Eric Wedge's Bullpen Management

post from The Tribe Time Report on 25 July 2008 11:15:00 AM. © The Tribe Time Report

This is a very bad week as far as what I have to do. My favorite show on Sirius, Bubba the Love Sponge is on vacation, so I have nothing better to do from 3-7... Not to mention there was no Indians game yesterday. Why would I go anywhere as well.. Plus it was raining for bit. So Whatever..

So I turned on All Bets Are Off to see what Bruce Drennan and the Wacky Cleveland faithful had to say.

One call interested me.. It was something I brought up earlier in the year when Craig Breslow got shipped off.

Eric Wedge has a real problem using his bullpen. Look.. He says one thing and does another for the most part.. He said he was going to try and rest Masa Kobayashi in the second half because this unknown territory to him.

Well just after he said that... I swear he used Koby in a game that we were already down four runs and this was after he was anointed the Closer.

Craig Breslow wasted away on this roster, not being used, and when he did he was so rusty he was bad.

Here is proof.

Craig Breslow this year has pitched 7 innings after 6+ Days of Rest.. His ERA is 6.43.

He's pitched 12 innings with less rest and has a ERA of... 0.. Minus the time he's pitched with 2 days of rest. He has 2.08 ERA in 4.1 Innings Pitched.

So obviously.. Breslow got rusty.. The Twins are using him as a lefty guy but still are keeping him fresh. Plus the fact that he's still on the Twins roster must tell you something. In 15.3 innings with the Twins this year he has a 1.76 ERA, compared to a 3.24 ERA(which still isn't bad) with the Tribe.

Letting go of Breslow was a bad move.. Mostly because Wedge screwed up the situation. He might be doing the same to Tom Mastny.

Mastny is okay.. He isn't awesome, but he deserves a chance more often. Mastny has only pitched one out of an inning on four days rest.. The Rest has come on 6+ days. 8 innings and he has a 7.88 ERA.. We don't really have any stats to back up how he does on short rest.

CAUSE HE DOESNT HAVE ANY!

Then Again.. His last two years.

2007

I Split         G  GS GF  W  L  S CG SHO   IP    ERA   H   R   ER HR  BB IBB  SO
+-+------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+-----+------+---+---+---+--+---+---+---
   0 Days,GR      8  0  3  1  1  0  0   0  11     4.09   9   5   5  2   3   2   7
   1 Day,GR      11  0  3  2  1  0  0   0  11     7.36  19   9   9  1  13   3  11
   2 Days,GR     12  0  4  2  0  0  0   0  12     2.25  11   3   3  1   7   3  12
   3 Days,GR      8  0  3  1  0  0  0   0   7.2   4.70   7   4   4  0   3   0   8
   4 Days,GR      2  0  0  0  0  0  0   0   2.2  10.12   3   3   3  0   1   0   2
   5 Days,GR      2  0  1  0  0  0  0   0   2.1  11.57   4   3   3  1   1   0   3
   6+ Days,GR     8  0  4  1  0  0  0   0  11     2.45  10   3   3  1   4   1   9

2006

I Split         G  GS GF  W  L  S CG SHO   IP    ERA   H   R   ER HR  BB IBB  SO
+-+------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+-----+------+---+---+---+--+---+---+---
   0 Days,GR      3  0  2  0  0  1  0   0   3.1   8.10   6   3   3  0   3   1   2
   1 Day,GR       2  0  2  0  0  2  0   0   2     0.00   0   0   0  0   0   0   0
   2 Days,GR      2  0  2  0  1  0  0   0   1    18.00   2   2   2  1   1   0   1
   3 Days,GR      3  0  2  0  0  1  0   0   5     1.80   3   1   1  0   3   0   6
   5 Days,GR      1  0  1  0  0  0  0   0   1     9.00   2   1   1  0   0   0   0
   6+ Days,GR     4  0  3  0  0  1  0   0   4     6.75   4   3   3  0   1   0   5

So for Tom Mastny.. Not So Much a big difference for the most part. He's fair.. Still he pitched good on his 2 days rest last year.. He only had one inning of the 2 day rest in 2006.. but he pitched the most in 1007 on two days rest and it was by far his best stat.

Jensen Lewis is a totally different story.. I'd almost be all for pitching him in Buffalo for the first half of the year or something. The guy needs to be amped up to pitch well. He's an emotional pitcher who feeds off adrenaline. That's why he was so succesful last year in the heat of a playoff race.

Jensen will be fine.. There's nothing we have to worry about with him. Just let him be and when the time is right, he'll be there. It's one of the reasons I think he deserves a shot to close.

What's the moral of the story?

Eric Wedge needs to more cautious about his bullpen arms.. Especially now since he isn't in a playoff race.. Give a guy like Mastny shorter time in between apperances. You are going to damage these pitchers by not giving them regular in-game work. Pitching in the bullpen and keeping sharp that way is one thing. Keeping sharp by being in a game is another.