Right now, I’m mourning the loss of Manny Delcarman.

For two weeks, the young reliever from Boston pitched almost four whole innings. All four came in situations where his pitching had no impact on the outcome of the game. Seriously, the Sox could have put Mark Loretta on the mound and they would have no change in record. He pitched in a 5-1 game in Cleveland, and then the next day when the score sat 11-3. Both with the Red Sox on the receiving end of hitting pain. He finished in Tampa with the game 5-4 in favor of the Devil Rays. Then he played the waiting game.

A week passed before Delcarman was seen again. It was pitching the last inning of Sunday’s 10-3 victory over the Orioles.

Against the weaker sisters of the American League East, MDC allowed not a run. He did get beat up by the Indians, but no moreso than say…Josh Beckett has.

MDC is 24 years old, and allowed no runs in AAA before his recall in April. According to Baseball America, he’s the 4th best pitching prospect in the organization, and second best relief prospect behind wunderkind Craig Hansen. There is little doubt of him being worse than Julian Tavarez has been, or Rudy Seanez is.

That begs the question…why didn’t Manny Delcarman pitch more.

The answer is, of course, bullpen slotting.

Through the first month of the season, the Red Sox bullpen has been built thusly. Jonathan Papelbon pitches the 9th in wins up to 4 runs. Mike Timlin pitches the 8th in front of Papelbon. Keith Foulke is used to get out tough lefties, pitch from the 6th to the 7th in front of Timlin, or to fix messes one of the other relievers get into. Julian Tavarez is the first arm out if the starter struggles, and if the Red Sox are losing and it’s close, he’ll pitch. Seanez will pitch in blowouts where the Sox win, or if the Sox are behind late and it’s close, but not close enough to use Foulke. Delcarman/Van Buren/DiNardo wait. And wait. And wait. Until either everyone else is tired, or the Sox are getting killed.

The hierarchy, the caste system of the Red Sox bullpen looks like this:
Papelbon
Timlin/Foulke
Julian Tavarez
Rudy Seanez
Al Nipper
Young guy

The reasoning behind using Papelbon/Timlin/Foulke is obvious. They are the three best arms in the bullpen. Papelbon is the designated closer, and even though he’d help the Red Sox more in the rotation, it’s understandable why he’s at the back of the bullpen. Timlin has had the same role for 230 years. Foulke’s body looks to be rebounding from the savagery of last year, and is being utilized excellently. If you want to see what Bill James had to say about a relief ace being put to use, check out how Terry Francona is using Keith Foulke.

Julian Tavarez is given rope, due to his being a pretty good reliever the last few years. He’s pitched pretty terribly, but sampling being what it is. Rudy Seanez has the same MO when he goes to a hitters park….he throws hard, walks guys, strikes them out, gives up home runs when they make contact. In fact, in the American League, he’s been uniformly terrible, and he played a large part of changing my girlfriend into a Red Sox fan (different story for a different time). There is little reason to believe that Rudy Seanez can pitch well at Fenway Park.

But he’s a veteran with a Proven Track Record, so he’ll continue to be used in non-offensive situations where he can hemorrhage baserunners but it doesn’t matter since he still has that Proven Track Record. He’ll change 7-1 Red Sox leads into 7-4 leads, causing Papelbon to get warm before disaster strikes on what should have been an easy day. He’ll change 5-3 Red Sox deficits to 7-3 losses, but no one will bat an eye, because it’s not like the Sox were winning anyway.

Meanwhile, fellows that had the misfortune of being born in the late 70s rather than the late 60s watch as the 10th man in the bullpen racks up appearances on par with everyone else that are actually worthy of them. Seanez has been in 11 games, one less than the suspended one, and 4 less than Mike Timlin. As a comparison, the Young guys have been in 7 games. Combined.

All because they are the designated “last guy in the pen”.

There is a real danger in that thinking, because an arm will rust out before it burns out (it will burn out too, obviously). So saving the last guy until you need him makes it impossible for him to pitch with enough command to be more than the last guy, save death or DFA.

Rumor is that the Red Sox will be calling up Mike Holtz for the Yankee series at least, and then David Riske is expected to be ready, and will probably take either Seanez or Tavarez’s slot in the bullpen. When he does come back though, keep an eye on how much Seanez pitches. I bet it will be more than anyone born after 1975.