The small-market Pittsburgh Pirates can learn a few lessons from the equally small-market Cleveland Indians, who will play in the 2016 World Series.
The Pittsburgh Pirates will watch the 2016 World Series from home. Their annual mission to continue their recent upward trend having previously been waylaid by bad starting pitching, among other factors.
Perhaps they can take the two and a half hour drive northwest to catch a game at Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. The Indians punched their ticket to the Fall Classic on Wednesday.
Similar Clubs With Similar Circumstances?
If you talk to any Pirates fan who has watched the 2016 postseason unfold, invariably you will hear lament. They wonder why the Indians – by most measures a “small market” team – can win 94 games, get to the postseason, win series’ against quality teams and play for the title, while the Pirates cannot.
First, let us be clear. Not only are the Indians a small market club, but their Forbes 2016 ranking of most valuable MLB Franchises has them at 27 out of 30, nine full spots below the Pittsburgh Pirates. Their operating income of $18 million is only half as much as the Pirates, who took in $35.3 million. The story of plain revenue is much the same, with the Pirates taking in $240 million compared to the Indians’ $220 million.
Market comparisons aside, there are some lessons that the Pirates could glean from the Indians’ run. Some could be considered easy to implement. Others might require a significant change in organizational thinking. All are valid steps towards the franchise’s first World Series title since 1979.
Bullpen Usage
We start with the obvious one. Anyone who has seen, read or heard anything about the Indians in the postseason has heard about their “wacky” bullpen usage.
In particular, Andrew Miller has been the focal point of manager Terry Francona‘s master plan. Over the entirety of the postseason, Miller has been used in several spots, including as early as the fifth inning. With apologies to closer Cody Allen, Miller has emerged as the single most-lethal weapon in these playoffs. Miller’s – and Allen’s – dominance allowed Francona to take a calculated risk and pitch Corey Kluber on short rest in game four, knowing that he could come right back in game five with the duo should the tribe take the loss.
And that he did, using the due for 3.2 innings in the ALCS-clincher.
The Pittsburgh Pirates certainly have the horses in the bullpen to attempt a similar strategy. The 2017 club could find themselves as one of just a few teams with three legitimate left-handers. Tony Watson, Antonio Bastardo and Felipe Rivero give the Pirates a unique look and allows flexibility. While I’ll stop short of claiming that the team should adopt a “closer by committee” approach, it would be refreshing to see Clint Hurdle leave some roles unassigned. He offered a taste of that early in 2016 with Watson and Neftali Feliz swapping seventh and eighth inning duties on occasion before reverting to more traditional bullpen managing.
In 2015, the club missed the division title by three wins. In 2016, they did not make the playoffs, and bullpen performance was a huge part of the struggle. It is entirely fair to wonder if a different usage pattern could have resulted in three victories in 2015, or early season wins in 2016.
The Indians have shown us this: outs create length, not the other way around. In game five of the ALCS, Miller was able to pitch 2.2 innings due to getting outs efficiently.
CLICK HERE to see how the Indians used smart trades to get to the Fall Classic.
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