RP Strategy

[Drunken Rhino]

Ok, so I live in Denver and my and I were throwing around this idea that the Rockies might be able to use. The Rox have historically bad starting pitching right? They've thrown money at it in the past (see Mike Hampton). Why couldn't the Rockies develop a staff of just RP?

Now I haven't researched this fully, this is just off the top of my head, but I believe pitchers have a better success rate their first time through the order. So maximum, a P goes 3 IP, or 1 time through the order, then a change is made. That way you keep your Ps fresh, presumably with a lighter workload, and they'd be able to pitch on shorter rest as well which would be needed for this stategy to work.

Also, having a staff of just RPs would presumably be less expensive than having a staff of 5 SPs and RPs, which would free up the Rox to go for big bats. And they shouldn't have a difficult time recruiting big bats, b/c who wouldn't want to pad their stats with a couple years in the thin air of Colorado.

Now I'm pretty sure this won't fly, but I think it's worth considering, especially since the Mets will have to use some form of it tonight and the WS if they make it.

[Havok1517]

It could work but that would really tax your bullpen. Plus, it sure would be hard to find good/great pullpen arms. But I guess salary on starters would go there. Takes away a lot of game strategy (both good and bad). Never going to happen but and interesting idea. 1 I believe the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been usuing unsuccessfully for years.

[GoatCurse03]

LaRussa experimented with this a number of years ago, but abandoned it pretty quick. I did not see it, but it got a passing mention in the book "Three Nigts in August".

A good read, btw, for any baseball fan, except maybe for Cub fans, since the 3 nights are a series against them and Cubbie fans won't appreciate some of the opinions.

[Pogotheostrich]

The main problem to me is that there are only 25 roster spots. Usually 12-15 of those are taken up by position players so you are going to need some pretty resilient arms.

[Drunken Rhino]

Ok, so say 14 are position players, that leaves 11 Ps. Say on average a ML team plays ~1500 innings. That's an average of ~135 IP.

Now I contend that if a P is only pitching a max of 3 IP, he can come back on 1 or 2 days rest and pitch another 2-3 IP.

But yes you would need resilient arms. Guys like Heilman and Torres fit this description in my mind.

[number9]

Neat. You can have one or two long guys (used to be SPs) that can mop up big losses, they'll eat up low leverage innings where you don't want to use your good RPs. Then you'll probably have a couple of relief aces (R and L?) that can get you out of high leverage jams. Then the rest of the guys (7-8 of them) that each can go 100-150IP by going 2-3IP every 2-3 days.

But it would just require the manager to do way too much unconventional thinking, never gonna happen

[acsguitar]

I didn't know you lived in Denver!!

Me too!

Anyways I agree with this idea in theory. However, I think the Rockies have enough SP to win now. Frances is due for a break out year. And Kim did a decent enough job.

The bullpen is pretty decent in colorado and you could argue that if we just had a FA pickup or two that didn't send away a prospect for 2 used up KC royals bums then we could have made the playoffs

[moose32]

i've been thinking about this for a while. i'd try to split it up 1/2 flame throwers 1/2 submarine pitchers. then alternate them so the lineup has no idea whats going on.

[Havok1517]

What about when teams are having an offensive night in like a 9-8 game and RPs keep getting blown up? I mean, I've seen managers spend 4 pitchers in 1 inning for the reason alone. If that happens in the 4th or 5th inning, the team with the all RP team is screwed.

[Drunken Rhino]

If that happens, then you obviously send in Jose Canseco. Duh!