Good post over at Dan & Steve about Yovani Gallardo’s excessive pitch counts and his being the victim of Ken Macha’s abusive management. After his excessive 126-pitch outing on May 25, he’s proceeded to also have starts of 110 pitches, 105 pitches, 116 pitches, 107 pitches, and 118 pitches in consecutive starts. Considering the rest of the starting rotation’s inability to pitch decently, and the state of the bullpen when Gallardo usually starts, it’s understandable that Ken Macha would try to extend Gallardo a little bit extra to squeeze those extra couple batters out of him while he still can. Even with a 4-run lead in the 8th inning, apparently it’s necessary to let the pen rest a little more to preserve the win. But at what cost to Yovani? Could his arm blow out from overuse?
I’ve taken a look at Baseball Prospectus’ Pitcher Abuse Points (PAP) across the majors to see just how much Yovani’s getting overworked. It appears he’s getting worked like a horse, but he’s not the only one. Take a look:
Boy, I’d really love to have Jim Leyland as manager — he’s doing a good job blowing out Justin Verlander’s arm, and new phenom Edwin Jackson is headed towards that route too.
Obviously having Gallardo as #11 on that list is a little concerning as to his health and arm strength down the road, so we’ll see exactly what happens. But the organization has done a good job at limiting Gallardo’s innings count throughout his career so far and he’s had no history of shoulder or arm problems that would force Milwaukee to use him more conservatively than most.
Along with that, I’m not so sure Macha will continue pushing Yovani to the limit once the starting rotation settles down and the pitching become decent, if not stable. A temporary increase in workload at this time in the season isn’t going to ruin a pitcher; the increased workload over the rest of the season will, since Yovani still isn’t used to this kind of workload. Remember in 2007 he was mostly shut down due to an increased workload (after 178IP) and he spent most of 2008 on the shelf after a torn ACL. So he’s probably not going to be able to work any more than 200 innings this year. Right now, he’s on pace to surpass 100 innings his next start; it could be 110 innings by the All Star Break.
In other words, the Brewers should plan to use him conservatively for the rest of the season unless they really want to blow out his arm.
