Spring Training News & Grapefruit League Action

[Fenris-77]

This is one of those times where it baffles me that teams don't look more closely at using a 6 man rotation on occasion. In some cases, and young arms on innings restrictions comes to mind, I don't really the see the downside so long as the team manages the schedule well so guys can stay in a good routine. Maybe there's a glaring reason I'm just not thinking of though, aside from the MLBs blind adherence to "the way things are done".

[Skin Blues]

The problem with a 6 man rotation is you are watering down your talent. So Stroman only pitches every 6 or 7 days. If you skip starts to keep the top pitcher(s) on an every-5-day schedule, then your 5th and 6th starters would have many stretches of 2+ weeks without throwing a pitch. At that point you might as well make them full-time bullpen arms like Gavin Floyd is going to be, and shift them to a starting role once the first injury occurs. I believe there are more off-days than usual at the start of the season as well since the weather is assumed to be pretty bad.

[The_Hater]

This is one of those times where it baffles me that teams don't look more closely at using a 6 man rotation on occasion. In some cases, and young arms on innings restrictions comes to mind, I don't really the see the downside so long as the team manages the schedule well so guys can stay in a good routine. Maybe there's a glaring reason I'm just not thinking of though, aside from the MLBs blind adherence to "the way things are done".

I personally think 5 is plenty, and with all the off days teams have early in the season they're still getting that extra day of rest quite often. MLB teams have already cut back on the innings of their SP's from previous decades by 30-40% with pitch counts and 5 man rotations.

[wazabifuzz]

Heard on radio that Jesus Montero was claimed by the Jays.

[satyr9]

This is one of those times where it baffles me that teams don't look more closely at using a 6 man rotation on occasion. In some cases, and young arms on innings restrictions comes to mind, I don't really the see the downside so long as the team manages the schedule well so guys can stay in a good routine. Maybe there's a glaring reason I'm just not thinking of though, aside from the MLBs blind adherence to "the way things are done".

I personally think 5 is plenty, and with all the off days teams have early in the season they're still getting that extra day of rest quite often. MLB teams have already cut back on the innings of their SP's from previous decades by 30-40% with pitch counts and 5 man rotations.

Yeah, I gamed it out last week. I think you could keep the rotation on an extra day's rest for the first month if you use a 6th for two starts, April 17th and 23rd. So, Chavez or Floyd gets two spots out of the 'pen (or one each), or you even bring Hutch up for a week and give someone from the 'pen with options a breather for a tight whatever, which will have happened by then for sure. This is about as far as I would go with a 6-man rotation, letting the whole squad have extra days while they're still in pseudo-spring-training-warm-up.

That being said, I have no issue with basically tandem starting Sanchez and Floyd. Let Sanchez have 18 batters and Floyd cleans up. Floyd is then available for one more relief appearance between Sanchez starts and that's pretty much all he does until an injury crops up. Or Chavez, but instead of stretching the times in between out I'd just limit how much he works each time and play to strengths.

edit: And my extra days thing is likely already blown when you consider Estrada starting on the DL and coming back before the 17th. Injuries are always the reason why planning the rotation is both fun and completely futile.

[Randle McMurphy]

I want to see what he can do and if he actually has the confidence in his secondary pitches. The risk is minimal with starting him vs. ushering him into the bullpen right away.

I can't deny that it is certainly more interesting watching Sanchez start than Floyd (if only because it allows us to dream on potential). There's a part of me that kind of wants to see if he's really changed. But is starting him likely to actually work and make them a better team in 2016? Outside of some largely meaningless spring innings, there's very little reason to think so.

[Lateral Quicks]

Re: Randy Choate:

The 40-year-old has become so much of a specialist, though, that his appearances have shortened to the point where he’s recently been brought into games to face only one left-handed batter and then leave. Last season with the Cardinals, Choate made 71 appearances while throwing only 27 1/3 innings, so he averaged just 1.15 outs per outing. That number was 1.77 outs per appearance in 2014 and 1.65 in 2013. He hasn’t averaged even two outs per appearance since 2004.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-takeaways-montero-worthwhile-gamble/

Wow.

[Randle McMurphy]

Re: Randy Choate:

The 40-year-old has become so much of a specialist, though, that his appearances have shortened to the point where he’s recently been brought into games to face only one left-handed batter and then leave. Last season with the Cardinals, Choate made 71 appearances while throwing only 27 1/3 innings, so he averaged just 1.15 outs per outing. That number was 1.77 outs per appearance in 2014 and 1.65 in 2013. He hasn’t averaged even two outs per appearance since 2004.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-takeaways-montero-worthwhile-gamble/

Wow.

When he was a Ray, Maddon always just brought him in to face Lind (who he always got out) and then took him out again.

[Lateral Quicks]

When he was a Ray, Maddon always just brought him in to face Lind (who he always got out) and then took him out again.

Hah!

The part that really amazed me was not averaging at least two outs an appearance since 2004. That's over a decade now! Talk about a specialist.

[torontoaces04]

When he was a Ray, Maddon always just brought him in to face Lind (who he always got out) and then took him out again.

Hah!

The part that really amazed me was not averaging at least two outs an appearance since 2004. That's over a decade now! Talk about a specialist.

I'm left-handed, and coaches always wanted me to pitch growing up. I hated it, and always asked to play Catcher. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have stayed as a pitcher. Maybe then, I could have washed-up in JUCO or something. THE DREAM!!!!!!