Epstein can't explain pen with note from mother [Forum Archive]

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Epstein can't explain pen with note from mother

BOSTON - While a Nation turned its aching heart to Curt Schilling last night, Theo Epstein made a rare public appearance into the lion's den of media masses that have been skewering him daily over the sorry state of the Red Sox pitching staff.
It has been a rough few days and nights for the boy-wonder GM, perhaps no worse than this one, in which the Yankees made it four straight over the reeling Sox. The Bombers came from behind to tie the game in the ninth off Boston's wunderkind rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon and won it, 8-5, in 10 on homers by Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada off ex-St. John's closer Craig Hansen. This, after Schilling had given the Sox a welcome seven innings of gutty starting work, while his Yankee counterpart Mike Mussina limped out of the game with a groin tweak after just four innings. Indeed, Red Sox Nation is starting to turn on Epstein, soured by his trades for Coco Crisp and Wily Mo Pena and his failure to do any shoring up of the bullpen at the trading deadline.
But Epstein seemed unruffled, perhaps because, privately, he never expected this current Red Sox team to win this year and also because he's surveyed the landscape and there's nary a manager in baseball who can honestly say he feels comfortable about his bullpen. Certainly, Epstein's own skipper, Terry Francona, has been anguishing over the absence of any dependable relievers of late while wondering why his boss didn't secure an arm or two, preferably lefthanded, at the deadline.
"We've been in our bullpen a boatload," Francona said in reference to the fact the Red Sox starters are 4-11 over the last 22 games and have worked past seven innings just four times in the last 29. "We hoped our starters would give us more innings, but they haven't."
Said Epstein: "We have to stick to our plan," which, presumably, is to cultivate - and not trade - the young arms coming through the system. "We can't just start throwing money at our problems because we've had a bad month. We're not about to change our operating philosophy. At the same time, we didn't intend to be counting on the guys (specifically rookies Hansen and Manny Delcarmen) we've been. When we drew up the season, the end of the bullpen was supposed to be (Mike) Timlin and (Keith) Foulke."
But even that was a stretch, with Timlin being 40 and Foulke coming off two knee surgeries before developing back and elbow problems this spring. And yet, for all the Red Sox's bullpen deficiencies, aren't the Yankees almost as devoid of dependable arms to bridge the ever-widening gap from their starters to Mariano Rivera? Scott Proctor helped keep the Yankees alive last night, escaping further damage after allowing one of Mike Myers' inherited runners to score and give the Red Sox a 5-3 lead in the seventh inning. Still, scouts are wondering how long he can hold up.
"The game has changed," Joe Torre was saying the other day. "Years ago, clubs routinely went with eight-nine pitchers on a staff and starters would throw batting practice and even work out of the bullpen. Today, with pitch counts, the emphasis on the bullpen and expansion, you fear overusing your pitchers."
So much has made of starters' pitch counts, but what about the relievers? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Proctor leads all relievers in baseball with 1,263 pitches this season, and Ron Villone is third on the list with 1,211, including the 40 he threw last night after Mussina came up lame.
So though he didn't come right out and say it, perhaps Epstein, with an eye on the creaky and fragile state of the Yankees' pitching, is envisioning how the race can again become tightened, given the daily grind and inevitable ups and downs of the long season.
"We knew if a number of things went the other way it was going to be a struggle for us," he said. "We had some guys performing really well in July who haven't performed well in August and that's kind of tipped the scales and exposed our lack of depth. We're an imperfect team but that doesn't mean we can't win."
About that time, David Wells strolled out of the Red Sox dugout past the scrum of reporters around Epstein.
"Beating you up pretty good?" Wells shouted to Theo. "No," Theo yelled back, "I got 'em, man. This is when you've got to go out front. You're next, 'Boom!'" Today, as a matter of fact. And who's to say old rubber-armed Boomer won't give Francona those innings he so dearly covets - which, in turn, would help to maybe start turning things back around in this eternal Yankee-Red Sox struggle?

Originally published on August 21, 2006