Andrew Miller’s Performance

When Terry Francona called upon Andrew Miller in the fifth inning of the American League Division Series, reporters had plenty of questions after the game.

As long as baseball has had closers which really hasn’t been that long, actually they’ve been the ones to take the ball at the end of the game.

In the AL Wild Card game, for example, manager Buck Showalter saved closer Zach Britton for a save situation, instead of using him when the game was on the line.

He added, “Managers are not only managing the back few innings of the game, but also managing the personalities of the pitchers themselves.

That’s true, and as long as relievers’ contracts are structured in such a way that they are rewarded via bonuses and extensions based on saves and innings pitched, tensions can run high if a closer suddenly stops getting save opportunities or if all the innings go to a handful of relievers.

In order to keep peace in the bullpen, general managers need to structure contracts around value-based statistics instead of counting stats.

That kind of systematic change will take time, as many contracts already include clauses pertaining to the current bullpen structure.

The Indians were able to use Miller and Allen interchangeably if needed, giving them more options in earlier innings instead of having to hope a younger or less-effective reliever would be able to hold the lead.