Relief Aces/Bullpenning: Wave of the Future or Sabermetric Fantasy World?

[Thurston Fluff]

But he would have less impact on each game he plays.

[DHonks]

I've always wondered how effective side-sessions are. Guys pitching through slumps struggle to turn them around until they hit the minors. But if you were effectively pitching every 3rd day, you'd have opportunities to right the ship

[FVBrewerFan]

Actually, it would be worse because you're trotting that struggling pitcher out every 3rd game with no bullpen to bail him out. Not to mention really ticking off the SB you just pulled who just retired the first 9 batters in order. Replacing a SP who is hot with a RP would is not just because it's his turn? Sorry, I don't see it.

[adambr2]

MLB is going to a 10 day DL this year, so I'm very curious to see if teams will try to manipulate this into an extra floating roster spot. It would be pretty easy any time you have an off day to just skip one guy's start, DL him and have him back up by his next start anyway.

 

So while I think the original idea here is probably still a ways away from existing in practice, I could easily see a 4-5 man floating rotation with an extra man in the pen and shorter (90-100 pitch) starts.

 

Maybe this is just selective memory on my part but to me we seemed to get burned pretty frequently last year in the 6th and 7th when a guy would get through 5 or 6 but be showing signs of wear and we'd try to squeeze one more inning out of him.

[brewcrewdue80]

You would have to draft very differently and never try to get a Ben Sheets type pitcher. Which pretty much means you are always skipping the top pitchers in the draft for lesser pitchers. I just don't see how that makes a pitching staff better. Passing on the next Ben Sheets for two of the next Salomon Torres is not something I am in favor of.

 

 

To me, this is the point of this strategy. Skip top pitchers and draft the top hitters. 4,5, maybe it's always the first 6 picks are batters. And you fill in with Bullpen guys sprinkled throughout the rest of you picks. You don't need top pitchers from the draft with a 3IP type. The strategy is to simply get through a lineup once and never go through a full lineup twice. As one of the first posters shown, Nelson's 1st time and 2nd time through the order was great. But really tailed off in the 3rd and 4th times. You'd think with all the great hitters you'd hope to be developing with the high selections over and over, you could turn 1 a year in to 2 of the these types. Taijuan Walker with Ketal Marte was part of a deal for Segura, Haniger and a 3rd. This was a former top 20 SP who's not put his talent together. You would just think it'd be easier to find the amount of pitchers who can all most likely pitch below a 3.75ERA in this strategy. This vs. trying to fill a 5man starting rotation where the 3rd man on avg is at or worse of 3.75ERA. 4th over a 4, and 5th even higher. Injuries wouldn't affect so much on a 2.5ERA pitcher because you're not filling his place with a #5 pitcher.

 

But, again I just don't see a team moving to this strategy, til it has seen success elsewhere.