Cleveland Indians Andrew Miller Has Something To Say About Bullpen Use
Apparently, Cleveland Indians reliever Andrew Miller did not take a liking to the way Joe Girardi used him, as well as the entire bullpen, when he was with the New York Yankees. Given the way the game is played today, bullpen usage is the number one responsibility of a manager. And quite often, the results can make or break a team.
It goes without saying that Andrew Miller, who is arguably the best closer in the game for the Cleveland Indians, has earned the right to say anything he wants to about how managers use their bullpen. So, it was not surprising to see a blurb in New York Post in which he specifically called out his former manager Joe Girardi for how he used his bullpen when he was pitching for the Yankees.
According to the Post, Miller had this to say about Girardi:
“I know when Chapman came back to us for the Yankees this year, Dellin and I were kind of up in the air about what order we would pitch,’’ Miller said. “And in some instances it created a mess because we were both warming up next to each other.
“I think all managers, Joe, Tito [Terry Francona], I’ve been lucky to have some that really handle the bullpen well. But you hate to have two guys warming up at the same time. It seems wasteful in a sense.’’
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Now to be fair, it’s possible that you can conclude that Andrew Miller wasn’t exactly infatuated with the entire way the Yankees do everything. Because one of the first things he did when he joined the Indians was to grow a beard, which the Yankees specifically prohibit their players from doing. And today, Miller looks nothing like the baby faced kid of a few months ago.(below)
Nevertheless though, Andrew Miller has hit on something that’s telling about how the game of baseball is played today., And it has to do with the ever evolving role of a team’s bullpen and how it is managed in determining the success or failure of a team as a whole.
Just last night for instance, Cleveland manager Terry Francona’s handling of his bullpen, which ESPN referred to as a “masterpiece”, allowed the Indians to squeak out a 1-0 victory over the Cubs to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series.
And it’s a relevant point that Andrew Miller had nothing to say when Francona took him out of his comfort zone by calling on him to pitch in the fifth inning when Indians starter Josh Tomlin faltered. Moreover, the Cleveland bullpen threw more pitches (64) than Tomlin did, with Bryan Shaw picking up nearly half of those (31). Bullpens rule!
What seems even more revealing though is the fact that the Indians won the game. Because if they didn’t, Francona’s “masterpiece” of using his bullpen backwards as he did last night with Andrew Miller coming in the game early and the Indians lost, the headlines might easily be very different this morning.
Andrew Miller’s Criticism Was “Off”
And that brings us to the central point, which is that maybe Andrew Miller was a bit off in his criticism of bullpen usage in making the “chaos” he described of Joe Girardi’s bullpen that specific. Because any plan that a manager has for using his bullpen on a given night almost always goes out the window once a game begins.
Chaos reigns when the game becomes chaotic (as it did last night). But if Corey Kluber goes seven tonight and the Indians have a 2-0 lead, it’s a lock that Bryan Shaw and Andrew Miller will pitch the eighth and ninth innings.
Of course the trouble is getting seven innings out of any starter these days. And with the exception of Kluber and Jon Lester, it’s unlikely that we’ll see any of the other starters go that long for the remainder of the Series.
So buckle up Andrew Miller. You think you’ve seen chaos before? You ain’t seen nothing yet.