Why don't they just have 13 2 inning pitchers? Game1) pitchers A, B, C, and D pitch 2 innings and E pitches 1. Game2) pitchers F, G, H, and I pitch 2 innings and pitcher J pitches 1. Game3) pitchers K, L, M and E pitch 2 innings and pitcher A pitches 1. Game4) pitchers B, C, D, and J pitch 2 innings and pitcher F pitches 1. Game5) pitchers G, H, I, and A pitch 2 innings and pitcher K pitches 1 inning. Game6) pitchers L, M, E, and F pitch 2 innings and pitcher B pitches 1. Game7) pitchers C, D, J, and K pitch 2 innings and pitcher G pitches 1. And so on ( BTW I'm not serious)
Jim Callis didn't make my xmas card list for that write up. Reliever. Posh. His future is as a CY Young TOR hammer!
This modified tandem makes sense and should absolutely be a thing for LMJ and Brown at a minimum since you are trying to keep innings off their arms whenever possible. 13 pitchers is just a metric **** ton. The main advantage to the tandem is I think it take a marginal starter and turns him into a potentially really good pitcher by making them know you have 80 pitchers- we only need like 4 innings out of you and 3 innings isn't a total disaster- do what you can go balls to the wall and that's good enough. And- you do all that without wrecking the bullpen and lightening their load- making them better.
Mathematically points 2 and 3 are just wrong. There is no benefit to valuing efficiency. Contact is the worst thing a pitcher can allow and the more of it they allow the more they face the possibility of giving up runs. Working out of a jam isn't efficient and doesn't typically lead to the best possible results. Guys get burned. I'm not talking about treating Framber or JV this way- just the guys that are toward the back end of the rotation. Those guys, concentrating on being less efficient, will be better pitchers. With the success of openers and bulk guys I can't imagine why this is questioned- it's pretty much proven out. The tandem is just the logical progression. And yes- everyone would love 5 Frambers but that's really really expensive. Better to pay a combo of Whitley and Blanco to combine to be 90% of a Framber. Much more efficient.
The reason is because that's not enough innings for your best pitchers. If you had 13 guys with the exact same skill level something like that would be the absolute best way to get the most out of them. Without a doubt.
Well...... no. Hard contact is bad. Weak contact is not. Yes you're more prone to a BABIP effect with any contact vs. a strikeout. But quick/efficient innings are absolutely a plus. PItchers can go deeper in games and it puts a lot of pressure on the opposing pitcher, who isn't getting a lot of rest between their innings. Less pitches per inning is better than more. There's less time your def has to be locked in.
Max effort on every pitch with as little contact as possible is key for run prevention. Nothing else is better than that. You don't want a pitcher to go deeper in a game and pay the 3rd time through the order tax as unless that pitcher is a stud whoever you have in your bullpen is probably better. This is pretty cut and dried math even if it's not the most fun way to watch a baseball game. Urquidy and LMJ and Brown and Garcia are probably ALL much better pitchers at max effort for 80 pitches 1 time every 5 days then as starters expected to go 6 or 7 innings, and the bullpen gets a hell of a lot less use. IT will happen I'm almost sure, someday, and once that happens when it's successful many/most will copy it. Again, I'm talking about for spots 3-5 or 4-5 in a rotation depending upon how deep your org is in guys that they'd want to give 80 pitchers to.
I mean- you don't think Urquidy is better on his 94th pitch with the same guy seeing him for the 3rd time than LMJ is on his 13th pitch with that guy seeing him for the first time, do you? That's what we are talking about. That and giving the bullpen fewer innings.
He is a better athlete than he gets credit for..... some scouting reports were acting like he was Seth Beer or Tony Eusebio with the wheels. FWIW I think he is functional in centerfield too.
It looks like he had to alter his steps around 2nd (lengthened his stride for 1 or 2 strides). He didn't look like Evan Gattis though. A triple is a rare thing these days and it's an exciting play.
Do we think Will Wagner has a chance to be an every day guy? If not does he have any ability to backup SS? Just trying to get sense of if he will ever have a big league career.
At this point I think it’s likely he will reach the majors. And there’s certainly an outside chance he can be an everyday player at 2B, 3B, or LF, but for that outcome he’ll have to show more power than he has so far. I don’t think he has the range for SS. My guess for now is he spends a few years as a bench bat. But he could have a Chris Johnson type career.
Can you be a utility IF without being able to spell the SS at the big league level? I can’t think of a utility guy we’ve had forever without the ability to play SS. I’m sure I’m missing someone though.
