...seen this discussed alot lately but am confused about their use....just how exactly do you use them (set up...ect ect) advantages and dis advantages..?

thanks in advance

wow really?

The most common usage for tandem starters would probably be the case in which you have one or more low stamina guys that you want in your rotation.  Maybe their stamina dictates that in a standard four or five man rotation they would only be able to give you around 3-4 IP's per start.  You can tandem two of these guys together to give you a virtual 6-8 IP starter, which then puts a lot less stress on your bullpen every time that rotation spot gets the ball.

Another reason would be the case in which you want to specifically designate who the first reliever would be in a particular game.  The reasons why you might want to do that are too numerous to list here.

A third reason (and a big part of the controversy about them) is when you want to effectively "replace" your locked-in starter for a particular game and replace him with a different starter.  You can tandem the locked-in guy (as tandem A) on a short pitch count (40) with your preferred guy (as tandem B) with his regular pitch count.  There are legitimate reasons why you might want to do this (you want to save the locked-in starter for a different game, or the preferred starter may just have been activated from the DL but was unable to be put into the rotation for that particular game), and less-legitimate reasons (such as doing a LH/RH swap of pitchers to try to get an advantage against your opponent's lineup) for doing so.

Another good use of tandums is in the Minors where you are sometimes forced to piece together a staff.

A part of the game that bothers me, I think (but then, I haven't used them).  I can think of no examples at the (real) MLB level where tandems are used.

Because of the way you can utilize the lefty/righty part of it, I think the minimum ptch count for the starter should be higher.  Say 65, or so.  Or that the Tandem B guy has a lower PC than the A guy.


moe

Didn't the Cincinnati Reds briefly experiment with a tandem rotation around 10 years or so ago?

Isn't the point of this sim to get the opportunity to try things your real life team would never have the guts to do under the media spotlight. Try out a speed team, throw a DH in RF, go all out in FA or IFA, or even . . . yes . . .  perish the thought, try something creative with your pitching staff. As long as it's a level playing field I don't see the problem trying tandem starters.

Colorado has been doing this, haven't they?  Starting pitchers on a 75 pitch count no matter what.  As of today no single pitcher on the team has gone 100 innings this season.

dwooolery, I agree to some extent.  But I also like the game to be "real" in some sense.

damag, I'm not sure I see a tandem situation in Colorado...but they use a ton of starters.

In  2010 they used 8 starters, all starting 8 or more games.  But one guy went 221 innings and others with 178 & 137 .   In '11 they used 12 starters, 8 of whom started at least 8 games.  Two others started 7 and 6, respectfully.  But their 5 principal relievers all averaged about an inning per outing, or less.  Top two starters threw 194 and 170 innings.  Another threw 123.

This year (and you're correct nobody is north of 100 inings) they've used 13 guys as starters.  7 have started 10 or more games.  Two others started 7 and 6.  Again, their principal 5 relievers all average about an inning or less.  They've used 25 pitchers this year. They used 29 and 23 in the two prior years.

The top three innings-eaters in '10 and '11 were Chacin, Hammel and Jimenez.  This year only Chacin has thrown 30 innings (in 6 starts). Nada for the other two.  Mostly it looks like they've tried to find ANYBODY who could get somebody out.  Ancient Jamie Moyer, for goodness sake, started 10 games (throwing 53 innings...not much evidence of a tight tandem PC).  The guy who has thrown the most innings for them is Guthrie, and he has a WHIP of 1.7, Hit/9 of  12.1, HR/9 of 2.1 and a K/BB of 1.5.  It's amazing he's thrown 90 innings.

Their starters all average about 5 innings per, minus guys who have started 3, 5, and 7 games.  They may have been used in a tandem-like situation.  I don't know.

Guthrie has 15 starts.  He's only been below 75 pitches twice in those games.  Both times he was blasted.  He's thrown as much as 105, generally throwing 90-105.

I'm not seeing any general tandem situation.  They used three workhorses in '10 and '11.  Not this year.  Mostly they've tried to patch together a staff.  Team ERA is 5.4.  They lost their 3 innings eating guys.  The two best ERA guys they have Roenicke (2.87) and Belisle (3.34) have 50 games/75 innings and 63 games/64 innings.  Not much tandem indication.

Thanks tec.  i stand corrected.  Are they still dong it?  That was from a month ago.  Looks like it isn't a perfect Tandem, because they use three relievers up to 50 pitches.  However, they aren't getting much more than one inning from their relievers, if you check out B-R.

The reason I brought it up is because the principle is what we're talking about here, but they're actually doing it in real life.  They don't have any genuine, proven ML starters, so they just roll out a rotation of pitchers for 4 or 5 innings each.  Four starters, four designated "second" guys, four end game specialists.

Maybe Jim Tracy plays HBD.




 

Update:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_21431269


So with the Rockies using Tandem Starters, and the Astros majoring in Tanking 101, is Major League Baseball starting to turn into HBD?

I remember MikeT23 experimenting with Tandem starters a couple years ago.

I believe the Astros have advanced to graduate-level tanking. And they will have their Doctorate in Circusology soon enough, when it's time for "That's a clown pitcher, bro!"