Cleveland Indians reliever Andrew Miller isn’t one to criticize a manager’s use of him out of the bullpen. But it doesn’t mean the 31-year-old southpaw hasn’t experienced some confusion with his role this season.
According to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball, Miller’s moment of incertitude came this year with the Yankees, in relation to how Joe Girardi handled the three-headed bullpen monster of Miller, Dellin Betances, and Aroldis Chapman.
“I know when Chapman came back to us for the Yankees this year, Dellin and I were kind of up in the air about what order we would pitch,’’ Miller said. “And in some instances it created a mess because we were both warming up next to each other.
“I think all managers, Joe, Tito [Terry Francona], I’ve been lucky to have some that really handle the bullpen well. But you hate to have two guys warming up at the same time. It seems wasteful in a sense.’’
Miller, who was selected as the ALCS Most Valuable Player, has struck out 24 hitters in 13.2 innings this postseason.
