Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Only half-joking* idea for Angels bullpen

Okay, so the Angels have a bullpen that gives up a run an inning on a good night. The starters, on the other hand, have been pretty solid. So, instead of having one starter a night, try two! Each starter gets a 60 pitch limit, and the rotation expands to include Trevor Bell. So now we have a rotation of:

Weaver/Kazmir
Saunders/Santana
Piniero/Bell

This gives a nifty L/R split for days one and two, while accepting mediocre performance on the third day. This should, hopefully, limit the bullpen to less than an inning per game, while essentially replacing the standard 5 day rotation with bullpen sessions into a 3 day rotation with no bullpen sessions. The total amount of pitches thrown per pitcher per week shouldn't be much higher than it is now, with the added advantage of total bullpen pitches thrown per week falling to near zero.

Should starter 1 throw 7 innings on 60 pitches, or even 6 innings, well, that's great, because now he gets to be starter 2 on his next turn in the rotation. The goal, really, is to get at least 5 out of the first starter so the second can go 5 on his next turn, if he's economical.

*Yes, this is a joke, but I wonder if something like this has ever been tried during the regular season.

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