6 man rotation

easy — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:51:15 -0000

If I were TLR I would seriously consider a six man rotation for the rest of the season. This strikes me as a good move for a number of reasons. First off Carpenter is coming off surgery and a long lay off and it would be dangerous to overwork him. Beyond that, in '06 his e.r.a. was well below 2.00 on five days rest. Wainwright is also coming off an injury and a long lay off and could probably use a longer recuperation between starts. (I'm assuming that the latest word that he's targeted for the rotation are true. It should be if it's not.) Of the other guys, only Piniero has flirted with pitching himself out of the rotation but his last outing was more than decent. We know what Carp can do with 5 days of rest and it might be interesting to see what the other guys do with it too. Also, I suspect that every pitcher in the game could use more rest after 120 games or so (see Kyle Lohse).

For the rest of August the six man rotation could cause some roster disruption and probably someone in the bull pen would have to be sent down or DL'd. If the starters went more innings, though, the beleagered bull pen would be fresher even with one less member. After August the rosters expand and that issue is negated.

One more reason to do it. We're in a little bit of trouble in the wild card race. We need to make up significant ground on the Brewers and hold off several more teams. Since May we've been a .500 team and we made no significant additions (okay I actually like Felipe but it seems noone else does) so there is no reason to think that we'll suddenly start streaking into the playoffs. Doing something different, seeing how our starters respond to more rest, particularly when Carp and Wainwright should be handled with care might be our answer to Sabathia, Harden etc. We don't have a lot to lose.

SB Nation User Blog: easy

6 man rotation