The Athletics could deploy a six-man rotation this year, with general manager David Forst discussing the situation with Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. “We’ve mapped it out a lot of different ways,” Forst said. “Things that look like a six-man (rotation) or an occasional bullpen day or an occasional spot starter. There are a lot of ways to do it. I just don’t think we’ll know what they are until we get really into the season.”
At least one factor that is pushing the club in this direction is Shintaro Fujinami, who will be making the transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to the majors. Pitchers in the NPB generally take the ball once per week, as opposed to the five-day schedule typically implemented in North America. Fujinami has also been occasionally deployed as a reliever in recent years, meaning his typical workload has been less than that of a typical MLB starter. The club also has many younger pitchers that could run into limitations throughout the season, depending on how things play out.
However the A’s decide to distribute their innings, it won’t be written in stone. “It will not be well-defined,” Forst said. “Whatever it is, we will not say Opening Night, ‘Here’s our six-man rotation, it’s staying like this.’ It will be flexible.”
Some other notes from the American League West division…
- Lefty Cole Ragans is impressing in Rangers camp, with Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News relaying manager Bruce Bochy’s comments on the southpaw. “He’s just been a joy to watch,” Bochy said, adding that Ragans is “getting talked about a lot” in internal meetings. The lefty has shown increased stuff this spring, including hitting 99 mph with his fastball. “I didn’t go hunting velo this offseason,” Ragans said. “It wasn’t my goal to throw 100. I just wanted to feel good. I wanted to do what I could do.” Ragans had a strong year in the minors last year, posting a 3.04 ERA in 94 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He also made his MLB debut with a 4.95 ERA over nine starts. The club overhauled their rotation this winter by adding Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney and Jake Odorizzi to incumbents Martín Pérez and Jon Gray. Those moves bumped Ragans down the depth chart, but some of those guys are dealing with minor injuries, which could potentially increase Ragans’ chances of getting an opportunity. He could also perhaps get a big league job in the bullpen, with Bochy suggesting it’s good to stay open-minded about make such pivots.
- Sticking with the Rangers, the club announced that outfielder Leody Taveras was scratched from today’s game due to left side tightness. To this point, it’s unclear how serious his ailment is, but Taveras is a noteworthy member of the club given the state of their roster. Though the rotation and infield appear strong on paper, the outfield has more uncertainty to it. Taveras has appeared in the past three seasons, hitting at a below-average level but impressing with the glove. In 174 games in center field, he’s posted 10 Defensive Runs Saved and 11 Outs Above Average. He’s set to be the top option up the middle for the club, flanked by Adolis García and Robbie Grossman in the corners. If Taveras needs to miss any time, García could move from right field to center. But wherever Garcia lines up, it would mean someone will get bumped up from a bench job into a regular role. The club’s outfield depth consists of players like Bubba Thompson, Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran, Brad Miller and others. All of those guys come with question marks, so the club will likely be hoping that Taveras is fine after some rest and can return to regular action.
Hopefully Ragans stays healthy. If he does he should getbhis chances seeing as of the 6 guys ahead of him on the depth chart, 5 have substantial injury histories and the other is Martin Perez.
More like 7 guys, Dunning is ahead of him too I think: DeGrom, Eovaldi, Heaney, Gray, Perez, Odorizzi, Dunning and then Ragans I think.
Ah yes, forgot about Dunning.
6 man rotations rarely last long.
Hopefully a bit longer for a rebuilding team. I’ve watched bad years for the A’s before, but last year I just had to give up after watching them repeatedly roll out the same bunch of washed up vets and older waiver claims that had already repeatedly failed at the MLB level. If we have some injuries I’d love to see that 6th slot remain open to prospects and random waiver talent.
Even though I personally don’t want to see it, 6 man rotations are going to become the standard sooner rather than later. Without roster limitations, teams are going to pitch starter less frequently and less innings.
Yeah eventually they will all be rolling out 6-man rotations.
I think it totally depends on how the 6 man is deployed. The Padres and Astros successfully utilized 6 man rotations at times last year to take advantage of starter depth while taking pressure off their bullpens. If you have good enough SP it can work.
The problem with a 6 man is if you don’t have enough good starters and the backend of your rotation gets crushed, you’re also operating down a reliever. It’s hard enough for most teams to find 5 SP, so if the backend of your rotation is already questionable going to 6 is risky. I don’t think it would work well for the A’s.
Rangers literally gonna be 5 converted relief pitchers for their rotation come June.
Literally?
This is why you trade the 50 middle infield prospects for a real outfielder now. Also, what is with left side tightness? Some Astros guy also had it recently. They say it’s minor, but why is like it’s contagious? As for Ragans, I think he is much better as a reliever than the blown save specialist John King. The Rangers aren’t in tank mode, so they should have DFA’d that guy instead of King Mathias.
I like Mathias but I would rather see Smith get those atbats and King was almost exactly average last year, stash him in AAA and let him be depth. Hopefully we never actually have to see him I hated watching that guy pitch.
I am speaking of clutch, and reliever ERA doesn’t include inheirited runners scored. Brett Martin had a whopping 7 losses last year, and King had 4. I think losses are key for relievers to minimize, as they are like blown saves. Also, I remember Dennis Santana (good riddance he isn’t here) coming in and giving up 0-2 hits with guys at second and 3rd and then lowering his ERA after that. That was when his ERA was low early on in the season. This is why I hate guys like that with high WHIPs.
One of the Dallas TV stations did a puff piece on Bochy on their local news broadcast last night. He made a point to rave about how well Cole Ragans is doing in camp.