Two days ago, the Cardinals hired a new pitching coach in Mike Maddux. When he let Derek Lilliquist go, John Mozeliak shared some of the reasons for why they were looking for something different. According to Derrick Goold, they want to “rethink the strategy of pitching use and have a pitching coach that is open to the data available and some modern views of how pitchers should be deployed.”
That sounds great. Bullpens certainly feature prominently in that statement, and they are becoming more and more important. Teams are more and more hip to the fact that starters often struggle the third time through the order.