Chicago Cubs: Is Joe Maddon overworking the bullpen?

Maddon has made the call to the pen early and often

What started as an unstoppable force in the opening week of the season, has turned into a liability for the Chicago Cubs–especially in middle relief. Injuries have played a part, as Brian Schlitter, Phil Coke and Jason Motte were thrust into duty more often following the loss of Justin Grimm and Neil Ramirez. But has Joe Maddon played a part in all of this as well?

So many variables will play into a conversation about the manager “overworking” the bullpen. For example, there’s been little avoiding the bullpen in Jon Lester‘s starts as he’s not pitched as well as we’d hoped, running up his pitch counts and struggling altogether.

But Maddon has…