The Tampa Bay Rays have been lauded for years about how they get the most out of pitchers despite an unusual approach to managing the staff.
But for ex-Rays hurler Rich Hill, there’s some big flaws in that approach.
The Rays routinely have a ton of quality options in the bullpen. So much so that their emphasis on starting pitchers has decreased heavily, to the point that they felt comfortable trading a high-end starter like Blake Snell.
Unusual as the “bullpen game” approach might be, there have been plenty of times that it has worked for Tampa. But Hill -- who spent the first half of last season in Tampa before getting traded to the Mets -- explained on the “Bradfo Sho” how there are big areas that need to be understood before really going all-in on the Rays Way.
“The marquee of the starting pitcher, I believe that still must exist in baseball,” Hill said. “Because, in turn, on the other side you’re asking the bullpen to carry such a load during the season that right now, in my opinion, you’re not able to access that for the entire season.
“If we talk about a guy who was (in Boston), Andrew Miller, and you look at how that role was kind of changed when he went to Cleveland or in New York or even here, that was done in the postseason. It wasn’t done for the entire season, where you’d see him come in for two innings or three innings out of the bullpen, the majority of that, I’d say 99 percent of that was in the postseason.
“You can’t throw and throw, guys are going to break down. Quite frankly, that’s what we’ve seen in Tampa, as well. They’ll have guys and they do put them in positions to succeed, but I don’t think anybody’s figured out the health aspect. That’s a huge part of it.”
A quick look at the Rays’ injury report will substantiate Hill’s point. Pete Fairbanks tore his lat muscle in spring training. Nick Anderson is still recovering from right elbow surgery. Shane Baz also had to get surgery because he felt a “little crank” in his arm during a bullpen session this spring.
You can’t necessarily argue with the on-field results during the regular season. But the meltdowns in the playoffs and consistent health issues for relievers suggest that Hill might be onto something.
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