By TYLER LOCKMAN
Special to FOXSportsWisconsin.com
With opening day of the 2011 season one month away, the buzz around Milwaukee Brewers spring training has been all about starting pitching.
It would be hard not to talk about the additions of an ace like Zack Greinke and a young hurler like Shaun Marcum to a rotation already anchored by Yovani Gallardo, an All-Star coming off his best season as a pro.
But while the Brewers' new-look rotation certainly helps the team stack up in a pitching-wealthy NL Central, it has also produced heightened expectations for a bullpen that was largely enigmatic last season.
The Brewers' bullpen was credited with the second most relief losses (29) in the league, but also tallied the ninth most relief wins (25).
"It was a different year last year," Brewers second-year closer John Axford said. "We went through a lot of tough times, a lot of ups and downs."
Part of the reason the Brewers' bullpen put up such odd numbers was the heavy workload it saw. With Milwaukee starters totaling the third fewest innings pitched among all teams, the bullpen was tasked with throwing 518 innings, third most in the league.
With the additions of Greinke and Marcum, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke expects fewer innings for his relievers.
"When you're asking relievers to go four and five innings every night, that's putting a lot of pressure on them," Roenicke said. "The overuse, the overexposure of a bullpen
