Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 11, 2008
Not Enough Pitchers

The Marlins are going to start the season with a four man rotation:

Because of some quirks in the early regular season, the Florida Marlins are leaning towards utilizing a 4-man rotation for the short-term; because of of-days on April 3 and 8, the team will probably not need a fifth starter until April 13. Which could be a good thing for the Marlins as 2 of their projected 4 starters are nursing minor injuries; the 2 pitchers in question, Scott Olsen and Sergio Mitre, may not be ready for the beginning of the 2008 season as Olsen is recovering from left shoulder tendinitis and Mitre is struggling with tightness in his right forearm muscle.

I actually think this is a good strategy whenever a team has a day off. The Red Sox, Yankees and other teams with youngsters they'd like to limit should especially think about this. Since both teams are likely to have two youngsters in the rotation, skipping one of them every time there's a day off is a safe way to limit their innings. The veterans in the rotation can handle pitching the whole year on four days rest.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:25 PM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

There is a historical precedent to the Marlin pitching problems going into this year, that many believe is Joe Girardi's fault. Remember what Billy Martin did to the Oakland A's pitching staff when he took BillyBall out west in '81? There is a chance the rotation will never recover. Now Joe Girardi is being entrusted with the Yankees' 3 pitching hopefulls. In spite of Cashman's innings cap and protectionism, the overwhelming need to win now on 161 St. and River will put this kiddy corp in harms way because Moose is done and Andy cant do it alone. Girardi will be forced to push the kids into service the GM is looking to avoid. Can you say Mike Norris?

Posted by: Leco at March 11, 2008 08:55 PM

The Yankees have a horrendously brutal April schedule, so skipping their #5 in April will be all but impossible.

Posted by: sabernar at March 12, 2008 02:53 AM

The problem with skipping guys spots is you screw up 3 guys to give 1 guy an extra start - since most teams are trying to limit their guys innings anyway it really doesn't make any sense. You need the right combination of 5 guys and schedule to make this work - almost nobody does it because you need a horse to pick up the extra innings and a guy who can start and relieve and who doesn't mind missing a start and 3 guys who either don't mind getting there work routine screwed up.

Posted by: Bandit at March 12, 2008 08:29 AM
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