Just a tidbit

The San Francisco Giants' bullpen has amassed the fewest innings - 62 1/3 - of any Major League club. The Giants have three starters - Barry Zito (#1), Russ Ortiz (#7), and Matt Cain (#12) - that are in the top 12 in Pitcher Abuse Points, which is a measure of how many 100+ pitch outings a pitcher has. (For reference, Livan Hernandez is #5, and Daisuke Matsuzaka is #13.) Shaky bullpen? San Francisco ranks 16th of 30 teams in bullpen strength (WXRL). Dominant or durable starters? Zito's, Ortiz', and Cain's VORPs are 5.0, -3.5, and 14.9, respectively. Zito and Ortiz probably know by this point what their comfortable pitch range is (and Ortiz may carry that knowledge with him to the minors or out of baseball very soon), but the Giants need to be careful about leaving their young (age: 22) ace Cain out there for too long, too often. Also, the six years on Zito's contract may not mean much if he can't pitch for three of them.