you roll your eyes now but in years to come it will be a thing, like pop resting his players then someone like tyronn lue is going to want to take credit for this strategy of saving the bullpen for the future. Drop sipp and trade for someone that is more of use than for 1 batter.
It's been a thing for a while now . It started with starters and pitch counts . But already it's been extrapolated to pens . A lot of the talk in the last World Series was about the use of Chapman and Miller
The Astros are playing a long game at this point. Given their lead, they aren't going to do everything possible to win every game if its at the expense of the long-term. And rightfully so - as someone mentioned earlier, this is like the Cavs, Spurs, and Warriors using strategic rest throughout the season and sacrificing games. They didn't have Santana on the ropes - he gave up 2 runs in one inning and was doing fine otherwise (the rain inning hadn't happened yet). Devo has given up 6 baserunnners in his last two innings. For the month as a whole, he's walking more, giving up more runs, giving up more hits, striking out less, etc. He's been used a ton and it might be showing. The other guys have been better, but you risk turning them into Devo's with the state of our SP rotation. We're really, really good and we're never out of a game (as we're seeing now). So every game is going to have high-stress bullpen innings. You don't have a lot of garbage time with this team. This guy was brought in to cover some innings, so that's what he's being used for. It's life - if it works, great. If it doesn't, I doubt the Astros are any more concerned than if the Cavs lost an extra game resting Lebron.
What a great play by Polanco. I love this team. eta: Twins played a loooong game last night, you're getting a firsthand look at a worn-down bullpen. double eta: depending how long it lasts, the stoppage makes things extra innurestin', especially if the Twins have to burn another reliever.
