Red Sox to Consider 6-man Rotation

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Link.

 

Based on the success the team had with giving Schilling and Josh Beckett more than seven days' rest on several occasions late in the season and the fact that Daisuke Matsuzaka thrived on five days' rest in his native Japan, the team is considering a switch to a six-man pitching rotation.

 

"We've discussed that concept, the concept of a six-man rotation," Epstein said. "I think it's premature to commit to any usage pattern, but certainly we're in a bit of a unique situation where you'd say a number of our starters might benefit from something like that in one way or another. But there's just so much attrition in baseball that the minute we start counting on having a six-man rotation or give it serious consideration, that's when we lose a pitcher or two in Spring Training and we look for someone to step up."

 

Adding more fuel to the speculation now is the return of Schilling for 2008, giving the Red Sox, at least on paper, six starters heading into the season in Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester and possibly Clay Buchholz.

 

 

It is an interesting concept. I'd like to see the Red Sox try it just to see how the pitcher's respond to it.

[CuseCubFan69]

Heck, I've been doing that for years!

 

I'm curious if they have done any studies showing the recovery time between a 4 day rest and a 5 day rest? I'm also interested to see how they would workout the pitchers between starts.

[Electron Blue]

Isn't a 4-man rotation what the baseball stat experts actually recommend? Not that it really matters... sounds like Boston is going to 6 to accomodate SP depth, rather than any study on usage patterns...

[Derwood]

blah blah, 3-man rotations, blah blah, 350 innings, blah blah, 50 complete games, blah blah Cy Young

[cheapseats]

Heck, I've been doing that for years!

 

I'm curious if they have done any studies showing the recovery time between a 4 day rest and a 5 day rest? I'm also interested to see how they would workout the pitchers between starts.

 

I don't know of any studies comparing 4 and 5 days rest, but there have been convincing studies showing no performance/injury difference in a 4-man rotation vs. a 5-man rotation.

[mul21]

Heck, I've been doing that for years!

 

I'm curious if they have done any studies showing the recovery time between a 4 day rest and a 5 day rest? I'm also interested to see how they would workout the pitchers between starts.

 

I don't know of any studies comparing 4 and 5 days rest, but there have been convincing studies showing no performance/injury difference in a 4-man rotation vs. a 5-man rotation.

 

Didn't those studies actually show there were less injuries when using a 4 man rotation?

[ISUCubsFan]

I'd be intrested to see how this would work out, but wouldn't it be easier for Boston to trade one of their starters off and improve somewhere else like SS?

[NCCubFan]

blah blah, 3-man rotations, blah blah, 350 innings, blah blah, 50 complete games, blah blah Cy Young

Blah blah, Tommy John surgery the next year.

[UK1679666180]

Heck, I've been doing that for years!

 

I'm curious if they have done any studies showing the recovery time between a 4 day rest and a 5 day rest? I'm also interested to see how they would workout the pitchers between starts.

 

You should either be the greatest coach in HS history or the worst. :) Is this the 14 day rest plan not including snow days?

[cheapseats]

Heck, I've been doing that for years!

 

I'm curious if they have done any studies showing the recovery time between a 4 day rest and a 5 day rest? I'm also interested to see how they would workout the pitchers between starts.

 

I don't know of any studies comparing 4 and 5 days rest, but there have been convincing studies showing no performance/injury difference in a 4-man rotation vs. a 5-man rotation.

 

Didn't those studies actually show there were less injuries when using a 4 man rotation?

 

Yes, although the difference was so small as to not be statistically significant.

[Roast]

Here are some stats from the 2007, according to http://www.baseball-reference.com

 

 

DAYS OF REST:

 I Split          G     W    L    S   CG SHO    IP     ERA    H     R     ER   HR    BB   IBB   SO   HBP
+-+------------+-----+----+----+----+---+---+-------+------+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+----+-----+----+
  2nd G of DH     16    2    0    5   0   0    19     1.89    15     4     4    1     5    1    11    0 
  0 Days        2108  196  188  401   0   0  3086.2   4.25  3054  1624  1458  307  1320  200  2515  137 
  1 Day         2586  224  199  363   0   0  4167     4.11  4075  2032  1905  428  1711  214  3463  177 
  2 Days        1990  131  145  200   0   0  3084.2   4.26  3009  1581  1461  283  1286  166  2504  137 
  3 Days        1346   91   94   98   0   4  2149.1   4.33  2100  1104  1035  254   868   89  1786   86 
  4 Days        2968  956  938   67  73 134 16117.1   4.52 17123  8723  8088 1851  5510  322 11334  611 
  5 Days        1647  533  524   29  31  66  8753.2   4.64  9234  4861  4511 1082  3113  179  6284  345 
  6+ Days       1525  298  343   35   8  39  6048     4.64  6367  3393  3121  751  2266  152  4292  262

 

EDIT: Of course, this encompasses all pitchers, just not starters.