2019 MLB Season Thread [ARCHIVED] Baseball • Page 73

There's long been a discussion about bullpen usage and the utilization of relief pitchers. In modern bullpen usage, a team's best reliever has generally been the closer, almost always coming in for the 9th and generally only the 9th. While it's important to have a reliable closer who can close out games, there are often instances where the fate of the game is decided in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings and left in the hands of less reliable relievers. When Cleveland acquired Miller, they already had a formidable closer in Cody Allen, so they decided to use Miller in more of a fireman role, to be called upon during difficult positions in order to put out "fires" and keep the game close.

A good closer is great, but what's the use if you never use him? Think back to Baltimore never using Zach Britton in the one game playoff last year. Ostensibly, Baltimore was waiting for a save situation, but the better move would've been riding out Britton instead of turning to worse relievers.

There seems to be an uptick in teams using certain relievers in unorthodox ways this year. Chris Devenski has gotten a lot of comparisons to Miller this year, coming in for multiple innings and working out of difficult situations, leading the way to the 9th inning.

Mike Montgomery, for the Cubs, has also had quite a few multiple inning appearances this year, even going so far as to earn the rare 3+ inning save in a 4 inning outing against the Giants.

Some bullpen reading
The bullpen revolution has not been televised
How Indians reliever Andrew Miller will end the tyranny of the save

 

Uggggghh

Not ugh

 

Time to fire Matheny

 

MLB to investigate domestic violence allegation against Cubs' Russell



Hoping the Cubs will do the right thing here and suspend him till this is resolved.

 

Hey John Lackey... Go F**K Yourself - The Ivy Drip | Cubs Baseball, In Our Own Way

LOL

 

I agree. I don't want to see him on the field until it's resolved. And if he is guilty of some sort of intimate partner violence, I hope he gets worthy suspension from MLB.

I have his rookie jersey from when he wore #22 and he's been my favorite of the core, but fuck fandom if he's a domestic abuser.

 

the Mariners do this really cool thing where they get hot and win like 9 out of 10 to get back to/near .500 then they plummet back into the abyss. it's great.

 

It's pretty impressive that the worst team in the AL is only 6 GB of a wild card spot

 

He always seemed like a huge d bag though??

 

He looked 30

 

Precisely haha, that's what this article is arguing. Like what's his place to shit talk? He has four rings! Including last year!

 

I mean he was on the Red Sox so that automatically makes me not like him as a Yankee fan. I need to read the article but the headline made me laugh. He just has one of those faces too haha.

 

"So last night, as he’s done most of the season, John Lackey took his team’s chances of winning a game, slathered it in lighter fluid and his own waste (otherwise known as his breakfast), lit it on fire and waited to see if his offense could arrive in time with the fire extinguisher." Ahahahahahaha

 

Yeah the article is saying how ridiculous it is for Lackey to argue that the Cubs aren't scoring runs when he's been giving up a boatload of runs all season, particularly in the 1st inning. Seems like a detestable individual all around, and he was on the Cardinals so I wasn't keen on him already lol.

 

This guy also runs a Blackhawks blog as well with similar awesome descriptions.

 

Sounds awfully familiar

 

Yea I just power read it. If Tanaka said something like that it'd be over. And I'm definitely jelly of such an awesome fan site!

 

Mariners flrever

 

Marineraveragers

 

I'm geeking out right now because of the 4 split screen option on MLB.TV.

I can watch Astros, Mariners and Dodgers all at the same time.

I even have the Giants radio broadcast on just because I had an extra screen.

 

Brenly is a piece of shit but the entire Arizona franchise is classless

Btw villar had to be carted off

 

I like this whole only have two pitchers all game thing

it's nice let's keep doing it

 

BIG

ERV

 

I don't get the twins passing on Greene for McKay, you should always take the higher upside vs the safer pick. Dumb. The funniest part is Greene has been trying so hard to make the reds pass on him and putting out that he won't work out for them and doesn't want to play for them, yet they will take him lol I hate that team so much.