FanPost

The Rays Are Using an Odd Pitching Method The Reds Should Adopt

Here we stand, we brave few fans stand. Our team last in the NL at a record of 19-34. We've got nothing to gain, and nothing to lose, and it's only May. Good lord, what have we done.

This was supposed to be the year, man! The time we finally dug ourselves out of this hole, showed the rest of the league we're ready for anything, and finally begin to peel that pesky rebuild label off our logo and start to compete again. Instead, we've still found ourselves in the NL Central cellar, a place we've called home for far too long.

A big reason for the struggles, is the lack of quality starting pitching developed by the franchise. Between the top prospects such as Brandon Finnegan, Sal Romano, Robert Stephenson, Cody Reed, and even Amir Garrett, we were all expecting at least a couple of effective starters. Instead, we've gotten close to nothing in terms of starting pitching. This year, Reds starters have combined for an ERA of 5.57, good for 29th in the entire league. Which if you haven't heard, is awful.

I could bring in all sorts of other stats to further prove my point, but that's unnecessary at this point. You've seen the box scores, watched the games, looked up the player stats, you already know. Given the small market status, and how much of a premium quality starting pitching costs nowadays, the Reds can never be expected to be in the running for big name starters in the offseason. Injuries have also played a huge part as well. DeSclafani has been away from baseball for what seems like forever and you can't tell me injuries have played a role on Homer Bailey.

Just over 900 miles south, A different team with the same problems approached this situation as well. In the race to the playoffs, the Cincinnati Reds knew they were facing superior competition, so why run from the start and burn out everything you had just to lose? They were probably expecting to see the Rays jogging with them side by side while they watch everyone else games ahead of them. The Rays were forced to strip away valuable players such as Evan Longoria, Steven Souza, Alex Cobb, Logan Morrison, etc. But instead of lagging behind the competition and joining the Reds, they sped up, and are running with the pack with a respectable record of 24-26. How did they do it? Well, the answer may lie in the creative ways they are using their pitchers.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably noticed the Rays using a so called "opener" or as Rays play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats called it "the preliever" alongside with "bullpen days" instead of starters. It's not sexy, but it's working. What they're doing, is having a reliever start the game, usually pitching anywhere between an inning to two innings, then bringing in the "starting" pitcher to mop up the game until the bullpen is deemed necessary. The original plan was to have theses so called, "bullpen days" once per rotation swing-a-round, but injuries have forced the team to use this innovative plan more often. Of course they have pitchers Chris Archer and Blake Snell, who are accomplished big league pitchers, but on days where it's time for young inexperienced pitchers such as Anthony Banda last Saturday, they used lefty Ryan Stanek instead. For the first inning and two thirds, Stanek retired all five righty batters he faced, with 3 punch-outs. Then, the young Anthony Banda took to the hill, and pitched a strong six and a third ininngs, giving up only one run. Lastly, they used slider-extraordinaire Chaz Roe to close out the game. Could a similar formula work for the Reds? Heck, I'm not even the first one at Red Reporter to even ask this question, check out the comments on this post.

I think we can all agree we can trust Luis Castillo to give us a strong game more often times than not, so he can be secluded from this method. If the Reds really wanted to go balls to the walls, they could use "prelievers" to help Matt Harvey, Homer Bailey, and Anthony Desclafani go deeper into games. But my belief is this bullpen day idea should only be used sparingly, as it could drain a bullpen. That leaves Tyler Mahle and Sal Romano if you couldn't tell. There's an infinite amount of options you could mix-and-match pitchers here, but I think there's mainly 2 different ones.

#1: On days Mahle/Romano pitches, start the game with at the highest, your third best reliever. This allows you some security later in the game if the plan goes haywire. The Rays have used Sergio Romo for starting purposes, but they have also used Ryan Stanek for righty/lefty matchups if that's more the Reds thing. I'm thinking Dylan Floro, Wandy Peralta, or Michael Lorenzen can start the game for us. Maybe even Homer Bailey could become a super-reliever in this system as well? Anyway, strech the preliever out, at least an inning, or maybe more depending on the situation, and bring in Mahle or Romano to pitch for 5+ innings, leaving the rest of the bullpen to finish the job, if necessary.

#2: This is where the Reds creativity can really shine, as they can use Rasiel Iglesias and Amir Garrett's arms to pitch 2+ innings. You can start the game off with Garrett or Iglesias, and let them work their way through, capping them off anywhere from 30-50 pitches, or enough that rest shouldn't be an issue afterward, and then hand the ball of to the regularly scheduled starter. Afterwards let the bullpen deal with the rest of the opposition, if need be.

Of course, there are plenty of road bumps in the way of this crazy idea. Players might refuse to pitch like this, citing the lowered stats and low free agency value I'd imagine would be a result. Stats such as quality starts and wins would become a thing of the past for starters under this system. Meaning teams would take a second look at signing starters and relievers from her, potentially lowering their paycheck. Which if you know a thing or two about the MLB, could be a big problem. Of course, this system could just be flawed from the start. Many would probably point out the fact this idea could burn out your bullpen in a hurry. Of course, there are things to be done to protect this. Adding an extra reliever instead of a bench player could help, and this idea should only be used in moderation, as the Rays are doing it.

The primary purpose for using this unconventional method, is because it can allow your starter to avoid the dreaded third trip through the rotation, which often times blows up in the face of pitchers. Mahle through innings 1-3 has a respectable ERA of exactly 3.00 and an opponents batting average of .221, while in innings 4-6, it explodes to a 6.04 era with a .310 average. Mahle, against the third time through the order in 55 plate appearances, has yielded 19 hits, 7 of them being homers. Which means opponents hitting against Mahle through the third trip are hitting an ungodly .381 batting average with a .981 slugging percentage. In other words, they're crushing him. This could be because Mahle's main weapon is his control. His "stuff" is subpar, so when hitters see the same flat pitches over and over, they can tee off of it after seeing it numerous times.

I get it, I'm a bored fan, just like many of you are. I wish this team would do something different, try something new, instead of throwing out the same ineffective pitchers every turn around. I say what's wrong with trying something new> I mean, what do we have to lose at this point? Our chance for the playoffs? Our interm manager? Our starting pitchers' chance for better stats? Maybe I'm crazy for wanting to play the game of baseball a different way, but that's only because I know this team can't play the game any good the regular way.