I've been a proponent for a while of using one rotation spot as a tandem system. If you have 2 guys like say Devenski that can give you 2-4 dominant innings. More days off this season, so I bet the 5th starter is needed less than 20 times. Give 2-4 extra starts to the true starters. I love outside the box thinking, and this could work. If they end up simply turning that 5th spot in to "bullpen games" then that could backfire having constantly taxed arms, but I doubt they will.
Been a long time since I've used fantasy baseball to supplement my income, but it really depends on whether than can handle the workload or not. If they can, it will be a boon. If not, they could be killing their value.
Reed starting to mash these last few days. I want him to grab that bench spot while Yuli is hurt/suspended, I still believe.
Yeah, it’s an interesting concept. I just think it would lead to over worked bullpen. In reality, you wouldn’t be able to use the tandem pair the day before or the day after that “start”. That puts a lot of pressure on the other 6 guys in the bullpen to be lights out for every other game, not even mentioned extra inning games. If you have a super deep pen, and I mean minimum 6 guys that are shut down types, it could work
If a team has 4 starters, I would expect there would be 9 bullpen guys. Using up 2 on a start, would still leave a 7-man pen for a couple games before and after. I suspect that Tampa will have a couple of bullpen pitchers with options that will be shuttling between AAA and MLB when one gets used up in a start.
This seems like it'd could work for a regular season but any extended playoff run and that bullpen would be gassed.
How Id allocate Pitching usage, regular season: 1: Verlander (1-6+), Harris (7), Smith (8), Giles (9) 2: Keuchel (1-6+), Rondon (7), Devenski (8-9) 3: Cole (1-6+), Harris (7), Smith (8), Giles (9) 4: McCullers (1-5), Rondon (6), Devenski (7-8), Giles (9) 5: Peacock (1-4), Morton (5-8), Harris/Smith (9) Sipp and McHugh would be for extra innings or when a starter got knocked out early.
In a perfect video game world, this is a great plan. In the real world, it falls apart within a month. That's why the guys called "managers" earn the big bucks.
Depends heavily on how pitchers are managed.It really should only be impacting the 8th and 9th bullpen arms who need to go 3-4 innings. If you sub in a bullpen arm from the minors for the 22 or so bullpen games, you are only impacting the 9th and 10th bullpen arms. In the other third of the season without 5 games in a row, you get a 9th bullpen arm. The Rays have a lot of okay arms so it shouldn't be a big deal for them to shuttle them back and forth from AAA.
The Astros made their first wave of roster moves in Spring Training on Wednesday, reassigning infielders Randy Cesar and Nick Tanielu, outfielders Drew Ferguson, Alejandro Garcia and Miles Straw, left-handed pitcher Framber Valdez, catcher Jamie Ritchie and right-handed pitchers Jacob Dorris and Riley Ferrell to Minor League camp. The club will also option left-handed pitcher Cionel Perez -- the Astros' No. 6 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline - https://www.mlb.com/news/astros-option-cionel-perez-reassign-9-others/c-268060096
I’ve actually been impressed with Jack Mayfield. He came in as a potential release candidate (in my mind) to now I actually think he will play in the majors at some point in the next 2 years and could even become a pretty good utility guy. Others who have impressed were Tucker, Davis, Kemmer, Stubbs, DeGoti, and Birk. Disappointed in A Sierra and Cesar (both looked completely overmatched). On the pitching side, Thornton and Paulino have looked good. Also happy with Martes, Hauschild, and McCurry. Disappointed in Hoyt and Ferrell.
SuperJack was a surprise to me too. I never thought much of him watching Fresno games. He's in the mix with White as the utility replacement for Marwin. Kemmer has proven he deserves a shot in MLB and Straw is following in Kemmer's path. Want to see Chuckie Robinson back in spring training 2019. He could be the long-term solution at catcher. With his arm and batting power, he could be a Gary Carter type who guns down base stealers and hits the long ball. I know I'm dreaming, but... Paulino ought to have preference over Hoyt when the bullpen needs a reinforcement. McCurry is right there in the conversation too. It's looking more and more like Rondon will be on the DL when the team breaks camp so perhaps Paulino is in the bullpen on Opening Day. Starters 6 through 10 would include Peacock, McHugh, Paulino, Martes, and Armenteros. Starters 11 and 12 would be Valdez and Hauschild. Most teams need 10 or 11 guys to start in a given season so that's not an idle consideration. If the bullpen includes three long men (McHugh, Peacock, Paulino) on opening day then maybe there is justification to carry 13 position players and only 12 pitchers. That would help make the choice between Davis/Reed/White easier.
Yall are fawning over a whole lot of AAAA 40-man emergency fodder. Mayfield, DeGoti, Birk, Kemmer, Robinson, Hauschild, Thornton, etc....
Robinson may be a very legit prospect, we'll see this season. The rest of them, yeah probably not ever gonna hear much. Mayfield could be a solid utility guy.
