COULD THE YANKEES USE A 6-MAN ROTATION?

That's right, a 6-man starting rotation. As Spring Training is winding down and Opening Day in North America is getting ever closer, the Yankees have to nail down their 25-man roster. This includes a final decision on their starting rotation and their bullpen. Right now, C.C. Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Masahiro Tanaka, and Ivan Nova fill slots 1 through 4 in the rotation. The battle for the fifth spot is between Michael Pineda and David Phelps. The general assumption is that the loser will get a long-relief spot and an opportunity to be first in line if someone goes down.

I am just wondering what is wrong with a 6-man rotation. Why can’t the Yankees, or any other major league club, have six people designated to start games. I am not talking about a simple extension of the rotation, where everyone gets 5 days’ rest. I am talking about a fundamental paradigm shift in the way teams handle the rotation schedule.

Follow me on this one. Let us say you have five starters that are the primary starters on a staff. Then you have one pitcher capable of stepping into a slot in the rotation at any time. Sounds like the current model of long relievers, except that they would have starts that are intentionally scheduled. Each turn through the rotation, one pitcher gets a break. They skip a turn, which is taken by the sixth guy. If you numbered the starters, it might look something like this: 1-2-3-4-5, 1-6-3-4-5, 1-2-6-4-5, 1-2-3-4-6, and so on.

Would it help? Well, if your front five are young, durable, and made of iron, probably not. You would be stealing starts from them. This philosophy would certainly not fly among those who subscribe to the Billy Martin/Dallas Green/Nolan Ryan philosophy of pushing starters. However, if you have a guy in your rotation who is 39 and maybe showed some signs of breaking down towards the end of the prior season, like Hiroki Kuroda, maybe giving him a regular break every 4th start might not be a bad idea. If you have a pitcher who is recovering from shoulder surgery and missed two full seasons, and also missed almost an entire season in the minors due to an elbow strain, like Michael Pineda, maybe skipping him every 4th start might keep him healthy and running through October. If your ace’s most recent season ended sub-par with a hamstring injury, like C.C. Sabathia’s did, you may want to consider giving him a break every now and then to keep his legs strong.

Besides preserving your front line starters, there is the possibility of developing younger starters. No matter how many starts you have in AAA, and no matter how many appearances you make coming out of the bullpen, there is nothing like starting a major league baseball game. The fact that David Phelps is in the running for the fifth spot is largely due to his success being a spot-starter last year. The coaches got to see how he handled the pressure, how he managed the second and third time through the order, so they know what they are getting. David Phelps also learned how to handle the pressure. Having this second tier of starters gives you a place to prove young talent, one way or the other.

On Tuesday March 25, Joe Girardi said he would announce his decision on the fifth starter spot. Both pitchers in contention, Phelps and Pineda, are worthy candidates. It is nice to be in a position to make such a tough decision. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity here to take the rotation to the next level. Here’s hoping the Yankees take advantage.

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row



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