Lady at the Bat wonders if Joe Girardi is using his star relievers too much, which may have led to Andrew Miller‘s injury:

The biggest reason seems to be that he doesn’t trust anyone else in the bullpen. No one else has really distinguished themselves enough to be considered for higher leverage situations. And then there’s this: Girardi may believe he will be fired if the team misses the playoffs for the third year in a row, so he’s doing everything he can to avoid that, including risking injury to his players.

Actually, the second most relief innings behind Dellin Betances goes to Esmil Rogers, with one of the worst ERAs on the team. Someone has to be the mop-up man.

Truthfully, blowing out a bullpen to win a championship seems like a good strategy to me. In general, relievers are cheap and replaceable. It seems that every year the Rays remake their pen and do just fine. The Yankees replaced a legendary closer, Mariano Rivera, first with David Robertson, then with Andrew Miller, and now with Betances. How hard can this be?

It’s not like Miller blew out his elbow. He has a muscle strain, and those heal. Betances is 27 years old, so he does not have a still developing arm. The relievers may not like putting their bodies at risk for a playoff run, but it’s a perfectly good strategy, and the trade-off for not being a starter.