I am no expert at this so am looking for knowledgeable opinions. My presumption is that starters are not trained in such a way to consistently go two days in a row and that it takes quite a while before their regimen is in place to allow it. That’s why when I hear the we don’t need to sign relievers we can just throw our excess starters out there is problematic to me. Opinions?
Starters typically take more time to get ready, should not be used in back to back games, and should come in during clean innings. Despite not pitching back to back games, they typically pitch more innings than most relievers as they typically can go more than an inning. Of the Astros that have been starters this year, they have a 1.99 ERA in 54 bullpen innings the past two years during the regular season. On average, the Astros starters are performing like a Top 15 reliever on a per inning basis. https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/cristian-javier-fans-the-side?q=PitchingTeamId == [117] AND ContentTags+=+["pitching"]+Order+By+Timestamp+DESC&pt=Pitching Highlights (okay, he sucked besides this game as a reliever in the postseason)
Thank you for this. I guess I am looking at a 7th 8th and ninth inning option available most everyday. So with this analysis we could concentrate on one really good reliever and be able to mix and and match Javier, Urquidy or odorizzi, stanek, kembral, and Presley to have an elite 7,8,9 option everyday