Turning to Anthony Swarzak To Save the Twins Pitching Staff

[DocBauer]

I believe I'm the record previously for saying I like this general concept. If you have a good rotation...such as the Twins largely have had the past few seasons...you have a 1-3 that will almost always give you 6 IP and 7 every couple of starts. Most days. Your Lopez, Ryan, Ober/Gray types. Your #4 is good for 5 or 6 IP most days, and might sneak in a couple 7 inning games over the course of the year. And you want your #5 to be dependable every turn for 5 and occasionally 6 IP. Generally speaking, that's a pretty good rotation. If you're deeper than that, wonderful.

But not every game is going to go your way. Some days a pitcher just doesn't have it, or they're battling a bug, or they suddenly have a cramp, or a blister, etc. Well if your bullpen are all 8 single IP guys, you could tire your pen out over a tight series if one of those games your starter had an issue. 

IMO, you want the best, most dominate 6 guys who usually only throw a single inning because most days that's all you need them to do.

But how much more flexible is your pen if the 7th and 8th guys have solid stuff, and can go through a lineup even 1 time? Those 2 arms could give you 2-3 IP every 3 days. Not quite good enough to be a starter...or maybe a young arm breaking in...and maybe not someone you want in a 8th inning role...or not ready for it yet...but you "balance" the flexibility of your bullpen.

While I'm not crazy about the 4 every 4 days the Twins are using with some of their MILB pitchers, it is a way to help set up future success for those types of arms. A pair of really solid, true middle men. As they develop, nothing says they can't move to a starting role, or set up role later on.

If you recall, Santana and Liriano broke in in much the same way. Currently, that's pretty much how they've been working/breaking Rojas in. And it might be how they eventually use Prielipp later on, just to limit his IP. Now in some of these cases...and others sited in the OP...it's been a combination of 2+ IP as I've suggested, and some of the 3-4 IP as Tom has mentioned.

But I don't believe Tom is necessarily saying that's how to BUILD a staff ordinarily. And I think a few people took it that way. What he's saying is that the way the Twins are situated CURRENTLY, they are SHORT starting pitching. So how do you cover that?

Lopez, Ober, Abel, and Festa are currently OUT. Prielipp has really looked good despite a couple clunkers, but he's a rookie with questions about total IP. Rojas, who has been used EXACTLY as discussed, has been used for around 3-4 IP each time out every few days, but he's also currently out.

But you NEED 5 SP. Right now we're running with only 4, and that includes Prielipp. So until/unless our rotation starts getting healthy later in June, how do you cover that?

It's not great, it's not pretty, but Tom is correct that you need someone to cover those innings. Now, I'm not a fan of including Morris in to the discussion as I think he's got a real future as a short man, but like it or not, you need to cross your fingers and have arm like Adams, Klein, and Parades fill some bulk roles. 

The alternative is to bring someone like Gallagher,  next in line, probably #14 when the season began, too early and then you'll probably still need bulk innings from someone when he proves he's not quite ready yet. And then we're right back to where this discussion started.

The Twins have been obsessed with turn and burn for several seasons now regarding the 7th and 8th men in the bullpen. Why not build a BETTER BP with 2 arms that can throw 2-3 IP every 3 days. Doesn't that make a hell of a lot more sense?

But that's not a luxury the staff has NOW. Right NOW, they need a formula or sorts to cover not only middle IP, but also to find SOME WAY to fill that 5th role until better health comes along.

[Sjoski]

[jkcarew]

I see SWR threw 4 innings of 1-hit ball (0 runs; 3K) in relief in his first outing with Toronto.

He’s 25. Meanwhile, we continue to employ some super valuable 25-year old pitchers (and older) at the low A level.