Peter Gammons Would Like to Know Which Managers Are Dry Humping Relievers
Major League Baseball's new era of bullpen games has led to a change in how we look at relief pitchers. As such, new stats may need to be created to reflect the importance of relievers and the stress they accrue throughout a season. Hall of Fame baseball reporter Peter Gammons has a suggestion for a new reliever-related stat: "dry humps."
OK, I'll explain. In this new era of bullpen usage, Gammons wants to know how many times per game a manager get a reliever hot and ready, only to not use him in the game. In essence, "dry humping" them. Those are his words, not mine.
No, seriously:
In this bullpen era--9 IP, 9 Pitchers--one stat I want to see every day is how many times the manager "dry humps" a reliever--gets him up and sits him down without entering the game. We'd get a clear picture of BP-eager managers who may be over their heads and endager Ps
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) August 25, 2021
Yeah, see I understand the interest in that statistic but there has to be a better way to word it. Maybe track warmup pitches thrown without entering a game? Number of times a pitcher is throwing in the pen per game, then further categorize if he was used? There have to be plenty of ways to quantify this without using "dry humps." I mean, at least go with "bullpen teases" or something.
Peter Gammons and dry humping are not two things I ever would have connected before today. I'd appreciate if we never have to discuss this again.