Kyky Grime-Guy's Super Reliever Squad
Roster Breakdown:
1-8. Starting Positional Players
9. Utility Infielder- SS, 2B, 3B- Sacrifice hitting for fielding obviously
10. Backup 1B
11. Backup OF
12. Backup C
13-25. Pitchers- That's 13 pitchers for my staff:
1 guy who is an above average pitcher- hopefully I'm a struggling team with an ace, like The Rays with Archer, if not attempt to sign/trade for one, if not possible just leave my best starter as is.
11 guys stretched out enough for 1-2 innings
-This would require attempting to trade for elite relievers, however since this would obviously gut my organization's prospects (look at the Chapman and Miller deals), I feel I have a potentially better method. I would attempt to acquire underachieving, and therefore undervalued, starters with electric stuff (Pineda, I'm looking at you). I would then ask them to pitch only 1-2 innings, anywhere from 10-30 pitches, and ramp up their stuff as much as possible in that shorter window.
And the 13th guy that will serve as a typical long reliever- not used very often, but basically usable every night if shit hits the fan (were up/down big or an injury) or I want to give someone extra rest.
1 guy who is an above average pitcher- hopefully I'm a struggling team with an ace, like The Rays with Archer, if not attempt to sign/trade for one, if not possible just leave my best starter as is.
11 guys stretched out enough for 1-2 innings
-This would require attempting to trade for elite relievers, however since this would obviously gut my organization's prospects (look at the Chapman and Miller deals), I feel I have a potentially better method. I would attempt to acquire underachieving, and therefore undervalued, starters with electric stuff (Pineda, I'm looking at you). I would then ask them to pitch only 1-2 innings, anywhere from 10-30 pitches, and ramp up their stuff as much as possible in that shorter window.
And the 13th guy that will serve as a typical long reliever- not used very often, but basically usable every night if shit hits the fan (were up/down big or an injury) or I want to give someone extra rest.
The Idea:
The basis for this idea is the fact that batters get better the more they see a starting pitcher in a given game-
2016- 1st time- BA .253, OBP. 315, SLUG% .406
2nd time- .260/.322/.432
3rd time- .272/.334/.462
So I know what you're saying to yourself, "Kyle if this is the case why wouldn't you have all of your pitchers throw 3 innings and face each batter once?" Well two reasons: 1. I'm hoping by limiting their usage, these former starters with already great stuff will be able to take some of their pitching to the next level since they won't have to save themselves for later innings. 2. If I'm asking these guys to push themselves even harder I don't want to overuse any of them.
Methodology:
So we have pitchers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13
In any given game we are likely to use anywhere from 7-10 pitchers. The variance will obviously come in many ways- some guys being able to effectively go 2 innings, to some guys getting blown up and not being able to finish a single inning, extra innings, etc. So on any given day we will have 9 of pitchers 1-12 available and 13, our long reliever, who will be used sparingly and therefore be available for use 95% of games..
For our model we're going to simplify things slightly and assume we couldn't find an ace in the offseason so were going to use 9 pitchers/game, each throwing 1 inning.
Game 1: Pitchers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 Day off: 10, 11, 12
Game 2: Pitchers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Day off: 1, 2, 3
Game 3: Pitchers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 13 Day off: 4, 5, 6
Game 4: Pitchers 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13 Day off: 7, 8, 9
Game 5: Pitchers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 Day off: 10, 11, 12
* Using this model, providing everyone stayed healthy, each pitcher would throw roughly 110 innings. However, having our starter incorporated every 5th game would help to reduce the number of innings per pitcher in this model .
And the cycle continues as I ask my men to throw 3 innings over the course of 3 games before they get a night off. As a positive the pitchers would get extra rest on nights we incorporated 13, who again will be used sparingly but almost always be available, and on nights we used a 1 or 2 guys for 2 innings. Admittedly a huge negative will be that we will lose pretty much all extra innings, but they're rare and with the run prevention I'm hoping to create with this roster we'll be winning too many games to care. Also remember we hope to have 1 Ace to give extra rest every 5th day.
So there you have it, come on MLB teams I dare you to hire me! I'll create an envied winning organization that will be copycatted across baseball and work for free my first year! Either that or I'll destroy your organization for years to come with my radical ideas...
So I know what you're saying to yourself, "Kyle if this is the case why wouldn't you have all of your pitchers throw 3 innings and face each batter once?" Well two reasons: 1. I'm hoping by limiting their usage, these former starters with already great stuff will be able to take some of their pitching to the next level since they won't have to save themselves for later innings. 2. If I'm asking these guys to push themselves even harder I don't want to overuse any of them.
 |
| Pineda inning 1 |
 |
| Pineda Inning 4 |
So we have pitchers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13
In any given game we are likely to use anywhere from 7-10 pitchers. The variance will obviously come in many ways- some guys being able to effectively go 2 innings, to some guys getting blown up and not being able to finish a single inning, extra innings, etc. So on any given day we will have 9 of pitchers 1-12 available and 13, our long reliever, who will be used sparingly and therefore be available for use 95% of games..
For our model we're going to simplify things slightly and assume we couldn't find an ace in the offseason so were going to use 9 pitchers/game, each throwing 1 inning.
Game 1: Pitchers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 Day off: 10, 11, 12
Game 2: Pitchers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Day off: 1, 2, 3
Game 3: Pitchers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 13 Day off: 4, 5, 6
Game 4: Pitchers 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13 Day off: 7, 8, 9
Game 5: Pitchers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 Day off: 10, 11, 12
* Using this model, providing everyone stayed healthy, each pitcher would throw roughly 110 innings. However, having our starter incorporated every 5th game would help to reduce the number of innings per pitcher in this model .
And the cycle continues as I ask my men to throw 3 innings over the course of 3 games before they get a night off. As a positive the pitchers would get extra rest on nights we incorporated 13, who again will be used sparingly but almost always be available, and on nights we used a 1 or 2 guys for 2 innings. Admittedly a huge negative will be that we will lose pretty much all extra innings, but they're rare and with the run prevention I'm hoping to create with this roster we'll be winning too many games to care. Also remember we hope to have 1 Ace to give extra rest every 5th day.
So there you have it, come on MLB teams I dare you to hire me! I'll create an envied winning organization that will be copycatted across baseball and work for free my first year! Either that or I'll destroy your organization for years to come with my radical ideas...
Note: 1. The Rockies should try this in their high-altitude death trap for starting pitchers 2. Will be able to play lefty/righty match ups whenever desired 3. Also use a power pitcher followed by a knuckleball type (remember when the Sox use to pitch Pedro Martinez one day and then Tim Wakefield the next) 4. Guys with different arm slots (Byung Hyun Kim followed by Brandon Webb over the top style)
