I have a couple of low durability SP's on a dominant pitching staff...I currently am using both guys as relievers but was thinking, it might be fun to play around with using these guys as openers. And I don't mean with tandem usage. But setting them in a five man rotation as, say, starters 4 and 5 with super low pitch counts. One guy, for example, is durability 4, stamina 92 and great ratings across the board.

What if he was SP4 but with a max pitch count of like 45, for example. Then have the long relievers come in, etc. Just a thought since this team is running away with the division...I have some wiggle room to play. Anyone tried this before?

See how many consecutive games he can do if you set the max PC to 20. I doubt he'd make it too long with a 4 DUR but his STA is huge so maybe he'd last a while.

Tinking is the best way to learn. I'd say do it. I'm a fan of pitching your best pitchers in a manner that maximizes their innings. If using them as openers maximizes their innings, and they're really good pitchers, do it.

You do have to experiment to see how quickly he recovers from various pitch counts. Find a sweet spot. You could possibly use him as an opener every third game or something like that to maximize how often he is used.

Posted by brianplath on 9/22/2021 3:49:00 PM (view original):
See how many consecutive games he can do if you set the max PC to 20. I doubt he'd make it too long with a 4 DUR but his STA is huge so maybe he'd last a while.

I'm not talking about consecutive...I'm saying maybe just stick him as the 5th starter for example. And letting him pitch every few days for the first, say, 3 innings of a game. But I could find a sweet spot and keep sliding him around...use him every third day, etc.

as a quick aside, his health is 98. So 4 DUR, 98 HLTH, 92 STAM plus he's got 85 control, 83/91 L/R splits, and 90 VELO. This is a team I took over...last season looks like at age 24, he pitched 42.1 innings of relief to a 3.4 ERA and 1.3 WHIP. This year I've had him mostly in long relief...he's got 34.1 IP so far with a 1.83 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. 23K to 10BB.

Which is why I'm looking at his durability and thinking, how can I stretch this guy to get the most out of him...because as an RP...he's not going to bounce back quickly unless I really cut his pitch count...but if he's going every 4 days on a schedule, I can find a sweet spot pitch count, maybe, where he's recovering in time to start a game and go 2-3 innings and then turn it over to the pen.

another similar-ish guy on this team... 4 durability, 64 health, 65 stamina then he's 74 control, 95/81 L/R split, 88 velo, 86 GB/FB.

This guy's 32 and has a track record as a solid RP...323 games (zero starts) for the career with 458 IP, 3.8 ERA

This second guy is LHP and the first is a RHP, so they COULD make an interesting tandem.

What I'm saying is throwing 20 pitches every single game may be how you maximize his utilization. 4 DUR means he's gonna take forever with any kind of meaningful pitch count. But maybe 20 pitches every day (or every other day, or every third day) is how to best max his utilization.

Like others have said, play around, have some fun with it. I made a world series this season using two openers trading off starts between them for most of the season and a bullpen full of setup guys. Get you best pitchers the maximum amount of pitches thrown.

My experience, 20 pitches is stretching it. I've got one of those guys as a closer in AAA, never thrown more than 53 innings a season. 5 DUR is EXTREMELY punitive. On a 15/20 pitch count, if he throws three days in a row he's cooked, and he takes three or four days to recover, not two.

I suspect if I ever game him an actual 50-pitch start he'd need at least two turns through the rotation to get back to 100%.

Posted by damag on 9/22/2021 6:48:00 PM (view original):
My experience, 20 pitches is stretching it. I've got one of those guys as a closer in AAA, never thrown more than 53 innings a season. 5 DUR is EXTREMELY punitive. On a 15/20 pitch count, if he throws three days in a row he's cooked, and he takes three or four days to recover, not two.

I suspect if I ever game him an actual 50-pitch start he'd need at least two turns through the rotation to get back to 100%.

From the sound of this...If I were to make him an "opener"...I'd have to keep it really, really short. 30 pitches maybe.

Appreciate all the feedback...sounds like the best way to use these guys is to keep them in some type of setup roles. But I'm way ahead in the division, so if ever there was a time to tinker around and have fun...now's it. :)

I had a guy that was 9 and 93. I used him out of the bullpen and he got up to 85-90 innings a few times. If he is one of the best pitchers on your staff.....I would set him for SUA and let him eat as many high leverage innings as he can. If you are running away with the division....the starters they are replacing can't be too bad. Come post season time....you don't need 5 starters anyway so they are going to be pitching out of the bullpen.

Posted by bigbucks07 on 9/23/2021 1:34:00 PM (view original):
I had a guy that was 9 and 93. I used him out of the bullpen and he got up to 85-90 innings a few times. If he is one of the best pitchers on your staff.....I would set him for SUA and let him eat as many high leverage innings as he can. If you are running away with the division....the starters they are replacing can't be too bad. Come post season time....you don't need 5 starters anyway so they are going to be pitching out of the bullpen.

That's what I decided on after further monitoring these two guys' recovery times. I had the one guy in LRA for a while...but putting both these guys now in SU roles with lower pitch counts so they can bounce back a bit quicker and get more innings.

Appreciate all the feedback guys!