The Second Floor | Four Plus Ten Equals Ninety (64.04)
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2025 5:41 pm
1.11.2064 – Richmond upon Thames, Greater London
Grant grabbed a chair and took a few moments to look over the electronic whiteboard before the meeting started. It was as good a summary of what he meant to propose as he could think of. Nothing more radical than a complete overhaul of the pitching staff as they knew it.
Grant was joined in the conference room by assistant GM Alastair Kingman, manager Jack Gulliver, and pitching coach León Morán. The others knew that Grant intended to lead a discussion of the Monarchs' 2064 pitching staff, but nothing more than that.
Grant got right into his presentation without preamble. He described the four-man rotation and ten-man bullpen that he proposed. Then he went through the bullet points that described why he thought the experiment might work, and he concluded with the conditions that would convince him to put a halt to the exercise. A lot of room was left for input from the on-field coaches regarding bullpen utilization, which Grant thought they would play by ear for much of the season. The starting rotation usage, though, was rigid. He proposed taking a lot of decision making away from his coaches.
Jack got up from his chair and stood in front of the board, taking it all in for a moment. “The logic of it is easy enough to follow, but there's a reason you don't see it more often. With all due respect, this looks like something that a baseball writer would come up with.”
Grant chuckled. “Sure, and there's of course a good reason for that.”
León spoke up for the first time during the meeting. “It's going to be a hard sell. The starters expectations are … different from what you've laid out.”
Grant nodded. “I understand, but selling this to the players is your job.”
Jack turned around to face Grant. “Sure, but who's going to sell it to us?”
“That's what I'm trying to do here,” said Grant. “This is how we get back to winning the division.”
Jack said nothing, just looked at Grant and cocked an eyebrow.
“Okay,” said Grant, approaching the board. “The idea here is to take our best four potential starters, and put them in a position to succeed. We do that by keeping them from pitching a third time through the order, ever, full stop. We should see an improvement in their rate stats as a result. This will keep them from running up high pitch counts. The lower pitch counts will help them recover faster and not be tired for their starts. Their total workload over the season will be about the same, but spread over more starts, so the counting stats should get better too.”
Grant flicked his wrist and changed the page on the board. “This basically shifts the fifth starter's innings to the bullpen, so we have ten guys. We divide the pen into two groups, long and short. The best long relievers are stoppers, the best short relievers are closer and setup. In my mind, usage of the relievers depends a great deal on the game state when we bring the starter out, and your gut feeling in the moment for who matches up with the lineup your facing. We'll have the ability to throw multiple looks at a team over the course of a game, over a series even, minimizing, hopefully, benefits they might enjoy through familiarity.”
Jack looked over to León, who nodded back.
'Approval?' thought Grant.
“Alright,” said Jack. “Let us marinate in it a bit. We'll have to retool too.”
Grant grabbed a chair and took a few moments to look over the electronic whiteboard before the meeting started. It was as good a summary of what he meant to propose as he could think of. Nothing more radical than a complete overhaul of the pitching staff as they knew it.
Grant was joined in the conference room by assistant GM Alastair Kingman, manager Jack Gulliver, and pitching coach León Morán. The others knew that Grant intended to lead a discussion of the Monarchs' 2064 pitching staff, but nothing more than that.
Grant got right into his presentation without preamble. He described the four-man rotation and ten-man bullpen that he proposed. Then he went through the bullet points that described why he thought the experiment might work, and he concluded with the conditions that would convince him to put a halt to the exercise. A lot of room was left for input from the on-field coaches regarding bullpen utilization, which Grant thought they would play by ear for much of the season. The starting rotation usage, though, was rigid. He proposed taking a lot of decision making away from his coaches.
Jack got up from his chair and stood in front of the board, taking it all in for a moment. “The logic of it is easy enough to follow, but there's a reason you don't see it more often. With all due respect, this looks like something that a baseball writer would come up with.”
Grant chuckled. “Sure, and there's of course a good reason for that.”
León spoke up for the first time during the meeting. “It's going to be a hard sell. The starters expectations are … different from what you've laid out.”
Grant nodded. “I understand, but selling this to the players is your job.”
Jack turned around to face Grant. “Sure, but who's going to sell it to us?”
“That's what I'm trying to do here,” said Grant. “This is how we get back to winning the division.”
Jack said nothing, just looked at Grant and cocked an eyebrow.
“Okay,” said Grant, approaching the board. “The idea here is to take our best four potential starters, and put them in a position to succeed. We do that by keeping them from pitching a third time through the order, ever, full stop. We should see an improvement in their rate stats as a result. This will keep them from running up high pitch counts. The lower pitch counts will help them recover faster and not be tired for their starts. Their total workload over the season will be about the same, but spread over more starts, so the counting stats should get better too.”
Grant flicked his wrist and changed the page on the board. “This basically shifts the fifth starter's innings to the bullpen, so we have ten guys. We divide the pen into two groups, long and short. The best long relievers are stoppers, the best short relievers are closer and setup. In my mind, usage of the relievers depends a great deal on the game state when we bring the starter out, and your gut feeling in the moment for who matches up with the lineup your facing. We'll have the ability to throw multiple looks at a team over the course of a game, over a series even, minimizing, hopefully, benefits they might enjoy through familiarity.”
Jack looked over to León, who nodded back.
'Approval?' thought Grant.
“Alright,” said Jack. “Let us marinate in it a bit. We'll have to retool too.”