Jays/Phillies 8/20 Double Header

[I_Like_Dirt]

I actually like how the starters are being managed. The team has a bunch of guys who are sort lf back end starters and can handle a few innings per outing. Don't tax any individual pitcher, let everyone play and have the ability to ride things out more easily when the starter of the day is having a bad day. That was particularly important in game 2 today, for example. There are ups and downs, to be sure, but it seems to be playing out reasonably well over a larger scale. A lot of guys are slowly settling down to their averages and if anyone gets hurt or sick or whatever, the team will still have some options.

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[Schad]

Yeah, there are plenty of reasons to complain about Montoyo, but not letting middling starters go 100+ is pretty close to accepted truth in baseball these days. The Braves have seen their starters throw the following pitch counts:

69, 67, 82, 70, 54, 82, 85, 79, 74, 75, 48, 80, 92, 83, 91, 39, 91, 47, 86, 44, 65, 103, 73, 51. (I missed a game somewhere but damned if I'm going to figure out where).

Performance has played a role, but even when their starters are doing well, with the exception of Fried (and occasionally Wright) they're getting yanked after a couple trips through the order. In 25 games, their starter has been credited with a win three times, and all three of those are Fried. They aren't going full opener, yet their bullpen has more innings than their starters. They're also 14-11.

Pitching is very much a depth game these days; our problem wasn't that the starters aren't going deep, it's that we were getting a lot of bad innings from the 'pen. Now we're mostly getting good innings, and our results have improved markedly as a result.

[I_Like_Dirt]

To be honest, the way the Jays are using their pitchers has me somewhat optimistic that Ryu will actually be good for the entirety of his contract. Freak injuries happen but this kind of thing mitigates those chances a bit and seems like a way to avoid killing his arm.

To be honest, I actually like Montoyo. Most of the "reasons" to criticize him are by breakkng things down to the micro level on individual game decisions. The team doesn't have a home exactly, was up in the air all spring training and has incorporated a bunch of younger players. I expected a bumpy start to the season with a bit of a later surge to get around .500. They've been reasonably well-prepared, flexible, and have guys come in to do what's asked of them and that's about all I can ask for.

The results have been solid so far, too. I don't expect they push much beyond .500, if they can even maintain that, but there's also a chance they do a bit. Anyone can beat anyone but with the Red Sox and Os on deck after ths Rays here, it's entirely possible they leave August a few games above .500.

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[Lateral Quicks]

If the new normal is having starters throw 4-5 innings, we shouldn't be paying so much for starters. Why did we pay so much for Ryu if we're going to limit him to 80 pitches a start?

If a starter is starting to get hit hard and the bullpen is rested, by all means bring in some relief. But if a starter has it rolling I want to see to see hit continue in the game.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Why pay so much for Ryu? Because he's still really good and teams with good players tend to win more. If they can win as many or more games playing Ryu a bit less, great. They'd still lose more games without him at all. Pay the really good players and have a good farm system to fill in everything else for cheap. The team still has a long way to go but so far so good. The team has been ignoring traditional ideas and doesn't seem worse for it in terms of wins.

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