Eh.... I mean I'm not sure I entirely agree here. Pena and Grimm sucked but they weren't really supposed to be good. You look at any guys 8th reliever and most of them are in AAA because a lot of teams only carry 7 guys. And Pena was only up because of injury/the fact that others were over used already. Koji really wasn't that bad. In terms of value he was basically similar to Duensing. ERA was certainly higher but he was used in higher leverage situations. Duensing barely saw any high leverage situation until the end of the year. Wilson I'd agree was pretty bad with the cubs but he was acquired after most of the guys had been so heavily used so I wouldn't say he was the cause so much. And Rondon was... IDK not great but as relievers go he wasn't *that* bad.
IMO, the rest of the pen being gassed had more to do with Maddon pulling starters earlier last year. I'm not really in favor of the way he did that. I get the concept of limiting innings and I think it was a smart goal but I think we see the obvious down side. Wherever I was reading about this to start with mentioned the idea of letting the starters go an extra inning but mixing in Butler/Monty getting spot starts here and there to give guys an extra rest day from time to time. I think I like that approach better. It effectively creates similar end goals but you're sort of taking all that extra work load off the majority of the bullpen and dumping it on a guy like Butler. If Butler is wrecked by midseason you're likely fine because you've got other starters who can eat those innings.
I dunno if you can state that Joe was pulling his starters a *lot* earlier last year, overall, than in '16. First, whether he's following the trend, or leading it, *all* managers are pulling their starters earlier and using their pens more. It's part of the direction the whole industry is taking, and I imagine it has a lot to do with metrics that state how a given pitcher fares the first, second and third times through the rotation.
Second, the starters themselves were putting themselves in positions to come out of games earlier last year, what with their noticeable lack of control. Especially when it came to guys like Arrieta and Lackey, whose walk rates were up, and who were having a far harder time the *first* time through the opposing lineup than the second. I can truly believe that a manager would look at that and decide that the third time through was *not* gonna be a charm.
Hopefully, we have reduced the total number of walks our starters will issue by replacing the two guys whose walk rates were going more strongly in the wrong direction than the other guys. I will also point out that the Cubs seemed, last year, to "enjoy" some of the worst ball-and-strike calling I have witnessed in 60+ years on the planet. I sometimes wonder if that's not on purpose? The umpires might be thinking "Yeah, these guys think their shit don't stink. Well, *I'll* bring 'em down to Earth fast! See how cocky they are when their starters can't get a pitch called a strike unless it's grooved right down the middle."
But, again, these games are taking three and a half hours because of five pitching changes per team. Not because of the time it takes a pitcher to throw the ball. If we're getting to the point where we have to keep two or three relievers available in AAA just so we can send hard-used guys down to R&R, effectively using 10- to 12-man pens, maybe it's time to just give up and expand the 25-man to a 30-man, and accept the fact that starters will go -- at
most -- twice through the opposing lineup, no matter how many innings that is, and then get pulled for the first in the parade of relievers who will work every... single... game.
That's the future of the game, guys. Complete games are, except for oddities and the occasional no-hitter bid (and not even all of those), as extinct as the dodo. Might as well start accepting it now.
