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Buck has Mastered Bullpen Usage


CaptainRedbeard

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Anybody who follows the Orioles closely knows that Buck has has very specific ideas about how to use his relievers to keep them healthy. I'd say it can be condensed to a few short rules:

1. Don't warm guys up multiple times per game.

2. If somebody warms up, they're going to come into the game (if not, the warmup considered part of their workload for future availability).

3. Avoid using relievers on back-to-back games to the extent possible.

4. Try to extend relievers for more than one inning rather than using a new reliever.

The result of these rules is to get relievers the most rest possible. I'd say that Buck has been incredibly successful in this regard - it seems like we hardly ever have reliever injuries, especially compared to the whole of major league baseball, where relievers are constantly dropping like flies. I wish I knew an easy way to get data on this, but I'm pretty confident it would be the case.

I also don't know how to get stats for #1 and #2, although I know Buck tracks them, but stats on #3 and #4 are available, and it's pretty incredible how proficient Buck is in these areas.

Number of Relief Appearances on Zero Days Rest (MLB Rank):

2015: 27 (1st lowest)

2014: 92 (9th)

2013: 84 (T-9th)

2012: 88 (5th)

Number of Relief Appearances for More than 3 Outs (MLB Rank):

2015: 62 (1st highest)

2014: 125 (2nd)

2013: 119 (7th)

2012: 128 (T-3rd)

Pretty impressive. This is the one quantifiable area I think you can say Buck is ahead of his contemporaries. He conforms to the "closer rule" and makes some questionable strategic deployment of relievers at times, like any manager these days, but in terms of overall bullpen usage he's definitely got a plan and sticks to it.

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I think he learned from his over-use of Johnson 2 years ago. The bullpen was the best part of the team last year and this year, imo. Unfortunately, they ran into the one team with a better pen in the playoffs.

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I'd say that Buck has been incredibly successful in this regard - it seems like we hardly ever have reliever injuries, especially compared to the whole of major league baseball, where relievers are constantly dropping like flies. I wish I knew an easy way to get data on this, but I'm pretty confident it would be the case.

Never fear, Frobby is here.

Since 2011, Buck's first full season as manager, here are the total days spent on the DL by the relievers on each of the AL East teams. This excludes anyone who missed the entire season with an injury:

BAL: 47 + 161 + 41 + 18 = 267

BOS: 357 + 401 + 518 + 8 = 1,284

NYY: 328 + 421 + 29 + 60 = 838

TBR: 82 + 77 + 89 + 29 = 277

TOR: 58 + 273 + 356 + 82 = 769

So yes, it is the case that we've had very few bullpen injuries. The only year we were in triple digits, 2012, the reason was that Stu Pomeranz spent 106 days on the DL after pitching 3 games for us. I'm pretty sure his injury wasn't caused by Buck's usage of him!

The data here was gathered by me for the "Injuries Happen" thread, and it was not easily gathered. http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/106070-Injuries-happen?highlight=injuries

I can't say whether our good record with reliever injuries can be traced to Buck's methods or pure luck, but the disparities with the Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays are rather striking.

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