Rotation Order

[JohnBriggs12]

Actually I kind of like the thinking especially early on. No matter who's pitching the odds against Lincecum on opening day aren't good. Why not sacrifice that game with Suppan, then follow him with Bush and Parra against Cain and Johnson. Then you'd have Gallardo to face the Cubs #4 starter in the home opener and Looper to face their #5.

 

By not squaring up against opponents aces initially, Gallardo will build up confidence (and a winning record) that will serve him well later when he will be facing more aces.

 

You can always skip over Suppan down the road when off days allow.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Why should we sacrifice a game against SF who has no offense. Gallardo may not be quite as good as Lincecum but he has a chance to be that caliber and our offense is way better than SF.

[Dmiles23]

I don't mind this at all. I guess, no matter if it's games 4-6 or 160-162, I want my best pitchers facing the Cubs. I'd go with the rotation of Bush, Parra, Suppan, Yo, Looper. That way you at least have Yo, Looper, and Bush facing the Cubs. I understand Looper may not be one of the top 3 in the rotaion, but you are setting up 2 of your top 3 to face the Cubs.

[yoyo49]

4/7: Gallardo

4/8: Suppan

4/9: Parra

 

4/10: Bush

4/11: Looper

4/12: Gallardo

 

I suppose Suppan and Parra could be interchangable as well as Bush and Looper. This way, your best pitcher starts on opening day and against the Cubs.

[naivin]

This is just dumb. Personally, I give a rip what the order is, by the second or third week in the season its usually all messed up anyway. But, does this really take pressure off Gallardo? He's the best starter on the team and everyone knows it. Placing him in some different slot does little to relieve the pressure of him having to be the man. Whether he starts 1st or 5th, his expectations are higher than any of the other starter, and he knows it.

[BADGERJOBOB]

Well it sounds like Gallardo will not be our Opening Day starter. I don't agree with that at all. All I have to say is, it better not be Jeff Suppan.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/39717602.html href="http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/39717602.html" target=_blank>http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/39717602.html

I thought that was common knowledge. I have seen the Macha interview on Time Warner Sports numerous times so I was drilled in the head that Macha doesn't want to put any additional pressure on Yo/Parra. He also kind of likes Suppan and his experience so if he shows anything during spring training he will be the opening day pitcher with probably Bush going second, Yo third, Parra fourth and Looper in the 5 position.

[ILuvDaBush]

Bush was the first pitcher in 26 years to post a W in the postseason. Let the kid trot out for Opening Day against Tiny Tim. #2 is where it gets interesting.

[And That]

Here's the rotation order for spring training... and beyond?

 

RHP Jeff Suppan
RHP Yovani Gallardo
LHP Manny Parra
RHP Braden Looper
RHP Dave Bush

While Macha said that this isn't necessarily the rotation going in to the year, I hope at the very least that Bush isn't the 5th starter, because I don't think he's the best guy of the five to skip regularly. If Suppan is the opening day pitcher, I can only fathom the reaction.

[Ennder]

That is assuming they skip anyone. Maybe they just go with a pure 5 man and give guys extra days off.

[logan82]

It's only spring training. I will wait until the season starts to make any judgments on Macha.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Suppan possibly starting the opener? That is ridiculous if its true. What other team would start its worst starting pitcher on opening day?

[JohnBriggs12]

That is assuming they skip anyone. Maybe they just go with a pure 5 man and give guys extra days off.

I wouldn't skip anyone but if one is going real bad, they should move that guy to the pen to work it out and stick McClung in there for at least a couple turns. I'd also try to keep McClung sharp by giving him an occasional start regardless of how the top 5 are going, in essessence occasionally going with 6 starters. Over the long haul, the extra rest might help everybody, especially Gallardo and Parra.

[Ennder]

Suppan possibly starting the opener? That is ridiculous if its true. What other team would start its worst starting pitcher on opening day?

The Twins started Livan Hernandez on opening day last year. Pretty sure he was their worst SP going into the season.

[Mass Haas]

Adam McCalvy link:

For now, the pitchers will have to keep guessing. They did get a preview of Macha's regular-season plans for them during their sit-down with him on Monday morning.

"I tried to give them a brief philosophy on how I treat the starters, or how I try to, anyhow," Macha said. "If they give me six innings and they've got the lead, they're not going to lose that game. We're going to turn it over to the bullpen.

"And if they've pitched well for six innings and they're in the seventh inning and they're one run behind, I'm going to give them an opportunity to get out of that seventh inning so we can hit one more time and hopefully take the lead. I want those starters to have an attitude that they're out there to win every time."

Interesting, although circumstances should vary game-to-game, shouldn't they, depending on where the pitchers' spot is in the batting order, etc. I don't read it as though every pitcher with a lead after six will be automatically yanked. It's just that at no point would that pitcher be allowed to face the go-ahead run. I also hope we don't see a lot of one-run deficits in the 7th turn to two-and-three-run deficits based on this.

[SeriesFinale]

Actually I kind of like the thinking especially early on. No matter who's pitching the odds against Lincecum on opening day aren't good. Why not sacrifice that game with Suppan

Parra beat Lincecum in San Francisco last year--trot him out there if Macha's so worried about Gallardo's psyche (I mean, what?)

 

This is just not a team that can afford to sacrifice games this year

[owbc]

Those comments about being careful with starters after the 6th inning concern me. Yost went with two different strategies in 2007 and 2008 and it seemed like leaving the starters in worked out much better. There's no Ben Sheets or CC Sabathia this year to suck up innings, so the bullpen is almost guaranteed to see more innings than last year. If we compound this by pulling starters when they get into jams in the middle innings, it's going to quickly overwork our middle relievers. In addition, I don't understand why there is a fear of starters blowing a game when they are in the 80-100 pitch range. We have a rotation with plenty of experience, they should be capable of pitching out of jams.

 

I do see the other argument though--if we assume that the bullpen is likely to be a stronghold compared to the starting rotation, why not let them into the game earlier--especially if we have a 13-man pitching staff.

 

As for the order of the starting pitchers--Macha can pull them out of a hat if he wants to, it doesn't matter after the first week of the season anyway.

[Milltownhooker]

Over a 162 game span the order of the rotation varies so much do to rain, injuries, suspensions, etc etc. It doesn't matter much after a few weeks the rotation order will feel more like Yo, Bush, Parra, Looper, Suppan. The time when rotation order truly matters is in the playoffs or the drive toward the playoffs in late summer.

[kmcasper23]

Yeah but if Suppan starts 1st that means he will more than likely get the most starts. Do we really want our #5 starter from a year ago getting the most starts this year?

[kramnoj]

I think there are 9 off-days before the ASB. I don't know that the #5 starter would be skipped. I think it's more likely that minor injuries (knock on wood) would be more likely to cause a shuffle of pitchers than anyone's start being skipped. If they don't skip a start and every pitcher makes every start, the 4 and 5 starters would get one less start before the ASB than the first 3.

 

I believe that Macha said that the SP would be re-evaluated at the ASB, and he could tweak it then if neccessary. The only pitcher that would be affected would be the pitcher that starts on the Sunday before the ASB (the #3 if all pitchers made all their starts). Any other pitcher could start the first game back on full rest.

[zzzmanwitz]

Do we really want our #5 starter from a year ago getting the most starts this year?

 

No, we don't. But we also want to limit innings to our young pitchers as much as possible. We want to get our new "ace" in a less pressurized situation. Sure, its not ideal to have Suppan, Bush, or Looper as our "#1" pitcher. But as has been said, over the course of the season, it doesn't matter. By the time September rolls around, our best pitchers will be pitching as many games as they can.

[davego]

If he and the other 3 guys never miss a start that would be correct (and the rotation doesn't get bumped by a rainout). The odds of that are rather low.

[BrewCrewForever]

As much as I want Gallardo going on opening day in SF, I guess in the end the rotation gets goofy at some point during the year so whatever.

[kmcasper23]

Thats fine keeping Yo or Parra out of the #1 slot but Suppan? At least Bush looked good in the 2nd half so put him there not Sup!

[NievesNoNO]

The fan in me wants to see Yo v. Lincecum. In the big picture I don't think it matters, although I don't get the theory that he isn't mentally ready. I think he probably has the best composure of any pitcher on the team. Could be part of a little mental game Macha is playing, but I guess I don't know if that is his personality or not.

[fondybrewfan]

I agree with those that have said that if Gallardo and Parra won't be the opening day starter why not Looper or Bush? What would possibly make Suppan the best choice unless Macha is already conceding opening day?