ESPN Buster Olney Blog

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Young starting pitchers are protected like baby chicks in the major leagues these days, but the shift in thinking on pitch count extends beyond guys like Joba Chamberlain and David Price. Managers and pitching coaches have become much more regimented in regulating the work of their relievers. Most teams -- if not all -- monitor how often a reliever warms up, how many pitches are thrown during the warm-ups and how often they actually pitch, in a way that nobody would've dreamed of a decade ago.

One of the greatest half-season performances I ever saw was that of Roger McDowell for the Baltimore Orioles in 1996. Davey Johnson asked him again and again to take the ball, and McDowell -- who honored the bullpen code and didn't complain -- kept taking the ball. For the first 10 weeks of the season, he and Roberto Alomar were probably the two most valuable members of the Orioles. He threw 19 2/3 innings in April, another 20 1/3 in May. Forty innings in the first two months of the season.

And, of course, by the end of June, his career was all but over, because he broke down. Seasons are often won and lost because of early-season reliever abuse.

When Joe Torre managed the Yankees, he ran through right-handed relievers the way a teenager goes through firecrackers on the Fourth of July. One of them actually approached a rival executive and begged him to make a deal for the pitcher, so that he could get away from Torre.

But 10 weeks into the 2009 season, the workloads for most of the primary relievers in the AL appear perfectly reasonable, with only a couple of spots to watch. Here are the relievers with the heaviest workloads among the teams with a chance of contending for the crown in the AL East; sorry, Baltimore. (We'll go division-by-division over the next week).

Boston Red Sox

First in majors in bullpen ERA, at 2.90.

It's a remarkable group because of its quality and its depth, and manager Terry Francona has taken advantage of the depth by limiting the abuse of his relievers.

Key: For every pitcher below, three numbers are listed for games and innings pitched. The first category is current total, the second is projected total and the third is career high total.

So for Papelbon (below), he has currently worked 28 games, which puts him in line to work 70. His career high is 67.

Jonathan Papelbon
Games: 28 | 70 | 67
Innings: 29 | 72 | 69.1
Work on consecutive days: 3

Ramon Ramirez
Games: 31 | 77 | 71
Innings: 32 | 80 | 71.2
Work on consecutive days: 9

Hideki Okajima
Games: 30 | 75 | 66
Innings: 30 | 75 | 69
Work on consecutive days: 5

Manny Delcarmen
Games: 27 | 67 | 73
Innings: 28 | 70 | 74.1
Work on consecutive days: 2

Tampa Bay

Eighth in bullpen ERA, at 3.59.

It is J.P. Howell who has been finishing games of late for the Rays, who haven't officially named anybody as their closer. Tampa Bay relies heavily on Howell, but there have been no signs of breakdown so far.

J.P. Howell
Games: 32 | 77 | 64
Innings: 32.1 | 77 | 89.1
Work on consecutive days: 8

Joe Nelson
Games: 30 | 71 | 59
Innings: 30 | 71 | 54
Work on consecutive days: 6

Grant Balfour
Games: 30 | 71 | 51
Innings: 30.2 | 71 | 58.1
Work on consecutive days: 6

Toronto Blue Jays

13th in bullpen ERA, at 4.02.

It turns out that the Blue Jays have a whole lot more pitching depth than anybody realized. B.J. Ryan broke down, and the Jays were able to adjust to his decline. And then on Thursday, Jeremy Accardo stepped in as closer for the injured Scott Downs. The Jays have a lot of guys who have helped to share the load.

Scott Downs
Games: 26 | 62 | 81
Innings: 27.1 | 64 | 70.2
Work on consecutive days: 7

Jason Frasor
Games: 26 | 62 | 67
Innings: 24 | 57 | 74.2
Work on consecutive days: 4

Brandon League
Games: 26 | 62 | 33
Innings: 29 | 69 | 42.2
Work on consecutive days: 4

Jesse Carlson
Games: 32 | 76 | 69
Innings: 31.1 | 74 | 60
Work on consecutive days: 9

New York Yankees

22nd in bullpen ERA, at 4.56.

With Brian Bruney just activated off the disabled this week, the Yankees' middle relief is still a work in progress. If Bruney doesn't cut it, the Yankees will look aggressively for a reliever before the trade deadline.

Mariano Rivera
Games: 27 | 67 | 71
Innings: 27.2 | 67 | 107.2
Work on consecutive days: 8

Phil Coke
Games: 29 | 72 | Not applicable
Innings: 27.2 | 67 | Not applicable
Work on consecutive days: 10
(Coke has an "NA" because he has moved from starter to reliever during his career.)

King of the Pitching Mountain

Wrote here a couple of weeks ago about how we used to play King on the Mountain on piles of snow when I was growing up in Vermont, and how the identity of the king seemed to change constantly, the status fluid. Justin Verlander was the king of the mountain among baseball's starting pitchers for a couple of weeks, but in light of his rough outing against the Cardinals this week, the current king might be Dan Haren of the D-backs.

For the readers: Whom would you nominate as the current king of the mountain?

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