Counsell Bullpen Management

[crossface21]

First off, managing a bullpen may be the toughest job an MLB manager has. We are all aware of the injuries before the season and the falloff of some guys that have crushed this team. With that said:

 

I think the last 2 days have showed how CC is going to use this pitching staff the rest of the month as long as they are in contention. Based off of what they did last year, I think the way he uses the bullpen when he has the arms with the Sept. call ups gives the Brewers a chance to win more games(and more than other teams) than if he was still playing with a 25 man roster. I think this is an area that CC excels above a lot of other MLB managers.

 

Next year will be interesting with the Brewers since it'll be 28 man rosters in Sept. They use they 40 man to their advantage way more than other teams.

[NYChez]

Counsell has improved this year in identifying who the arms are he wants to protect and not overwork them. This has been a downfall of Joe Maddon this year. For instance, Maddon has thrown his key guys 4 times in 5 games much more frequently than Counsell has, and soon after those occurrences have been IL stints.

 

With the disastrous performance or injury situations at starting pitcher, Shaw, Aguilar, and Arica and Cain (at the plate), Counsell’s bullpen management has kept the team in the fringes of the race instead of being several games below .500.

[KeithStone53151]

Counsell has improved this year in identifying who the arms are he wants to protect and not overwork them. This has been a downfall of Joe Maddon this year. For instance, Maddon has thrown his key guys 4 times in 5 games much more frequently than Counsell has, and soon after those occurrences have been IL stints.

 

With the disastrous performance or injury situations at starting pitcher, Shaw, Aguilar, and Arica and Cain (at the plate), Counsell’s bullpen management has kept the team in the fringes of the race instead of being several games below .500.

 

Lol regarding joe maddon. He does the same thing every year. It's amazing how often he gets to the 9th inning with 1 reliever left in his bullpen. CC tends to be the opposite, he tries being efficient and using guys for multiple innings when he can, while allowing plenty of rest when possible. Both approaches have their issues, CC is more inclined to leave a pitcher in 1-2 batters too long...but i still prefer his approach to joe maddon style bullpen management.

[wildcat83]

It worked well last year because we had a lot of guys throwing extremely well. It will be curious to see how it works this year if he uses the same approach. Our bullpen has so many guys that are ticking time bombs at any given moment. It seems like if your plan is to throw 6 guys per night out of the pen, you’re bound to find someone who gets knocked around. To their credit they have thrown well lately, but not sure that group holds up for the month of September under heavy use.

[wntrtxn21]

It worked well last year because we had a lot of guys throwing extremely well. It will be curious to see how it works this year if he uses the same approach. Our bullpen has so many guys that are ticking time bombs at any given moment. It seems like if your plan is to throw 6 guys per night out of the pen, you’re bound to find someone who gets knocked around. To their credit they have thrown well lately, but not sure that group holds up for the month of September under heavy use.

 

Hadar, Claudio, and Guerra seemed to have found their magic again. Hadar has control of the slider, Guerra the splitter, and Claudio his location. Albers and Pomeranz have been ok too. I think it comes down to Black, Peralta or Nelson, and Faria. Can they give CC some meaningful innings and keep the Crew in games. Time will tell.

[pacopete4]

If CC only uses Hader/Guerra/Claudio and expects to go on a big run it just won’t happen. He is going to have to trust others to get the job done. Yesterday was a big step towards that with giving Pomeranz the 8th with the heart of the order up.

[Bulldogboy]

Counsell clearly prefers this type of baseball for whatever reason. Of course if guys don't get people out it doesn't really matter. Hopefully he can make it work to the tune of about 20 wins. Houston is a tough ask.

[Ennder]

Counsell rarely does anything with the bullpen that just makes no sense at all. Given how little information we have about players from a day to day perspective that is all I really can ask for.

 

Yost is the one that always bothered me. There would be 6 guys in the pen and I would have been fine with 5 of the 6 pitching and he would very often go with the 6th guy who was just a sure fire bad choice.

[Thurston Fluff]

It worked well last year because we had a lot of guys throwing extremely well. It will be curious to see how it works this year if he uses the same approach. Our bullpen has so many guys that are ticking time bombs at any given moment. It seems like if your plan is to throw 6 guys per night out of the pen, you’re bound to find someone who gets knocked around. To their credit they have thrown well lately, but not sure that group holds up for the month of September under heavy use.

 

Albers had one of his bad days yesterday and Counsell pulled him before it hurt us. I think we'll see him do the same for Peralta when he has one of his bad control days. Both of them can be dominating at times but when they aren't on they are awful. If Counsell uses them properly they can be major assets in September. He just has to know to pull the plug early on those bad days.

[Brew crew 92]

It worked well last year because we had a lot of guys throwing extremely well. It will be curious to see how it works this year if he uses the same approach. Our bullpen has so many guys that are ticking time bombs at any given moment. It seems like if your plan is to throw 6 guys per night out of the pen, you’re bound to find someone who gets knocked around. To their credit they have thrown well lately, but not sure that group holds up for the month of September under heavy use.

 

Hadar, Claudio, and Guerra seemed to have found their magic again. Hadar has control of the slider, Guerra the splitter, and Claudio his location. Albers and Pomeranz have been ok too. I think it comes down to Black, Peralta or Nelson, and Faria. Can they give CC some meaningful innings and keep the Crew in games. Time will tell.

 

I’d break it down like this:

 

CC go to with a lead of less than 3-

Guerra Claudio Pomeranz Hader

 

Lead of less than 5-

Guerra Claudio Pomeranz Jackson Hader

 

Prove it-

Nelson Peralta Suter Albers Black

 

Mop up- Faria

[jerichoholicninja]

He has 1,000 options for the next few weeks. Every RP will be on extremely short lease.

[Pugger]

The national announcers from ESPN today were singing CC's praises as far as his bullpen this afternoon.

[Brew crew 92]

Last nights loss falls directly on the shoulders of Counsell.

 

Tie game, 4th inning, injured, shorthanded offense, who does he bring in: Jackson.

 

R L R L R L is the Cubbies lineup with Rizzo one of the Lefties up that inning. Lefties hit him hard, so why him?

 

Tie game 5th inning, who enters the game: Albers.

 

He’s been way off with his command, Albers should be the 9th pen option. Why put him in? Guerra Black Peralta even Nelson, but not the commandless Albers.

 

As good as Counsell has been lately, this game cancels them out. If mistakes are made, it needs to be vs another team not the Cubbies.

[MrTPlush]

How can anyone seriously blame Counsell for bullpen management? The pen is complete garbage....just terrible. We really going to blame him for pulling Anderson when Anderson greatly struggles a third time through the order? Another inning of Anderson likely just as bad...at least the bullpen guy is a change of pace. I would have kept Anderson in and prayed, but then again it doesn't matter what he does...he has to pray a subpar pitcher can get outs. Counsell was handed a garbage can to use as a bullpen, shockingly most that comes out of it stinks. Shocker.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

No kidding! Blaming Counsell for last night's pen management is failing to see the forest through the trees. Jackson has been good lately, and Albers, while not great, has been the one semi-stable pitcher in the pen. I'm so sick of these hindsight is 20/20 arguments when something doesn't work. Like I said last night, trying to choose which member of the pen to use is like trying to determine what is the least flammable gas to throw on a fire. Heck, our most consistent reliever, Pomeranz, came in last night in a tough spot and proceeded to give up a homer that hasn't landed yet. Whatever Counsell does, he's damned.

[Brew crew 92]

How can anyone seriously blame Counsell for bullpen management? The pen is complete garbage....just terrible. We really going to blame him for pulling Anderson when Anderson greatly struggles a third time through the order? Another inning of Anderson likely just as bad...at least the bullpen guy is a change of pace. I would have kept Anderson in and prayed, but then again it doesn't matter what he does...he has to pray a subpar pitcher can get outs. Counsell was handed a garbage can to use as a bullpen, shockingly most that comes out of it stinks. Shocker.

 

The pen is not garbage. It has 7+ good options of the 13 that are presently in it. Unfortunately, the wrong 2 were used.

[pacopete4]

Yeah, Counsell's bullpen management has really held this team out of contending for a playoff spot this season.

[tmwiese55]

Exactly, he has very few reliable options combined with starters who can't go deep. Nothing you can really blame the manager for here, all he can do is try to pick the least bad option. You put a better guy like say Guerra out there in the 5th and does ok and on, well then you need a guy like Jackson to pitch later in the game and if he gets lit up then its "why the heck is CC using Jackson in late/close situations". He can't win and it's a crap shoot with most guys at this point.

[Bombers]

Look no further than the stats

2019 - Best ERA's (Top 5 bullpen appearances)

Hader 2.70

Guerra 3.63

Claudio 3.79

Jeffress 5.02

Albers 5.17

 

2018

Jeffress 1.29

Hader 2.43

Burnes 2.61

Knebel 3.58

Jennings 3.22

[LouisEly]

Last night the Cubs got at least a half a dozen weak grounders and bloopers that were hit in the only place they could have to get a hit that resulted in most of their runs. Jackson got Rizzo to do exactly what he needed him to do - hit a ground ball. It was perfectly placed right down the first base line, and maybe a better defensive 1B might have been able to get it. He also got Castellanos to hit a ground ball earlier in the inning, but it too found a hole. Either of those grounders get hit in a slightly different place and no runs score.

 

Prior to the grand slam the Cubs got two weak infield singles, one a dribbler in front of home plate perfectly placed between Grandal and Pomeranz with two out. If either of those turns into an out, at worst only one run scores.

 

That's six runs that scored simply by luck, not by bullpen management. You're not going to strike everyone out; it's unrealistic to expect anywhere close to that. Soft contact and weak ground balls are good outcomes that usually results in outs, and the bullpen got that. The walks hurt, but the runs scored by luck.

[tmwiese55]

Well, luck combined with guy hitting massive bombs. Tough to call it all luck. Sure the dribbler before the slam happened, but the slam wasn't luck. And it's not like Rizzo didn't hit that ball hard down the line.

[Brew crew 92]

No kidding! Blaming Counsell for last night's pen management is failing to see the forest through the trees. Jackson has been good lately, and Albers, while not great, has been the one semi-stable pitcher in the pen. I'm so sick of these hindsight is 20/20 arguments when something doesn't work. Like I said last night, trying to choose which member of the pen to use is like trying to determine what is the least flammable gas to throw on a fire. Heck, our most consistent reliever, Pomeranz, came in last night in a tough spot and proceeded to give up a homer that hasn't landed yet. Whatever Counsell does, he's damned.

 

You tried this last night, when I said I didn’t like the Albers coming into the game, before he was lit up, so you can forget the 20/20 with me. Anyone that’s watched Albers lately knows his command is way off. There are no tree’s let alone forest. Just an error made by our skipper. And Pomeranz is just fine, and so are 6 other relievers. Albers was not one of them. And neither is Jackson vs the Cubbies.

[Brew crew 92]

Last night the Cubs got at least a half a dozen weak grounders and bloopers that were hit in the only place they could have to get a hit that resulted in most of their runs. Jackson got Rizzo to do exactly what he needed him to do - hit a ground ball. It was perfectly placed right down the first base line, and maybe a better defensive 1B might have been able to get it. He also got Castellanos to hit a ground ball earlier in the inning, but it too found a hole. Either of those grounders get hit in a slightly different place and no runs score.

 

Prior to the grand slam the Cubs got two weak infield singles, one a dribbler in front of home plate perfectly placed between Grandal and Pomeranz with two out. If either of those turns into an out, at worst only one run scores.

 

That's six runs that scored simply by luck, not by bullpen management. You're not going to strike everyone out; it's unrealistic to expect anywhere close to that. Soft contact and weak ground balls are good outcomes that usually results in outs, and the bullpen got that. The walks hurt, but the runs scored by luck.

 

Agree with your take in regards to bad luck and weak contact.

 

But Albers was behind in the count with virtually every batter, and has been his last few outings. Bad decision to use him in a tie game.

[Brew crew 92]

Yeah, Counsell's bullpen management has really held this team out of contending for a playoff spot this season.

 

Not what I’m saying, and you have to know this, but instead of challenging my very specific take, you tangent.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Yeah, Counsell's bullpen management has really held this team out of contending for a playoff spot this season.

 

Not what I’m saying, and you have to know this, but instead of challenging my very specific take, you tangent.

 

No one can challenge you on a take because every one of your takes is borderline crazy, and you don't listen to anyone who challenges you on them.