Rays will try using 4-man rotation for entire season
Some teams are constructing rosters in ways that will influence the future of baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays are about to throw theirs way back - well, sort of.
After previously announcing plans to use a four-man rotation during the first six weeks of the regular season because of their schedule, Rays manager Kevin Cash announced on Wednesday they will try to use a four-man staff for the entire 2018 campaign, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
But the Rays aren't going back to the days of smaller rotations with multiple starters throwing 250-plus innings. To cover for the smaller rotation, relievers will fill in as a "fifth starter" of sorts during longer runs between off days.
"Our plan, we're not going to five," Cash said, according to Topkin. "We're going to try to stay at four. We're going to have some bullpen days in there. We're going to try and do that for a long period of time. We're going to learn a lot in the first six weeks."
"(It's genius) only if it works," Cash added. "If it doesn't, it's dumb."
Tampa Bay's 2018 rotation was already going to look significantly different behind ace Chris Archer. Longtime Ray Jake Odorizzi was traded to Minnesota at the beginning of spring training; shortly afterwards, top prospect Brent Honeywell - who was a top candidate to take Odorizzi's spot - tore his ulnar collateral ligament and required season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Rays projected 2018 rotation
| Pitcher | Throws | Proj. ERA | K/BB | WHIP | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Archer | RH | 3.27 | 230/59 | 1.18 | 5.2 |
| Blake Snell | LH | 3.70 | 186/79 | 1.35 | 3.4 |
| Jacob Faria | RH | 3.91 | 159/61 | 1.30 | 2.2 |
| Nathan Eovaldi | RH | 4.28 | 72/31 | 1.38 | 1.3 |
(ZiPS projections courtesy: Fangraphs)
Four-man rotations ruled baseball at one time, but the rise of specialty relievers has changed the sport in the last 20 years, with teams putting more of an emphasis on building powerful bullpens, rendering the complete-game, 200-inning pitcher to endangered species status. Last season, MLB saw just 59 complete games - by far the fewest ever - and starters combined to throw the lowest amount of total innings in the last 20 years.
The decline of workhorse starters has even prompted some teams to consider moving in the opposite direction of the Rays by trying six-man rotations. The Los Angeles Angels plan to go that route now that they have two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani on board, and the Texas Rangers will do the same.
Texas' move to a six-man staff did not sit well with its ace Cole Hamels, who recently declared that such rotations are "not part of baseball."