Every good bullpen is the same; every bad bullpen is bad in its own way

With Danny Farquhar’s loss yesterday to Baltimore, the M’s tied the historically hapless Athletics with 12 bullpen losses on the year, the most in the majors. M’s fans know well, of course, that the pen hasn’t been operating at peak effectiveness, and that it’s cost the M’s several wins, but nationally, the M’s bullpen struggles may fly under the radar because they’re within the normal range, whereas Oakland’s struggles really do seem pretty unique. Dave wrote a great article at Rob Neyer’s Just a Bit Outside site on the A’s, but I wanted to look at the myriad ways bullpens can become a problem by looking at the M’s and Marlins struggles, and how they differ from the A’s.