The ones that are debatable, in my mind, are the ones that are obviously a stall tactic to give a guy warming up more time. On the one hand, if these are cut out or diminished in frequency, it will force managers to cut ties with the guy on the mound more quickly and not be so liberal with giving guys a chance to work out of harms way. I say this because without stall visits, the manager will have to make his move sooner given he no longer has the luxury to wait and possibly let things get out of control. He wont be able to wait till the last moment because he has to dedicate more time to the guy warming up. On the whole, I like the added strategy and options it gives the manager. On the other hand though, it does get annoying when everybody knows whats going on, but the pitchers and coaches have to go through the motions anyway to meet baseball protocol.
I don't think the limitations will have much affect on pitching coach visits used for stalling. Teams are going to want to get full benefit out of a mound visit now.
Looks like the old Dizzy Dean trick is going to come into play. Dizzy was having trouble getting loose and the umpire told him he had to pitch. He walked the batter then threw to 1st base until he was loosened up and ready to pitch. I could see this happening until a pitcher in the bullpen was ready to come in and pitch. This new rule is going to put a premium on starting pitchers going longer in games and is going to reduce pitchers only facing one or two batters. How does this rule apply if a game goes into extra innings?
Pitching change visits don't count towards the total. But yes, teams will find a way around this mound visit rule, they always do. Instead of visits, we are just gonna get a half hour of miscommunication before they finally agree on a pitch. The only way MLB is ever gonna truly streamline games is with an enforced pitch clock, and pitchers are gonna scream bloody murder if they try to institute that. Everything else is really just rearrangeing chairs.
Good trade for all 3 teams. Arizona gets a good OF, Yankees get a 2B, Rays get 2 good prospects. There was just a fangraphs article about Tampa. They’ve gotten rid of Dickerson, Souza, Longoria, and Odorizzi, but their actual win projection hasn’t gone down much if at all (in fact, the Dickerson/Cron/Odorizzi moves was a net positive). Looking at Tampa’s roster and farm, they’ve got really good young players or prospects everywhere except C and RF, and they’ve still got Archer, Duffy, and Colome as veterans with value to trade away: C TBD (unless Ciuffo breaks out) 1B Bauers 2B Lowe SS Adames 3B Arroyo RF TBD (maybe Justin Williams?) CF Kiermeier (who has 6!!! years of control left) LF Solak Pitchers: Honeywell, Faria, Snell, Banda, Andriese, De Leon, others Plus they’ve got a ton of good prospects in the lower levels. They’ve got to get fair value for Archer and Colome but their future is bright and in no way should they be vilified like the Marlins.
I know we don’t need Chris Archer, but I would be aggressive and strike. I would do Collin McHugh, Derek Fisher, and JB Bukauskas and any other prospect the Rays want other than Tucker and Whitley. Then use a 6 man rotation all year to keep every one fresh. Verlander Keuchel Cole McCullers Archer Morton Fisher is nice but Kyle Tucker can easily take his spot by September. In the mean time, Marisnick and Marwin can platoon in LF.
The Astros would lose too many lady fans. The way they talk in the stands, it's clear there is just something they find irresistible about a fuzzy green guy with antennae.
WTH? No. We don't need Archer, I think he's overrated. Before we traded Cole I was one of the few who preferred Cole to Archer, so I was happy with that trade.
Teams will not regularly use six man rotations so there is no need to suggest they do so. Do you seriously think the Astros would rather Verlander, Keuchel and Cole sacrifice 15 starts over the course of a season (if healthy)? Pitchers will hate it. Not going to happen.
Be curious to see. Is it a true six man where (assuming 162 games of complete health for all 6 pitchers), they each pitch 27 times or a six man where 2 or 3 of the pitchers share the 4th and 5th spots?
I'll be curious. Seems Scioscia wants to protect Richards and Ohtani from injury by limiting them a bit. If you remember Tanaka when he came over he was on fire for a few months and then broke down a bit. The adjustment for Ohtani will be interesting.
6 man rotations make a mess of the playoffs because your starters are now conditioned to pitch every 6th day instead of every 5th day. So you either have to extend your playoff rotation or risk the 3-day-rest problem becoming a 4-day-rest problem.
I liked Astros county's idea of using a 5 man tandem rotation. Keuchel, Verlander and Cole on their usual outings. McCullers and McHugh/Peacock, Morton and McHugh/Peacock Gives the bullpen more rest going through the rotation and doesnt extend McCullers or Morton beyond 150 innings pitched.
They ('Stros) won't use a six man rotation, however one thing you can definitely count on is DK, LMJ & Morton will all go on the DL at some point over the season even if they're not hurt. As Luhnow has stated numerous times they'll need eight starters to eat up innings over 162 games (throw in Peacock and McHugh). Possibly Whitley.
One idea is to start with a 6 man rotation, but when there’s an injury or bad performance, go down to 5. Then toward the end of the season if the playoff race is tight, you can go down to 4. Then in the playoffs you would switch to a 3 man rotation with the other good starters coming in for multiple innings of relief. That would allow to preserve innings early in the season but still have an easy transition to the playoffs where usage is unrestricted. April/May: Verlander, Keuchel, Cole, McCullers, Morton, McHugh (Peacock available in case of injury) June/July/August: McHugh shifts to the pen Sept: McCullers/Morton shift to a tandem as 4th SP Oct: Verlander, Keuchel, Cole, with a bullpen of McCullers*, Morton*, Peacock*, McHugh*, Smith, Giles, Devenski*, Rondon, Harris *all capable of going multiple innings
