While my mind is on the Detroit Tigers, I thought of something the other day that makes me wonder if it would be a smart move. In an effort to put less stress on the arms of the current pitching staff, would it be advisable to move to a six man starting rotation? By all accounts, the prospects that the Tigers have won't be ready until 2019 and 2020. And in some cases, even as late as 2021. That is two, three, and four years that the pitchers will have on their arms for throw away seasons.
Teams work with a five man starting rotations. During the course of a season, on average, guys are making about thirty starts. The work horses of a team, the top two guys, will throw two hundred plus innings. The magic number for a starting pitcher each game was once one hundred pitches. Absolutely there are going to be games that a starter gets pulled early or could throw seven or eight innings. There are going to be games when he is efficient with his pitches and games when he will struggle. If you look at an 'average' year and called it thirty starts, one hundred pitches per start, and two hundred innings, that is three thousand pitches on a guy's arm. I know it is not an exact science, and there are always going to be disabled list stints ans skipped starts. For the sake of this argument, if you take just the top two guys (in the Tigers' case Michael Fulmer and Daniel Norris) that is a ton of mileage on your future rotation anchors for years that mean nothing. By 2021, that can be close to nine thousand pitches thrown.
IF, by chance, the Tigers wanted to do something crazy and throw in one more pitcher into the rotation, that could have a great impact on the guys that are up in the MLB right now. A sixth man would drop an average year from thirty starts down to twenty five (again, a basic average). That is five hundred fewer pitches each year. Not only is it fewer starts and pitches each year, it is also an extra day rest and recovery. Saving these arms for when the younger players are ready to make an impact could make the difference when it comes to a playoff run. I know more goes into a starting pitcher's year than basic numbers I just happen to throw out, but can you imagine a pitcher's career being elongated one or two more years just because of something small like adding one extra starting pitcher for just two or three years.
Would something like this work? Most starting pitchers condition themselves to be ready to throw every fifth game. Would changing your routine by one day make a difference? Could these guys adjust to something like that? Another idea that has been floated is 'bullpening'. The main idea is that starters go three or four innings then the game is turned over to the bullpen. Some teams are starting to build super bullpens where they add shut down guys. It use to be a team would have a guy for the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning in a set role, now you see relief pitchers in all kinds of different innings. Yes, this would limit starter's innings, but if they know that they are only going to be out there for four innings, won't they just go out and throw as hard as they can? Empty the gas tank as it were. I think the idea of bullpening is maybe a little more dangerous to the starters because of that. They'll throw harder in a shorter period of time than they would if their starts were longer.
Maybe we'll see a team here and there try something like this for a short period of time. Maybe coming out of Spring Training there are a couple of guys fighting for that last rotation spot and the manager wants to see them duke it out for a few more weeks. However, I don't think this is something that will catch on. It wouldn't last all season. I like any idea that could help preserve someone's career whether it is having a six man rotation or a super bullpen when relievers are coming out in the fourth inning. If a guy can go out there and throw for one more year because he has pitched fewer innings in the past, wouldn't an idea like this be kind of worth it? Besides, all it takes is one pitch for a man's career to be over.
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