"If the remaining three [starters] can give us a legitimate chance to win every time they take the ball, and our bullpen can carry the multiple innings -- because we've constructed it as multiple guys who can give multiple innings -- it gives [manager Clint Hurdle] the ability to use his bullpen how he wants," general manager Neal Huntington said last week at Pirate City, "not because he has to."
That strategy helped the Pirates get the most out of lefty J.A. Happ down the stretch last year, for example. Happ was incredibly effective when he was on the mound, but he only pitched more than six innings once in 11 starts for Pittsburgh.