I’m not sure that aggregate istatistics about the performance of the bullpen in blocks of 30 games really addresses concerns about the current state of the pen.
I think the concerns now are based largely on the fact that Milner, Payamps, and Peguero, have all been less effective recently than they were earlier in the season. Maybe that has nothing to do with the workload they’ve carried, but it is a legitimate question.
The bullpen stats are a little misleading if they include innings contributed by Wilson or anyone else who comes in in the second inning after an opener. Also, any positive contributions made by Koenig and Parades are not relevant to the evaluation of the pen now as they are on the IL.
As long as the starters are only going to be covering five innings or less in most games, and the pitchers who are covering the remaining innings are being asked to pitch several times a week, there are going to be questions about long term wear and tear. There isn’t a lot of confidence right now in some of the pitchers being asked to protect leads without using Hudson and Megill too much.
On this subject, has there been any more information on Williams this week. The last I heard was last weekend when he had a bullpen session, but I haven’t heard anything about how he bounced back from that session and what the next steps will be.