitches to start the inning. Later in the season that makes some sense but his first start of the year I'd have pulled him instead of waiting for him to get in trouble.

[PlayerHader]

I really expected Turnbow to see some action in the ninth. Perfect situation for him to have his season debut, there.

 

Using Riske for two innings is nothing to get up in arms about at this point, though.

[Bruce Ciskie]

I would have preferred Turnbow in the ninth, but perhaps the thought was that they wouldn't use Riske back-to-back days, so it was pointless to burn a guy you might need tomorrow when the score is 8-2 today.

 

After two games, I'm more than willing to let Ned slide on how he uses the bullpen. Unless he does something REALLY stupid, I'm not going to get terribly concerned.

[Cracked Bat Collector]

Why not see what Riske can do with back to back innings?

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Exactly. And knowing he's going to get the day off tomorrow there was no harm done. I like having more than one, good set up man.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yea, the guys had the off day. Riske was warm, and he'll be fine. I tend to agree with Ennder that I'd rather have seen Suppan not go back out after 96 thrown; that park with the wind blowing out can be madness.

 

I would like to note that I like seeing Yost go with a player as opposed to a perceived title like 'Closer.' I've wondered if Riske wouldn't be our best RP, and he's been reinforcing that if only through two games.

[Team Canada]

perhaps the thought was that they wouldn't use Riske back-to-back days, so it was pointless to burn a guy you might need tomorrow when the score is 8-2 today.

Ding ding ding. When you have a pen where ostensibly there are multiple guys you feel comfortable using in the 7-8th innings, there's no point in using someone else just for the heck of it, you just let Riske finish the game, give him the day off tomorrow, and use the other guys. The goal shouldn't be to give everyone 1 inning every game.

Not that I have any confidence in Yost's ability to manage the bullpen over a season, but it's a tad early for criticism.

[giffted1]

It's only 2 games into the season. This is getting a bit ridiculous.

 

If he pitches Turnbow in the ninth and needs him tomorrow we get Turnbow on back to back days which has been troublesome in the past.

[Tbadder]

I don't know guys, I get the feeling that it might come back and bite Ned tomorrow. If we're all agreed here that Riske is a better option than Turnbow with the game on the line maybe he should have used Turnbow or Seth for two innings. Keep your best pitchers for the closest games. A six run lead means that your second tier relievers should be out there in my book. I could be wrong though.

[giffted1]

I don't know guys, I get the feeling that it might come back and bite Ned tomorrow. If we're all agreed here that Riske is a better option than Turnbow with the game on the line maybe he should have used Turnbow or Seth for two innings. Keep your best pitchers for the closest games. A six run lead means that your second tier relievers should be out there in my book. I could be wrong though.

Remember that Riske came in with only a four run lead and the heart of the Cubs order coming up. Not exactly a comfortable lead especially with the Cubs lineup.

 

[DrWood]

bringing out suppan for the 7th was reasonable, as he was facing the bottom of the order. If hardy had gotten a hit, they probably would have pinch hit for suppan.

It's way to early to worry about Ned's use of the bullpen. this is the second game, with a day off between them; any of the relievers should have been able to go. If Bush goes 3 innings tomorrow, Ned is a genius (well, assuming the brewers come back to win). Riske is probably the only reliever that gets the day off, for sure, tomorrow.

The only worry is that villy was over-used in the first half, and you don't want that to happen to riske.

[TooLiveBrew]

Agreed with gifted. Part of 'handling' TBow is his psyche -- he didn't exactly get treated like a fan favorite last year, and admitted it was bugging him. The risk of Derrick walking the first two guys & giving up a dong, along with the subsequent booing & decrying of him by the fans, is significant imo. I'd hate to see the 'fans' jump all over Turnbow without even 5 games under his belt.

 

With wind blowing out of Wrigley, not many leads are safe. Riske was solid today, and wasn't pitched on b-2-b days. Now we have Turnbow to come in to start an inning tomorrow, and that's some serious gas to throw at a team trying to avoid being swept at home for their opening series.

[yoshii8]

I was at the game and sat right next to the Brewers bullpen, and w/ 2 outs in the 9th I saw Hamel pick up the bullpen phone and he told Turnbow to warm up, and before getting up Riske got the last out. I thought that was kind of weird.

[bjkrautk]

I don't know guys, I get the feeling that it might come back and bite Ned tomorrow. If we're all agreed here that Riske is a better option than Turnbow with the game on the line maybe he should have used Turnbow or Seth for two innings. Keep your best pitchers for the closest games. A six run lead means that your second tier relievers should be out there in my book. I could be wrong though.

On the flip-side, the Cubs could be up by 10 runs after 4 innings tomorrow. If that's the case, the Brewers are better positioned to survive the next few days (without a break) having only used two bullpen arms today. I'm not saying that it's likely to happen; I certainly hope it doesn't, but there are a multitude of possibilities when trying to look ahead. I have no problem with the decision to pitch Riske for an extra inning when he was already warmed up, but I see other people's point, such that I hope he doesn't have to pitch again until Saturday.

 

Personally, I appreciate that Ned didn't have to (or feel the need to) warm up a bunch of relievers who didn't pitch in the game. They're not playing an excessive number of consecutive games without an off day, but limiting the number of pitchers who have to go today means there will be a more 'fresh' arms available over the next four games.

 

[southpaw121505]

I don't know guys, I get the feeling that it might come back and bite Ned tomorrow. If we're all agreed here that Riske is a better option than Turnbow with the game on the line maybe he should have used Turnbow or Seth for two innings. Keep your best pitchers for the closest games. A six run lead means that your second tier relievers should be out there in my book. I could be wrong though.

I agree with this. I have a lot of confidence in Riske and I'd hate to have a 2-1 game heading into the 8th tomorrow and not be able to go to Riske because he was used in a "blowout." Even before the year I felt really confident in Riske, that'd he'd be our most reliable set up man. I don't like using him in a non crucial situation when we have guys that haven't thrown at all yet.

 

With that said, I don't think it's that big of a deal because like others have mentioned, I think we have more reliable options than we're used to having. I also think people are coming down too hard on the original poster. I think he was just trying to point out he disagreed with a move even when it worked, it's easy to disagree with a move when it blows up in your face.

[Gopher74]

How quickly we forget last year.

 

It did dawn on me watching the game today that perhaps it was a bad idea to stick with Riske, but it was a 4 run game when he came in, just two days after we blew a 3 run lead with 0 outs. This is the Cubs. I didn't have any problem with him going with Riske for multiple innings.

 

I also don't think Riske's as fragile as some on here seem to think. He's gone in the 70's most of his career, throwing 69 last year likely as much because the Royals weren't winning as anything...not to mention, their pen was probably the strongest part of that team.

 

But man, it's never too early, or going to good to hate on Yostie, is it?

[Kurt]

come on, relax everyone. we are 2-0.