Expanded bullpen is here to stay

The Reds have gone with an eight-man bullpen recently, which is pretty unusual because it means the team has less bench players on the roster.

However, Reds manager Bryan Price is willing to sacrifice the extra bat in favor of the extra arm and it appears he's going to keep it that way for a bit.

"The eight in the bullpen is necessitated by a couple of things – No. 1 is we had a run there where we weren't getting value out of the starting pitchers performances," Price told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "No. 2 is we do have those three young guys in our rotation. There are games where you have to leave a starting pitcher out there – I've done it with (Mike Leake) a couple of times – where he's got to pitch that fifth inning because we don't have any bullpen. I'd be willing to do that with Leake, I'd be a lot less inclined to do that with (Raisel) Iglesias, (Michael) Lorenzen or (Anthony) DeSclafani."

(h/t Cincinnati Enquirer)

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