A pitching staff can either perform well or not, regardless of talent, and part of that performance depends on how individual pitchers respond to the way the manager uses them. A perfect example of this concept can be illustrated with a look at former Royals reliever Rusty Meacham. I use Rusty as my example because I had the opportunity to spend some time with him, and while I can’t remember specific quotes, I can relay his sentiments on this subject. Under Hal McRae’s management, Rusty was a very effective pitcher, but under Bob Boone he couldn’t get anybody out, and eventually that led to the end of his tenure in the Royals bullpen. I met him early in Boone’s first season as manager, and one of the first things Rusty said to me was that he wished Bob would use him the way McRae had done. He didn’t really go too deeply into specifics, but he did say on several occasions that he was uncomfortable with the way Boone handled the staff. A lot of it came down to management style, an area where the two managers in question were galaxies apart philosophically. Boone, as we all now know, was a micromanager on a par with Bill Clinton…he had to be in control of every aspect of the game, even calling individual pitches from the dugout. There were several players, Meacham among them, who had performed very well under McRae’s "overview" approach to pitching, who were never able to settle into a comfortable rhythm with Boone.

Now, to attempt to lay all the blame for the poor pitching the past few years at the feet of manager Tony Muser would be unfair…there have been some extenuating circumstances, to say the least. However, I do have to say that I sometimes wonder how he rationalizes some of the things he does. Sometimes he pulls pitchers too soon, or at least that how it seems when he takes out a starter who’s been cruising just because his pitch count gets up around 100 or so. Yes, I understand that nobody wants to risk having another career cut short by having him pitch way too many innings, ala Steve Busby. But why set the limit at 100…why not 125? Or 120? Pitching staffs today have extra rest built in that they didn’t have in the early 70’s…it’s called a five man rotation, which was introduced as I recall by the Mets in the late 60’s to give Mr. Seaver, et al an extra day’s rest in between starts so they could throw more complete games, thereby taking pressure off of a bullpen that wasn’t nearly as strong as the starting staff. If your starters never make it past the sixth inning, and you have five of your roster spots taken up by those starters, then you need to have enough quality arms in the pen to handle the other 20 innings that the starters don’t get to. Have a game like the Royals had tonight, where starter Blake Stein got beat up for eight runs in the first two innings, and your bullpen will be worn out all year long.

Obviously, the weakness on the Royals pitching staff a year ago was in the bullpen. While I seriously doubt that the poor performance can honestly be blamed on former bullpen coach Tom Burgmeier, he was replaced during the off-season by Tom Gamboa, and the Royals are hoping that this change, along with the addition of Roberto Hernandez, Doug Henry, and Jason Grimsley, will mean a major improvement from the relief corps over the performances from the previous two seasons.

All that having been said, when it comes down to it all any of the coaches can do is get the players on the field…they can’t pitch, field, hit, or run for them…a fact that I think sometimes gets forgotten. And if we get a few breaks our way for a change this season, the pitching should prove to be vastly improved over 2000. The starters…Suppan, Stein, Meadows, Reichert, Suzuki, and yes, I’m going to include Rosado here if for no other reason than that I hope he recovers and actually gets to pitch again this season…are a year wiser, but still quite young. In some ways they remind me of another young pitching staff that once graced the clubhouse at the Royals Stadium…Saberhagen, Gubicza, Jackson, Leibrandt, and Black. No, I don’t see a dominant pitcher like Bret Saberhagen in this group, but I do see a collection of very talented young hurlers that look to be ready to win some games for the boys in blue.

The bullpen is a study in extremes. On the one hand you have the veterans…Hernandez, Henry, and Grimsley…all of whom have shown over the years that they can get the job done. And on the other, we have youth…Tony Cogan, whose appearance in Yankee Stadium was his fist major league game, and in fact his first anywhere above class A ball, Kris Wilson, also a rookie with very minimal experience, and Jose Santiago, whose been on the scene for the Royals for a few years now, although he’s spent a great deal more time on the disabled list than in a Royals uniform. It will be interesting to see if Hernandez will be able to do as he had said he would like to do…that is, to help the young kids learn how to do it right. Here’s hoping he’s a good teacher.

As things unfold over the next few weeks, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of opportunities to bad mouth the pitching staff, as well as…hopefully…chances to sing their praises. Until next time, I’ll see ya at the "K".