Using a 7 man bullpen

[VanCitySportsGuy]

I've always been puzzled as to why teams with a strong starting pitching staff use a 7 man bullpen. The 7th pitcher barely gets any innings to work.

If I was running a club, I would rather have a extra bench player that would give me more options late in games. Or you could use the extra position player for a platoon situation.

I'm surprised a team like the A's doesn't use a 6 man pen.

[Kohlstar20]

Re: Using a 7 man bullpen

A 7 man bullpen isn't that uncommon in MLB because a majority of teams utilize a 12 man pitching staff regardless of how good their starting rotation is. I think teams do this partly because they never know when a starter might get injured or roughed up in the early innings and have to go to the bullpen earlier than expected.

[BGarrett7]

Re: Using a 7 man bullpen

Well, how often do you see a team having all seven of those pitchers available at the same time? Sure, after the occasional day off when everyone can get rested up or the day after a complete game, but for the most part, there are probably four tops who can go at any given time. Once you factor in fatigue of being used a couple days in a row for some guys, a couple minor injuries that aren't completely healed, and you don't really see a team have seven guys who can come in from the 'pen for a single game. So, sure, they carry seven relievers on the 25-man roster, doesn't mean they are all capable of coming in after a few warmup tosses.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Using a 7 man bullpen

Well, how often do you see a team having all seven of those pitchers available at the same time? Sure, after the occasional day off when everyone can get rested up or the day after a complete game, but for the most part, there are probably four tops who can go at any given time. Once you factor in fatigue of being used a couple days in a row for some guys, a couple minor injuries that aren't completely healed, and you don't really see a team have seven guys who can come in from the 'pen for a single game. So, sure, they carry seven relievers on the 25-man roster, doesn't mean they are all capable of coming in after a few warmup tosses.

I'm only talking about using a 6 man pen if you have a strong starting pitching staff. I team like the D-Rays would need 7 relievers but a team like the White Sox probably wouldn't.

Heck even after Doc and Lilly went down, the Jays rarely ever used their 7th man (Brandon League) last season. He would frequently go 4 days or more without even making an apperance.

[rsox]

Re: Using a 7 man bullpen

On the flip side it's just as hard to find AB's for an extra bench player as it is to find innings for a 7th reliever. That being said, the extra bench player makes more sense for NL teams than AL teams. In the NL you have more of a need for pinch hitters and of course you have double switches, most AL teams only seem to utilize their benches when giving a regular player a day off. Rarley do you see a AL team pinch hit, and when you do it is usually the regular player PH for the backup player.

It's an interesting question though, i think most teams like to carry 7 relievers more at the start of the season when a lot of starters are on pitch counts and most starters don't go more than 5 or 6 innings. And while you may not have all 7 relievers available at the same time, if you have back-to-back games where the starter gets shelled and you have to go to the pen early it's always nice to have an extra arm to eat some innings.

[CMH]

Re: Using a 7 man bullpen

I'm all for 7-man bullpens, so long as you only have a 4-man rotation.

But, nobody outside of Colorado in the last year wants to do that.