Pitchers Learning New Roles
(First Look at Brooklyns Innovative Staff)
I didn't want this to be another article about how we are doing pitching different this year. But it kind of has to be. I mean we could list 5 guys who could start and 7 or 8 guys who will pitch out of the pen and call this preview a day. But to give an accurate preview(and to help myself figure it out), I'm going to do my best to explain this...
Opener
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Perhaps the craziest part of this whole scheme is that there are no defined starters. While most teams pick their 5 best starters and pitch them in order, this system uses a totally different approach. The starting pitcher, or opener to differentiate it from any perceived notion of a starter, could be any guy on the staff. It does not have to be the best guy available. In fact, on many occasions it could be the worst. It could also be the same guy multiple days in a row. A Brooklyn pitcher will probably set a BBA record for games started this season. But I do not know who that will be.
The starter will be picked on a game by game basis similar to the old system we used. Where we would analyze our opponent and picked the pitcher we thought would fair the best against that team. Though this new system adds several new theories. Some of which are admittedly gimmicky and probably controversial. Like, if a team has 3 solid right handed bats hitting 1-3, we could start a righty specialist. Then give him a quick hook and let a lefty face the rest of the lineup that may be more left handed. Some may call it cheap, but it's the art of bullpening and MLB teams are already starting to do this.
I feel there are two huge advantages of not using a traditional starter. The first is that starters often start the game on fire, then tire around the 4th or 5th inning. Limiting them to 3-4 innings should keep them out of "the red" in terms of fatigue. We're going for quality over quantity here.
The other advantage is eliminating the nights when your starter just doesn't have it. In a traditional set up, if you're starter is having a bad night, you are screwed. You either kill the bullpen or ride the tired soldier and hope he can give you 5 innings. Under this system, everyone has a quick hook. If they don't have it, they get yanked and wished better luck tomorrow. It doesn't wear out the rest of the staff because it is built to have higher stamina and shorter workloads has more pitchers available on any given night. So it's kind of a built in feature that one or two guys each night can get a quick hook.
By now you are probably thinking... is this a preview or a lecture? Fact is opener is just a game designation and not a role. Anyone can do it on any given night. Many times it will be a "Bulk" guy opening and you won't even realize that this staff is as bizarre as we are. Depending on the opponent I could start a guy like Francisco Ruiz (10/7/6 Ratings) and give him a higher pitch count. Other times it may be a loogy in there just to get the leadoff batter out. The only rule is that there are no rules.
High Leverage Bulk
Francisco Ruiz (10/7/6 Ratings)
Manuel Andres (10/7/5 Ratings)
Manuel Romano (10/7/5 Ratings)
Ken Bates (10/6/7 Ratings)
High Leverage Bulk is my equivilent of top of the rotation starters. These guys are going to get in the game and pitch more innings then anyone. One thing I learned last season is that my manager does a pretty good job at handling "avoid high leverage" and "high leverage". So these guys are going to pitch more in closer, high pressure situations. Though they will mostly be regulated to innings 1-7. On certain occasions some of these pitchers may switch to Low Leverage or Stopper. It's all about distributing the workload.
One thing that may get noticed here and could be another contraversial point. Andres, Romano, and some of my Low Leverage Bulk pitchers have the dreaded stuck changeup. By pitching them out of the pen in shorter, more frequent stints, it maximizes thier talents without putting pressure on that third pitch.
Low Leverage Bulk
Juan Jose Fuentes (9/7/6 Ratings)
Juan Hernandez (8/4/9 Ratings)
Grellan Profit (10/5/5 Ratings)
Luis Salinas (10/5/6 Ratings)
This is my version of the back half of the rotation. Note that between Bulk High and Bulk Low there are 8 pitchers capable of starting on a traditional staff. This is key in order to make this work over the course of a 162 game season. There must be an excess of stamina or else the staff will get burned out in no time. The only difference between High/Low Bulk is that this group is more likely to be put in the game earlier or when the score is more definitive. I guess you could compare them more to a Long Man then a back of the rotation starter, but there will be a lot more innings to soak up then a traditional long man because of the lack of middle relievers.
Specialists
Oginga Coujoe (8/7/7 Ratings)
Ramon Vasquez (9/7/5 Ratings)
Robert Hansen (8/8/7 Ratings)
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Leonardo Montes (10/6/2 Ratings)
Ah, some familiarity. These pitchers are just your run of the mill specialists. With the lone exception being that they could start on occasion. Another key function of the specialist is to help burn the other teams bench. A portion of this system is designed to take advantage of batter splits by continuously rotating lefty/righty pitchers. Not just in the 7th and 8th inning, but the entire game.
Stopper
Ryosei Akiyama (10/5/7 Ratings)
Jorge Perez (10/7/8 Ratings)
Bernard Keller (10/5/7 Ratings)
The slow death of the closer role has brought along this ideal of a stopper. A guy who can be brought in late in the game under the tightest of conditions. Managers are still struggling a bit with this role as they over work the heck out of the stopper. So you really need 2-3, maybe even 4 quality guys. Akiyama did an unbelievable job in this role last September. But he had the luxury of having a day off ever two to three days. Even still he was over worked. That's why Brooklyn went ahead and converted Jorge Perez (10/7/8 Ratings). The math said he go from being a run of the mill Low Leverage Bulk guy to a shut down stopper. Hopefully the production matches up. Bernard Keller (10/5/7 Ratings) had a great 2035 season and an even better playoff run. He might not be the ideal stopper, but has earned the benefit of the doubt.
The philosophy here is that rather then using a closer for 50-60 innings a year when your team is up by 2-3 runs. We are going to utilize the heck out of Akiyama and Perez. They will each have over 100 innings and most of the time be used in really close pivotal spots.
The Robins have tossed around the idea of moving Francisco Ruiz (10/7/6 Ratings) to the stopper role and will probably do so at some point to try it out. It makes sense to have the best pitcher on your staff available to pitch multiple late pressure filled innings virtually every night.
Depth
Ingo Bennaars (9/5/5 Ratings)
Chris Daniel (9/3/8 Ratings)
Philippe Delmas (8/4/5 Ratings)
Jose Harrara (9/5/5 Ratings)
Alfonso Navarro (8/6/6 Ratings)
Takeo Aoki (7/6/5 Ratings)
Luis Ayala (10/5/5 Ratings)
Martin Bacardi (8/6/7 Ratings)
These pitchers all got spring training invites. I didn't want to list them under each role because it got distracting. With the exception of Aoki, they are all relievers who will probably be specialists if called upon. Aoki would fill in under low leverage.
