I read the information at: https://help.whatifsports.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014119392-How-do-the-Starter-2A-2B-and-Starter-3A-3B-pitcher-roles-work- but I am still not sure I understand how it works and how to actually set up a rotation like that. Can someone explain a bit more?

if your rotation is:

Starter 1: Ed Walsh
Starter 2A: Pedro
Starter 2B: Kershaw

the order will be:

Walsh
Pedro
Walsh
Kershaw

So if I am looking for 900 IP from my starters, in theory you could go with a 500IP pitcher then 2 200IP pitchers. I am trying to figure out if there is really any cost savings there.

yeah that would be the way to use three such pitchers

Please forgive my naivety but could you run a 1, 2A/B, 3A/B rotation with 1 being a 350 IP pitcher and the remainder of the pitchers all being 100 IP or so pitcher? All with IP/G over 7ip.

So I think it would go 1, 2A, 3A, 1, 2B, 3B and 1. And so on and so on. Would that work out? Technically that is only 750 IP so my guess is no but I want to try and figure out if I can make this work.

yeah that would work in theory, the problem is you'd still need a bunch of bullpen innings and you've already used up five roster spots, so flexibility would be limited.

Yeah I hear ya. Was trying a bunch of different ways to use that but I can't come up with a way to create value doing that. I wonder if I would do better with Tandem but then I would need that explained to me as well. :)

In tandem instead of having alternating starts they both pitch in the same game Tandem 3a might be 150 innings guy, then 3B. Comes into the game. I never felt my B guys got full value, but it could be just bad pitchers. I use it when my 3rd and 4th starters were in the 140 to 179 innings range. Then I had a B assigned to come in behind them.

I use more 2 man rotations, or 1/2a/2b than anything else. A guy like '07 Walsh (454 innings) is sturdy enough to give you 81 starts, as long as you don't expect many complete games. He is under $14M.

Your 2a/2b guys should be good enough, sturdy enough to get you 6-7 innings. There are plenty of $6-8M options out there with 230 innings and up. I don't like to skimp on innings.

You can build a decent enough staff like this with adequate innings for less than 50% of whatever the salary cap is. I can pitch competitively using under $35M in an open league. Spend wisely.

Tandems are a good use of tweener inning guys. The 142 inning Halladay is a good example. Couple him with the partial Tudor and you have a good tandem. I once got 29 wins using Garrelts as the back half of a tandem.