2014 Early Bullpen Usage: Overworked?

[Fear The Chorizo]

Starters often have 4-5 days of time between logging 100 pitches to recover and rebuild their arm strength with side sessions/throwing at 60-70%. Relievers throwing 3 and 4 consecutive days don't have the time to allow the arm to recover, and often have to warm up in a hurry and enter a game throwing max effort. A reliever's schedule is much less routine as a starters, and that unpredictability also is harder on their arms.

 

Recovery time is the difference. Relievers don't have the opportunity to do the same things as starters and remain available for the next game. Many times the day after a start a pitcher does a ton of cardio to work up a sweat and cycle fresh blood through the body, particularly through their arm. A reliever can't really do that after each appearance and expect to be available in the pen for the next game at 100%.

[Thurston Fluff]

You'll play in a lot of close games when you're always playing for 1 run.

 

Bunting guys over is playing for one run. I don't really see that too much unless it's late or against a great pitcher where runs by going station to station waiting for the three run homer isn't likely to happen.

Stealing bases and taking an extra base isn't necessarily playing for one run. It is putting pressure on the other team to make perfect throws and watch the running game more closely. It is also playing to the mentality of the team. Macha tried to make aggressive players play to the numbers and it backfired.

[Raw Biz]

Just curious if there's been any studies on Tommy John surgery/injuries to starters vs. relievers. Off the top of my head, it seems that most guys that have TJ have been starters. I know there are current relievers who have had the surgery (Capuano immediately comes to mind), but the majority seem to get injured while a starter (like Cappy).

[stoutdude04]

Im pretty sure Caps first TJ surgery was when he was a starter.

[Raw Biz]

Im pretty sure Caps first TJ surgery was when he was a starter.

 

That's what I meant, Capuano is a current reliever but was a starter when he had the surgery.

[umphrey]

It's pointless to have a well rested bullpen and be 10 games out in July so we should use them. I would like to see Weeks cut for an extra reliever though.

[adambr2]

I just don't know how we are going to manage to hide Wang on the roster the entire season. He's a bit of a different kind of mop-up as he seems to be trusted only with large deficits (where it doesn't matter anyway), not with large leads.

 

The catch-22 is that the better we are, the less that will happen and the less we will be able to use Wang. I'd be okay with an 8 man bullpen, but our current bench lacks versatility and has too many one-position players with Weeks and Overbay. That would need to be addressed first.

 

Obviously you're not going to have him play out in the field, but they could always use Gallardo to pinch-hit. I've never understood why they almost never do, there have been some years where I felt he was a better option to hit than who we had left on the bench.

[AZBrewCrew]

The one issue I could see of using a starter to pinch hit is the injury risk. Gallardo goes out there to bunt and tears an ACL running to first, then we are in a world of hurt. Just playing devils advocate, not saying I dont disagree with using a starter as a PH