MLB: Putting the bull in bullpen
Baseball needs to go to a 28-man roster, with 25 active each game, because of the way MLB teams are handling relievers: one inning and done, two days in a row and out, specialists treated with kid gloves.
It hasn’t always been that way. Since 2006, not one relief pitcher has logged more than 100 innings in a season. The last one was the Twins’ Scott Proctor, with 83 games and 102 1⁄3 innings in ’06.
With athletes — in all sports — becoming bigger, faster and stronger with better workout regimens and dietary habits, one would think the number of durable relievers would have increased over time, but such is not the case.
That had led to 12- and 13-man pitching staffs and position players called on more often to finish games. Sad.
The poster boy for durable relievers of his era has to be right-hander Mike Marshall. In a five-year stretch from 1971 to 1975 with the Expos and Dodgers, the Michigan native logged at least 109 innings each season, a total of 732 2⁄3. In 1974 with the Dodgers, Marshall threw 106 games in relief, accumulating 208 1⁄3 innings out of the ’pen with a 15-12 record, 21 saves and a 2.42 ERA. He won the NL Cy Young Award and threw seven more games in the post-season.
Iron Mike’s durability highlights that year included logging a total of 14 2⁄3 innings while pitching eight days in a row from May 17 to 24. He also worked six days in a row two times, and five in a row thrice.
They don’t make relievers like they used to.