Stark: Bullpen Mania

[weams]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14667817

It's the data

As we were saying, it isn't just a lack of elite starters that's producing Bullpen Mania. It's the numbers. It's the data that's driving more pitching changes, more quick hooks and more bullpen-matchup moves than at any time in recorded baseball history.

It's not a position of strength to weaken. It's a position of strength to strengthen.

[Can_of_corn]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14667817

It's not a position of strength to weaken. It's a position of strength to strengthen.

Market inefficiencies. The bullpen no longer qualifies. Time to move on.

Or this could just mean that my dream of a pitching staff without starters is another step closer to reality.

[Hallas]

Market inefficiencies. The bullpen no longer qualifies. Time to move on.

Or this could just mean that my dream of a pitching staff without starters is another step closer to reality.

What I think would be great is for teams to start using starters as relievers on their throw day, max 15-20 pitches.

It seems like it could work. Starters throw probably 15 warmup tosses -> 20 full speed tosses. Why not let those full speed tosses be in game situations, instead of in the bullpen?

I figure you probably don't get full efficiency on this schedule, so lets say you get 15 relief appearances + 30 starts. Thats a lot of potential extra value.

[Can_of_corn]

What I think would be great is for teams to start using starters as relievers on their throw day, max 15-20 pitches.

It seems like it could work. Starters throw probably 15 warmup tosses -> 20 full speed tosses. Why not let those full speed tosses be in game situations, instead of in the bullpen?

I figure you probably don't get full efficiency on this schedule, so lets say you get 15 relief appearances + 30 starts. Thats a lot of potential extra value.

There is a number of ways teams could experiment. Problem is only bad teams will take the risk and than the results tend not to be good since they are, you know, bad.

[25 Nuggets]

What I think would be great is for teams to start using starters as relievers on their throw day, max 15-20 pitches.

It seems like it could work. Starters throw probably 15 warmup tosses -> 20 full speed tosses. Why not let those full speed tosses be in game situations, instead of in the bullpen?

I figure you probably don't get full efficiency on this schedule, so lets say you get 15 relief appearances + 30 starts. Thats a lot of potential extra value.

Actually that's kind of a return to old school baseball (really old school baseball) when a team would have a 3-4 man rotation and everyone split time between starting and relieving. Course, those staffs might have as few as 7 pitchers total so, not exactly the same.

[Frobby]

Kills me to read this:

When Joe Maddon was in Tampa Bay, the Rays were way out in front of most of the sport in avoiding third-time-through disaster. So Maddon carried that philosophy to Chicago with him last year. The result? In more than a third of the games the Cubs played -- 57, to be precise -- Maddon's starters went no more than five innings. That was the most ever for a Cubs team with a winning record.

"But you can't do that with every one of your starters," Maddon said. "Or else you'll kill your bullpen."

So Maddon managed Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester dramatically differently than how he managed the rest of his rotation. Those two combined for only eight of those abbreviated starts. On the other hand, Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks combined for 28, all by design.

"I think you always want to build around your rotation," Maddon said. "You always want to find four or five guys who you dig, who can give you innings and keep you in games. But you don't always have that. ... So everyone's different. You just don't throw everyone in one bucket and say the third time through, everyone loses effectiveness. When Jake Arrieta is on the mound, that's just not true."

But how many Jake Arrietas roam this planet? Not enough.

Seems to me that Arrieta was frequently flaming out in mid-game when he was with us.