This is GM Voice Memo Number One.
I'm trying to get settled in now, and one of the first things I did was take a look at our pitching rotation, since there’s widespread belief that it’s a problem area.
Widespread belief has it nailed, turns out. The starting rotation truly is terrible, although our fielding isn't doing those boys any favors, either.
One thing at a time, though.
We’ve got no money for free agents, so help won’t be coming from that quarter. Trades? Everyone’s looking for starting pitching, it seems, so that seems like an outside shot at best.
Maybe there's help in the minors? I’ll need to do a deeper dive in order to see what the possibilities there might be.
But there’s one intriguing possibility that I knew we could try right out of the gate: an opener. Or maybe two.
On my first day, after that unfortunate little press briefing, I had a little chat with Bret Richards, our manager, and he was open to the possibility.
Vic Caleca
We both had the same thought about our who to tap as our initial guinea pig: Mutsuhito Imai.
He’s been working in one of our setup slots, and pitching pretty well (ERA of 2.18, FIP of 3.93) and he was rested. Bret discussed it with him, and he was game, so … welcome to opening, Mr. Imai.
We slotted him into the rotation in place of Manuel Peña, who’s 3-6 with a 4.60 FIP and a 1.78 command ratio since coming over from Omaha in mid-June.
Then, we unleashed our newly-minted opener against Brooklyn and Long Beach.
How'd it go? Mixed results – and a very rocky start.
Imai’s first outing was July 29 at Brooklyn, and we put him on a pitch count of 30. You would think that would carry a guy through one inning at least … but not quite.
Mutsuhito Imai
The nerves must have gotten to Imai, because he walked four guys and gave up a hit and a run before being lifted after two-thirds of an inning. Somehow, though, we actually won the game, 9-5. Peña relieved him, pitched terribly (3.1 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs), but still got the win. This is why they say wins is a junk stat. That, my friends, was a junk win.
Outing two, against Long Beach on August 4, was much better: 1.2 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 3 k’s - no runs. We went on to win that game 4-2, avoiding a sweep. Imai gave us a running start - we were able to break out on top and then find a way to win it late.
So, where do we stand with our little science project? Not a rousing success, that's for sure. But I think we’ve seen enough promise to give it another go ‘round.
And, if Bret Richards is game, maybe we’ll even expand it: I'm curious to see how Justin Archer would do – he’s got a little more stamina than Imai, plus electric stuff. Archer is more a classic closer. And that, ironically, might make him a classic opener.
We may need to tweak the bullpen setup a bit more to make this work – but almost anything would be better than what our rotation has been giving us.
I’ll give it some more thought, set a meeting with Richards for this afternoon, and see where we go from here.
Hopefully, not straight into the Dumpster …
[Recording ends]