Lee
Hall-of-Famer
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2005
- Messages
- 41,114
- Reaction score
- 61,930
- Points
- 148
Or a visual. Diagram maybe.
-
Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.
Pitching
- Thread starter jup
- Start date
Or a visual. Diagram maybe.
sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2016
- Messages
- 20,946
- Reaction score
- 9,645
- Points
- 113
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2019
- Messages
- 10,058
- Reaction score
- 28,869
- Points
- 135
From Zach Meisel of The Athletic in a column about the Indians having the best bullpen in the majors:
There might not be a reliever better equipped to handle the runner-on-second-in-extra-innings rule than [James] Karinchak, who is averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning this season. Karinchak has allowed only three hits and five walks in 17 1/3 innings, so he has essentially been automatic. His penchant for racking up strikeouts, as demonstrated Wednesday, allows the Indians to wiggle out of those artificial jams in extras.
And because of that, it made more sense for manager Terry Francona to summon Clase to keep the Cubs quiet in the top of the ninth. Clase strikes out a batter per inning and doesn’t issue many walks, but because he so often forces hitters into weak contact, usually on the ground, with his 100 mph cutter, teams need to string together a few hits or benefit from a defensive gaffe to scratch across a run against him. With a runner on second to start the inning, that endeavor would become much more attainable.
There might not be a reliever better equipped to handle the runner-on-second-in-extra-innings rule than [James] Karinchak, who is averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning this season. Karinchak has allowed only three hits and five walks in 17 1/3 innings, so he has essentially been automatic. His penchant for racking up strikeouts, as demonstrated Wednesday, allows the Indians to wiggle out of those artificial jams in extras.
And because of that, it made more sense for manager Terry Francona to summon Clase to keep the Cubs quiet in the top of the ninth. Clase strikes out a batter per inning and doesn’t issue many walks, but because he so often forces hitters into weak contact, usually on the ground, with his 100 mph cutter, teams need to string together a few hits or benefit from a defensive gaffe to scratch across a run against him. With a runner on second to start the inning, that endeavor would become much more attainable.
sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2016
- Messages
- 20,946
- Reaction score
- 9,645
- Points
- 113
Well it is a very young staff. Some veteran stability sure couldn't hurt.
But it makes you wonder where they are going to get the innings from. There are questions about the three - Biebs, Plesac, Civale - in regards to how durable they will be for a full season coming off the shortened '20 pandemic mess and their own lack of proving they can handle a major league seasons worth of starts.
Then you get to the other 2 starters- fill in the names - and the questions loom larger. So far it isn't looking real good at the endurance and durability end.
Every team faces this problem and arm injuries are up league wide. I still believe our upper minors depth will prevail and offer better results than most other team's depth. Mejia and Morgan could stabilize the rotation in the upcoming weeks, Stephan is getting stretched out and I could see Morris/A. Scott helping in the second half once they ramp up, with Shane McCarthy and Kirk McCarty as darkhorses to eat innings. Plus MLB vet Matt Koch in Columbus
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2019
- Messages
- 10,058
- Reaction score
- 28,869
- Points
- 135
I didn't realize we had Koch, a 30-year-old righty. In 2018 with Arizona he was 4-4, 4.15 in 19 games with 14 starts. He's spent almost his entire career in the minors but if Hentges and McKenzie continue to get lit up he could be this year's Adam Plutko.
McCarty is listed at 5'8". How many pitchers that short who don't throw that hard have been successful in the bigs? I'm skeptical. He has 7 K's in over 16 innings. His BABIP is .163 which is unsustainable. His ERA is 2.70 but FanGraph has his FIP at 4.73 and his xFIP at 4.90. He isn't missing many bats in Columbus and has been extremely lucky on balls in play.
Morgan is 5'10" and also 25 years old. FanGraphs has his FIP and xFIP at 3.14 and 5.11.
Marcus Stroman, 5'7", has a career line of 54-51 with a 3.70 ERA so maybe one of these guys can be the next Stroman. He throws 93-94 mph. I'm not sure either of our smurfs have that kind of heat. McCarty maxed out at 91 in his 5/11 start.
Last edited:
DCTribefan
Hall-of-Famer
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2019
- Messages
- 11,621
- Reaction score
- 10,405
- Points
- 123
Going to try and watch the archive to see what I notice. Sometimes you miss things live you pick up on later. If I see anything particularly interesting I will put something up. But at this point, you have to worry about the impact of the short starts on the pen and what that does to other starters. Is Biebs getting left in the game too long to try and rest the pen? Is he starting to wear down as a result of it? Stuff like that. Because bad starts can have this cascading effect on the rotation and there are some things I have noticed already about Biebs starts over the last couple three turns that I didn't like what I saw.
It is OK to try and ride your horses, but Biebs is still new to being the guy that is ridden and relatively unproven going down that trail. And he has been getting ridden pretty hard lately with a long season still stretching in front of us.
MadThinker88
NBA Starter
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2019
- Messages
- 3,401
- Reaction score
- 4,435
- Points
- 113
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. With that in mind I keep reflecting on 2 points:
1) how the rosters are expanded this season without the planned pitcher limits
2) many pitchers did not get opportunities to pitch competitively last year so there is likely a cap on the amount of innings able to be thrown this year.
For many years teams in the minors would employ 1 or 2 piggy-back spots (2 guys that would flip flop between starting/ relief and cover a full game). I wonder why something similar can't be tried in the majors this year.
Take 4 guys (preferably 2 RH & 2 LH), match them up, and look for each guy to give roughly 3 IP only per appearance (puts them in the 70 pitch range).
A RH starts & goes his leg of the relay & turns it over to the next guy (LH) to complete his leg. Most likely 1 guy is facing a lineup designed for the other armed pitcher.
Considering the problems the Tribe has had with multiple rotation spots this year, I feel it is time to try something new looking for some stability in those non Bieber- Plesac- Civale rotation spots.
1) how the rosters are expanded this season without the planned pitcher limits
2) many pitchers did not get opportunities to pitch competitively last year so there is likely a cap on the amount of innings able to be thrown this year.
For many years teams in the minors would employ 1 or 2 piggy-back spots (2 guys that would flip flop between starting/ relief and cover a full game). I wonder why something similar can't be tried in the majors this year.
Take 4 guys (preferably 2 RH & 2 LH), match them up, and look for each guy to give roughly 3 IP only per appearance (puts them in the 70 pitch range).
A RH starts & goes his leg of the relay & turns it over to the next guy (LH) to complete his leg. Most likely 1 guy is facing a lineup designed for the other armed pitcher.
Considering the problems the Tribe has had with multiple rotation spots this year, I feel it is time to try something new looking for some stability in those non Bieber- Plesac- Civale rotation spots.
sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2016
- Messages
- 20,946
- Reaction score
- 9,645
- Points
- 113
Hence why I was hoping we would get a veteran SP for leadership and whatnot. He doesn't even have to be a top guy, just someone who has experience and can help the young guys through the low spots and help them develop...
I wouldn't mind trading for a veteran SP then doing like McKenzie-Hentges type of combo for the 5th starter... That would save the bullpen hopefully while keeping those two stretch out somewhat...
CDAV45
Small ball is for pussies!
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2020
- Messages
- 10,197
- Reaction score
- 6,509
- Points
- 113
I was hoping we could get a SP for performance. Fuck leadership. They can talk to the team shrink if they need help navigating through the "low spots".
I hope they find another starter soon before it taxes the BP to the breaking point.
33Y0
Jobu Needs A Refill
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2020
- Messages
- 3,444
- Reaction score
- 5,989
- Points
- 113
This whole discussion also demonstrates why it made no sense to give up Carrasco in the trade with Lindor. A veteran with proven experience who really didn’t have an unreasonable salary hit. Yes, he’s been injured to start the season, but he could have provided the stability this rotation needs.
sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2016
- Messages
- 20,946
- Reaction score
- 9,645
- Points
- 113
We are one of the youngest teams in all of baseball... It's not going to hurt us at the end of the day to have leadership from a veteran pitcher even if they are a little over the hill. The manager for the Braves was quoted in talking about Tomlin how he helped the young pitchers there become better pitchers and more MLB ready when Tomlin went there a couple seasons ago. I feel at times you have no sense of what clubhouse chemistry means at the end of the day. The 16 team had it while I felt some was lacking after that...