I like the way Hyde uses Bautista

[Frobby]

Close out a four-run game?  Get four, five or six outs?   If the situation calls for it, do it!

I watch the Mountain, he’s not one of these guys who loses focus if it’s not technically a save situation.  He’s all business and just comes in and does what he’s asked to do.  

So many managers are mechanistic in the way they use their closer.  Never bring them in for a critical situation in the eighth.  Wouldn’t dream of using a guy with a four run lead no matter the situation, but reflexively put him in with a three run lead no matter what.  Hyde is proving more flexible.  And maybe some closers would have trouble with it, but not the Mountain.   
 

[Remember The Alomar]

I wasn't alive for this era—and perhaps this is off base—but it seems reminiscent of how the old school "fireman" was used, at least to a degree. I guess those guys would be brought in in the 6th inning of a close game, but I agree—it's nice to see a lack of rigidity with how an elite closer is utilized.   

[sportsfan8703]

I like how a dominant outing by a closer like Bautista can demoralize a team for the next game too. We’re trying to win a series here, I’m glad we got in their heads tonight. 
 

Now they know… they better make it happen 1-7 because Perez and Bautista are nasty. 

[Alasdaire]

I wonder if part of the motivation for sending Felix out is just to get him some work. It’s easy to forget that he’s a rookie.

As the stakes get higher down the stretch, you want your closer to be accustomed to the moment as much as possible.

[btdart20]

Agreed.  Don’t mess around when you’ve got the lead.

[interloper]

Buck 100% would not have put Britton in in that spot last night.

[Aristotelian]

I haven't noticed anything unusual about his usage except arguably extending him for an extra out or two in the 8th. So far he does not appear to be suffering from overuse, if anything he's gotten better as the year has progressed.

I'd get excited if they got rid of the "closer" role and used him for some super high leverage situations in the 7th/8th with other guys picking up saves, perhaps with Perez getting some 9th innings vs lefty dominant teams etc.

[DrungoHazewood]

9 hours ago, Frobby said:

Close out a four-run game?  Get four, five or six outs?   If the situation calls for it, do it!

I watch the Mountain, he’s not one of these guys who loses focus if it’s not technically a save situation.  He’s all business and just comes in and does what he’s asked to do.  

So many managers are mechanistic in the way they use their closer.  Never bring them in for a critical situation in the eighth.  Wouldn’t dream of using a guy with a four run lead no matter the situation, but reflexively put him in with a three run lead no matter what.  Hyde is proving more flexible.  And maybe some closers would have trouble with it, but not the Mountain.   

There's nothing magic about any particular way to use a reliever.  But we got into the situation where almost all teams have a designated closer, only in the ninth and only with a three run lead or less because managers needed a straightforward way to manage workloads.  I'm sure you remember the 1970s (I'm too young), when Mike Marshall would throw 287 games, 664 innings in relief, or Bruce Sutter would break down on the 2nd half, or Jim Kern would throw 143 innings to a 1.57 one year and go 3-11 in 63 innings with a 4.83 the next.  Cubs Manager Herman Franks' way of controlling workload was just to pitch Sutter in save situations. It worked, everyone adopted it in short order.  LaRussa and other expanded to just the ninth.

So creativity good. Just make sure nobody's arm falls off.

[Aristotelian]

21 minutes ago, interloper said:

Buck 100% would not have put Britton in in that spot last night.

That is an overstatement. Buck pitched Britton in many non-save situations when he'd had a few games off and needed the work. 

[Frobby]

8 hours ago, Alasdaire said:

I wonder if part of the motivation for sending Felix out is just to get him some work. It’s easy to forget that he’s a rookie.

As the stakes get higher down the stretch, you want your closer to be accustomed to the moment as much as possible.

To be clear, I doubt Hyde would have used Bautista yesterday if he’d pitched the day before, or even the day before that.   Bautista hadn’t pitched since Saturday and so it made sense to keep him from getting rusty even though it wasn’t a “save situation” technically   But that’s part of the flexible approach  

 

 

 

[sportsfan8703]

I think Perez and Bautista both got brought into the games last night because they had already been warming and were “hot”. Might as well bring them in at that point. At that point the bullpen warm up time was essentially going to take away from them having the game off. 

[Alasdaire]

24 minutes ago, Frobby said:

To be clear, I doubt Hyde would have used Bautista yesterday if he’d pitched the day before, or even the day before that.   Bautista hadn’t pitched since Saturday and so it made sense to keep him from getting rusty even though it wasn’t a “save situation” technically   But that’s part of the flexible approach  

 

 

 

I agree that Hyde wouldn't have used Bautista last night if he hadn't been rested. Even still, many managers would not have used him as you mentioned.

I'm just wondering whether the rationale for getting him out there isn't as much to stave off atrophy/shake off rust so much as it is to get a rookie used to the feeling of being a major league closer as much as possible before he's pitching in a must-win game etc.

[mikezpen]

He doesn't. overwork him either. I recall how closers BJ Ryan and Greg Olsen were pushed out there too often. Hyde won't do that.

[DrungoHazewood]

16 minutes ago, mikezpen said:

He doesn't. overwork him either. I recall how closers BJ Ryan and Greg Olsen were pushed out there too often. Hyde won't do that.

Bautista is on pace for 68 games and 68 innings.  253 batters faced. Age 27.

From 23 to 27 Ryan never threw more than 57 innings, although he was used in a lot of LOOGY situations and pitched as many as 76 games. Then in '04 at 28 he threw 76 games/87 innings, which was a lot. .  The next year he was a more traditional closer at 69 games/ 70 innings.  One year of pretty heavy use.

Gregg Olson was pretty heavily used by Frank as a rookie. 64 games, 85 innings, 356 batters.  But never more than 74 innings again.

[waroriole]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

Buck 100% would not have put Britton in in that spot last night.

I thought Buck didn’t believe in the save rule /s