Why are the Twins Waiting on Louie Varland?

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Speaking of resting arms, I wonder what the plan is for young pitchers like SWR and Ober for the rest of this season. I would think that both of them are nearing or have exceeded their previous career high of innings pitched (I haven't checked the stats, so someone will have to back me up or shoot me down on that hypothesis). But with crunch time coming up these final two months, it will be nice not to need to over-tax the arms of those pitchers that are not accustomed to pitching so many innings. 

Is Ober young? I don't think so at this point. 

[Guest]

Varland may have a future as a starter but for me he's been One-Inning Louie since the beginning of this season.

[Doctor Wu]

21 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Is Ober young? I don't think so at this point. 

Maybe not so young, no, but he has never pitched more than 144 innings in a season (last year). This season he is already sitting at 122 innings. If I remember correctly some folks were concerned with him tiring down the stretch last year, which is why I wondered if they would monitor his innings the rest of this season or not. 

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Maybe not so young, no, but he has never pitched more than 144 innings in a season (last year). This season he is already sitting at 122 innings. If I remember correctly some folks were concerned with him tiring down the stretch last year, which is why I wondered if they would monitor his innings the rest of this season or not. 

The Verducci effect has zero basis in actual data. So I hope not.