Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

[SPTO]

Here's a couple things i've heard from a Toronto radio personality and they're both interesting ideas.

1) Go back to the 4 Man Rotations. I personally agree with this. I mean for decades we've had pitchers pitching every 3rd day with little to no problems. They had no pitching counts and they generally weren't babied the way starters are today. If you've noticed we've seen tons of arm problems with pitchers these days when we have all these kind of restrictions. Maybe we're holding back the starters a bit TOO much.

Of course there are exceptions to this like Billy Martin's Oakland A's teams where by the end of the year the Starters' arms were literally falling off but overall there weren't the kind of problems we see today.


2) This idea is a bit off the wall and it's something La Russa would probably do. Why not start the game with your relievers then put in the scheduled starter in the 7th inning onwards to finish off the game strong? It's a neat concept and would give the entire pitching staff a workout.

[teebone]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

Here's a couple things i've heard from a Toronto radio personality and they're both interesting ideas.

1) Go back to the 4 Man Rotations. I personally agree with this. I mean for decades we've had pitchers pitching every 3rd day with little to no problems. They had no pitching counts and they generally weren't babied the way starters are today. If you've noticed we've seen tons of arm problems with pitchers these days when we have all these kind of restrictions. Maybe we're holding back the starters a bit TOO much.

Of course there are exceptions to this like Billy Martin's Oakland A's teams where by the end of the year the Starters' arms were literally falling off but overall there weren't the kind of problems we see today.


2) This idea is a bit off the wall and it's something La Russa would probably do. Why not start the game with your relievers then put in the scheduled starter in the 7th inning onwards to finish off the game strong? It's a neat concept and would give the entire pitching staff a workout.

I was going to make this point in the other thread. The amount of innings used is being squeezed so much at the front end of games, you might as well put your starter in after two innings. He will also factor in the decision more. Youd have designated starters.

[Chip Douglass]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

http://abolishthedh.stonegauge.com/opinion.htm

Thought it might be relevant to the thread, it's an interesting article on why the DH should be abolished.

[CMH]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

Here's a couple things i've heard from a Toronto radio personality and they're both interesting ideas.

1) Go back to the 4 Man Rotations. I personally agree with this. I mean for decades we've had pitchers pitching every 3rd day with little to no problems. They had no pitching counts and they generally weren't babied the way starters are today. If you've noticed we've seen tons of arm problems with pitchers these days when we have all these kind of restrictions. Maybe we're holding back the starters a bit TOO much.

Of course there are exceptions to this like Billy Martin's Oakland A's teams where by the end of the year the Starters' arms were literally falling off but overall there weren't the kind of problems we see today.


2) This idea is a bit off the wall and it's something La Russa would probably do. Why not start the game with your relievers then put in the scheduled starter in the 7th inning onwards to finish off the game strong? It's a neat concept and would give the entire pitching staff a workout.

The Colorado Rockies decided to go with a 4-man rotation in 2005 for a short while. It didn't last long, but I don't think they were ineffective, either.

As for your second idea, it's been mentioned before. I've heard the 9 man bullpen before as well. Instead of going with one guy, just have a reliever pitch one inning and then go to the bullpen, rinse, repeat.

I think a team in the minors tried it. Probably Independent ball. I'm sure a search on Google could net something.

[mike01]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

The Devil Rays tried using their relievers first a few years ago I'm pretty sure. Lasted a game or two. I think it could work if you really planned it out, but tough situations would come up if your actual starter got shelled once he got put in the game, then you would have to use more relievers than planned.

[sbmnky]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

why not just have 12 relief pitchers and use the hottest ones during innings 3-9? That's essentially what the NL was this year - no pitcher over 16 wins. What's the point of having starters? We're learning this postseason that starters take a long time to warmup - which IMO is a bunch of garbage. You're human, learn to adapt!

[sbmnky]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2332824

I'd hire him for my minor league affiliates to test his theories out - if I was a GM of course...

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

4-man rotations would be nice. Then we'd probably have a chance at another 300 game winner.

[CMH]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

4-man rotations would be nice. Then we'd probably have a chance at another 300 game winner.

We'd also get rid of the fifth starter which most of the time happens to be a pitcher who probably shouldn't even be in the majors.

Wouldn't the quality of baseball, therefore, be better?

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

And it'd give a team an extra bench player or bullpen pitcher too.

Getting rid of the 5th starter would eliminate most of the marginal pitchers, but I don't think it'd eliminate Joe Average from being the ace of some teams.

[fugazi]

Re: Since we're talking baseball rules/strategy....

If the Cubs had any nuts they would hire this guy....their injury issues are suspicious enough for me to think they have an awful training/coaching staff around their pitchers.