6 man rotation

[bork]

Counsell is talking about the possibility of a creative solution to deal with 6 starters. The article seems to hint at a 6 man rotation. Not sure how this would work, but none of the six are a dominant starter. In fact, none of the 6 have thrown 200 in the past 5 years.

 

http://m.brewers.mlb.com/news/article/215698864/early-25-man-roster-prediction-for-the-brewers/

[trwi7]

We would either be carrying 13 pitches or be a man short in the bullpen. Considering how much our pitchers struggle to go 6 innings, much less 7+, I don't think going a man short in the bullpen would be something that could even be considered, so they probably have to be comfortable with a 13 man pitching staff.

[502 to Right]

I think every time a team talks about a logjam at starting pitcher, someone gets hurt when the regular season begins (or before). Like clockwork.

 

It could be a GEICO commercial. Pitchers get hurt. It's what they do.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'd have to find the thread but I suggested this back at the end of last season when they were going with a 6 man rotation for a bit. Makes all the sense in the world given their current situation and the need to watch innings for Guerra. They have more than enough versatility on their roster to go with 13 pitchers and 12 position players. Perez can play all 3 OF position and all 4 infield positions. If he went down, it might take 2 guys to replace him, and then they'd have to sacrifice a pitcher.

 

Five or six man rotation, in my mind, Garza's the odd man out. They pay his salary regardless, and replace his roster spot with a minimum salary guy anyway. Guerra, Davies, Peralta, Nelson, Anderson and Milone as the rotation? I could see it.

 

If one of those guys goes down, stick Hader or Lopez in the spot, and you have a natural way of controlling innings.

[Roderick]

Five or six man rotation, in my mind, Garza's the odd man out. They pay his salary regardless, and replace his roster spot with a minimum salary guy anyway. Guerra, Davies, Peralta, Nelson, Anderson and Milone as the rotation? I could see it.

 

Garza is more secure for a rotation spot than Peralta, Nelson and maybe Anderson in my mind.

 

You have to see if he can produce enough to get something for him in July. But once he sucks enough that he will have no value at the trading deadline, it is probably time to cut him outright (I don't know if he would be a good teammate down in the pen). But by then, there may be injuries or other bad play that keep him in the rotation even if he is not great.

[FVBrewerFan]

I don't mind it once they bring a couple of rookies up, as it would be a great way to limit their innings. But I definitely wouldn't start the season this way just to get an Anderson or Nelson into the rotation.

[brewcrewdue80]

The truth to the fact that most likely a SP goes down to injury and keaves the obvious 5 remaining as your opening day starters. I think 1 if not 2 of the likes of Nelson, Peralta, and Anderson pitch pathetic in Spring and receive appropiate demotions to bullpen or minors, or just released altogether. Of course, to become #3s with great numbers for another team. I think the decision making needs to be tough and release the weakest link heading in to the season. Likely able to find a mediocre trade piece for a minor salvage. Like Gennett, who shouldnt make the roster barring injury, you gotta move on from the #5s.Anderson is my best guess who fits this type, but capable to get a trade down heading in to Opening Day. Teams are certainly going to lose SPs to injury in ST. He fits perfectly the #5 youd like to fill in.

[monty57]

Some starting pitcher somewhere will get injured this spring. If it's a Brewer, we have five guys for the rotation. If it's on another team, we can trade one of our guys to them.

 

If neither of these things happen, then McCalvy guesses that Anderson ends up as the long man in the pen. I wouldn't mind seeing Nelson starting in AAA. He probably has the highest ceiling of any of the six, but as we all know, he hasn't shown it for a while. Give him a little time out of the bright lights, let the season play out, and bring him up when a spot opens up.

[CheeseheadInQC]

The fact that this is even being discussed makes me think that the plan is a 13-man staff, and that works out because the Brewers are probably deeper with big league caliber middle relievers than they are with big league caliber bench bats.

[Greenleaf1]

Let's say you have a 6-man rotation AND a 7-man bullpen:

 

Guerra, Davies, Peralta, Garza, Nelson, Anderson

Feliz, Knebel, Torres, Barnes, Marinez, Blazek/Milone/Jungmann/Cravy/Lopez (take your pick of 2 of those guys, the other 5 seem relatively safe to me)

 

Then you've got:

 

Pina/Susac/Bandy (2 out of those 3)

Thames, Villar, Arcia, Shaw, Perez

Braun, Broxton, Santana, Nieuwenhuis

 

And 1 more spot if I'm doing my math correctly. Probably someone who can play some 1B so give it to Aguilar for now I guess (unless one of Pina/Susac/Bandy can play some 1B, which would certainly help).

 

I'm ok with this. Nieuwenhuis can play all over, and Perez can too. The only issue here is in case of injury to a position player, we'd probably have to make a move.

 

I'm still holding out hope we find a trade partner for Guerra or Garza before the season starts. Here's hoping they both look good in ST.

[JohnBriggs12]

Five or six man rotation, in my mind, Garza's the odd man out. They pay his salary regardless, and replace his roster spot with a minimum salary guy anyway. Guerra, Davies, Peralta, Nelson, Anderson and Milone as the rotation? I could see it.

 

Garza is more secure for a rotation spot than Peralta, Nelson and maybe Anderson in my mind.

 

You have to see if he can produce enough to get something for him in July. But once he sucks enough that he will have no value at the trading deadline, it is probably time to cut him outright (I don't know if he would be a good teammate down in the pen). But by then, there may be injuries or other bad play that keep him in the rotation even if he is not great.

 

The assumption that Garza will have much value even if he performs decently for a few months is a false assumption. Yeah I know his option is a relatively cheap one, but guys better than him had trouble landing jobs this winter. At best he might fetch a low level C+ or B- type and that's only if Brewers pick up a lot of his contract. It's not like other better arms won't be available at the deadline. Why keep him around when they can use his innings to better evaluate guys that might have a future beyond the next year or two? You keep him until the end of camp in case of injury, then unless the other options struggle big time, you just let him go.

 

Peralta was quite good after his return from the minors. In fact he looked like the guy that won 17 in 2014. Anderson had trouble getting deep in games but his ERA after the break was a smidge above 3. Nelson struggled badly in the 2nd half, but his ceiling is such they need to give him another shot to return to his form. All 3 of those guys need to start the year in rotation. Maybe Milone is in the pen or starting but he'll be on opening day roster most likely.

[FVBrewerFan]

I would be fine if they just DFAd Garza. Especially if they decide one of Hader, Woodruff, Lopez is ready to go and they want to start him right away. If that's not the case, I'm fine if they keep Garza. I really don't care if Milone or Anderson gets bumped from the rotation temporarily, or they go to a 6 man rotation for a while.

 

We're still in mid-Feb, and I have a feeling this will sort itself out. It's not like they have 9 proven, dominant starters that they need to sort through to make this work.

[Thurston Fluff]

We would either be carrying 13 pitches or be a man short in the bullpen. Considering how much our pitchers struggle to go 6 innings, much less 7+, I don't think going a man short in the bullpen would be something that could even be considered, so they probably have to be comfortable with a 13 man pitching staff.

 

I think every concern you have is legit but I wonder if an extra day off might allow the starters to throw better the days they do start thus go deeper into games more regularly. The only way to find out is to try it.

[DHonks]

I think a more creative solution would be to piggy-back in the big leagues. Nelson and Peralta struggle to go deep in games. I'd like to see them piggyback. At this point in time, I really don't want my young arms trying to go 7-9. I'd rather they give me 4-6 and focus on being great for those innings.

[Greenleaf1]

Are we looking at this the wrong way? Could we be looking at an 8-man bullpen instead of a 6-man rotation, with the starters who don't make the rotation being used as long relief on whatever day they're needed in that role, instead of slotting them in to pitch every 6th day?

 

Just a thought, but it still leaves us with a pretty short bench.

 

Still thinking either injury or trade will fix this for us.