Comments on: Starting versus Closing

By: Ask Boswell 12/5/11 edition at Nationals Arm Race

Ask Boswell 12/5/11 edition at Nationals Arm Race — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:28:43 +0000

[...] (outside of the uber-elite, guys like Mariano Rivera) are mostly replaceable. I’ve posted time and again about how overvalued relievers and (especially) closers are. You just should not over-spend for [...]

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:06:31 +0000

Agreed on players wanting to be stars. Heck, that’s one of the main reasons we have the whole “closer” issue. Would you rather pay Papelbon $12M to do the same job that Daniel Bard probably does 99% as well this year but for something in the range of $440k? I’d rather stick with the rookie in the closer role and spend that money on a starter. The whole idea of a staff with no starters is rather far fetched i agree.

I’ll be interested to see what they do with Zimmermann this season. If he stays healthy and hits 130-140 innings, do they just skip starts, move him to the bullpen?

By: Jonny Holiday

Jonny Holiday — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:49:52 +0000

FA pitchers, and heck upper draft picks, are not going to be enamored with a plan to pitch 2-3 innings per outing. Guys like starting, and it’s important to keep players happy and comfortable.

Your idea does have merit for guys returning from injury or on innings caps. Jordo Zimmermann is a good example this year; he will be limited to about 165 innings, so why not have a designated AAAA starter or similar injury risk piggyback on all his starts? Throw Zimm 4 or 5 innings, then have CMW come in and try to finish the game. Repeat for two months and see what happens.

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:56:39 +0000

True. Good point there about at bats.

Perhaps you could actually lower the number of pitchers you need to carry to 10 and carry more positional players, knowing you need more pinch hitters each game. 10 pitchers means slightly more workload per week but also neatly fits into a “5 man” rotation each day. A team A and Team B if you will.

By: tyrusray367

tyrusray367 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:44:15 +0000

An ancillary advantage to the 12 man long relief staff in the National League would be reducing pitcher at-bats by 2-3 per game. You could create a rough copy of the DH and we already know that increases runs in the American League (the DH that is)