Winds of Change
(Chief meteorologist Jim Cantore expects cyclone to disperse north of Apalachicola)
Ahh... the cylone. Brooklyn's much ballyhoo'd act of masking pitchers with "the dreaded stuck changeup". While the process is less then 2 years old, the idea had been developing for many years. It all started when the Robins had a boatload of promising minor league pitchers named Manuel Andres (10/7/5 Talents), Manuel Romano (7/6/7 Talents), Grellan Profit (10/6/7 Talents), Masamune Ueda (9/6/6 Talents), Drees Geestman (10/6/6 Talents), Matheus Mra (10/6/6 Talents), Manuel Ramirez, and Ingo Bennaars (9/5/5 Talents). All had the tools to be solid to spectacular BBA pitchers. The other thing they had in common was a little less then desirable though. That attribute was a questionable 3rd pitch.
It was about 4-5 seasons ago when a new trend hit the BBA universe. Hurlers with under developed pitches all of a sudden would almost certainly flame out. This was a huge deathblow to a team that was building a pitching first organization. Adjustments needed to be made in order to avoid disaster. Thus the cyclone was born. In simple terms, Brooklyn's plan involved pulling the starting pitcher as soon as possible and using a depth of failed starters as 3 inning long relievers to compensate for the lack of a 3rd pitch that would hinder a pitcher facing a lineup 3 or more times around.
The results have been mixed and the jury is still out. Performances seemed to be up but then again, so were injuries. One thing you'll notice from the list of players above is that most of them are on other teams now. In trying to push all in, the depth of pitchers who inspired this idea have diminished. And as time has moved on, others have changed. Some for the better, some for the worse.
The two biggest players were Andres and Romano. Both were huge 5 star pitching prospects. Like the law of averages supports, one went up and one went down. Romano has struggled in this role and has since lumped. His control has not budget in 4 seasons, while his stuff and movement have seemingly diminished slightly but noticeably. Perhaps the biggest sign of flameout is his changeup. Once thought to be a potential out pitch is now stuck at a below average, putting his role as a future starter in serious jeopardy.
On the other end of the spectrum is Andres. Believe it or not, his changeup was developing at a much slower rate then Romano. Brooklyn was very close to RP converting him before the start of the 2035 season. Over the past two seasons we've seen notable progress in the pitch and it now stands at 6 with 10 potential. Thus making Brooklyn believe the pitch still has a shot at fully developing.
So with Andres, Mauro Flores (10/7/8 Talents), and Francisco Ruiz (10/7/6 Talents)... Brooklyn has 3 formidable starters. And by formidble I mean at least upper half of the league to top 10 as far as #1-3 starters go. No gimmicks needed. All three pitchers are expected to take the ball every 4-6 days in a traditional starter role. As of right now, Brooklyn is expected to "cyclone' the other starters with Ken Bates (9/5/7 Talents) getting a lot of cherry picked starts while using the Robins old "pitching platoon" philosophy. Brooklyn feels this is an ideal set up for a team expecting to win now. If they manage to make the playoffs, a Flores, Ruiz, and Andres rotation paired with their lights out bullpen is a perfect fit for playoff baseball. The lack of a consistent 4th/5th starter would be irrelevant at that point.
