“Even though it’s loose, you can see it in people’s eyes,” lefty Phil Coke said. “As soon as that phone rings, it goes dead silent.”

Bullpen management, in my opinion, is the single most important aspect of running a modern pro ballclub. You can’t win a championship without a good bullpen. You also won’t win if your manager misuses that very same bullpen (see Willie Randolph and the 2006 Mets). Is Joe Girardi going down a path of bullpen mismanagement? Also, are the struggles of the pen stemming from uncertainty?

In Sunday’s Star Ledger, Marc Carig talked with members of the Yankees bullpen. You read the above quote by Phil Coke. Here are a few others:

“We’re getting used in such a different fashion every time we step on the field,” said Coke, who admits that in several instances this season, he and his colleagues may have been caught mentally unprepared. “We’ve got to be ready to go from the first inning.”

“It’s always nice to know when you’ll have an opportunity to come in,” said David Robertson, who while in Triple-A, took comfort in knowing that late in close games, he was likely to appear. “But still, you’re out there for nine innings and you’ll never know when your time will come.”

“Right now, I think nobody’s got a role in the bullpen and you’ve got to be prepared for whatever situation comes up, be ready every day,” Albaladejo said. “I think it will change the more we play.”

Relievers will always have that feeling of the unknown. That’s the nature of the bullpen role. The issue of mental preparedness is a completely different scenario. Before you cast aspersions, put yourself in a bullpen situation. You’re sitting around watching a baseball game, talking with your teammates, drinking coffee, and relaxing. The bullpen phone rings and now you’re expected to physically warm up and mentally get ready to compete against the best baseball players in the world. It’s not exactly easy to change from one mindset to another that quickly. That is why it takes a special mentality to be a reliever. It also requires a little assistance from the man who is responsible for your utilization.

That is where bullpen roles come into play. Someone like Phil Coke should know roughly what type of situation he will come in. Situational lefty, long man, or set up to Rivera. Right now it appears he could serve a myriad of different roles. The same could be said for everyone in the bullpen not named Mariano. Perhaps that is why Rivera called the bullpen meeting to help right the ship. The problem is Rivera is not the one with the problem.

This was a topic of conversation on the Weekly Digest earlier this year. Perfect example would be the April 12th game against Kansas City when Girardi brought Brian Bruney on in the seventh inning, and overplayed his hand in the eighth, only to see right handed batter beat Coke to take the lead. The over managing surprised me at the time. This story about uncertainty gives me reason to worry.

I am not ready to call this a problem. Obviously the first step in bringing it up has occurred, albeit through the media. There is nothing wrong with experimenting the first sixty days of the season. What the bullpen can ask is that Girardi shows them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Right now it sounds like they are as confused as they were earlier in the season. That shows me no progress has been made. Again, the injury to Brian Bruney didn’t help matters very much, but it also shouldn’t be an excuse to not move towards a solid bullpen plan.

The month of May is a perfect time to start towards what a bridge to Rivera looks like. Girardi should learn from the former manager of the Mets that a combustible bullpen ultimately leads to failure. It also helps hasten the exit from your job. Neither is an ideal scenario for the parties involved.

Tags: Brian Bruney, Joe Girardi, Marc Carig, Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees, Phil Coke, The Star Ledger