GDT 7/31/18 Philadelphia Phillies (Arrieta) @ Boston Red Sox (Pomeranz)

[bkeich]

The team has 5 off days in August, so there is basically a built in extra day per week. Once September gets here the rotation and number of innings pitched can be handled by extra pitchers in the pen if needed. Of course much of this may be determined by the standings.

Yea, the schedule has been weird this year. We have played 3 more games than the Braves at the moment, so we have an odd advantage there that we will get a few more off days. Three doesnt sound like many, but really with only 9 weeks left in the season 3 extra days is significant (I realize double headers also come into play here). We have some young pitchers, but really only VV and Pivetta need to be "protected" as Eflin had a break mid season. I would start making sure VV and Pivetta only pitch every 6th day most of the time and maybe throw in some reliever starts (I like andyb's idea of throwing some lefties at the Nats).

[zambonir]

It sounds like we can expect the return of playoff style rotation/bullpen management once September, comes, especially if it's a race.

Eflin and Velasquez have never pitched deep into September in any rotation. Pivetta did it last season. The Phillies have workload considerations for all of their starters, and it is why they have limited the ones not named Nola or Arrieta to fewer than 100 pitches on most nights. It is why they have contemplated creative solutions to meaningful September baseball, when they could employ a 20-man pitching staff.

They could ask Eflin or Velasquez or Pivetta to face an opposing lineup once, then piggyback them with one of the young starters at Triple A like Ranger Suarez, Enyel De Los Santos, Drew Anderson or Cole Irvin. They could deploy important late-inning relievers earlier in games. The path to 27 outs could be less conventional in September to keep every arm in its most optimal state.

Phillies make a deadline gamble on their rotation, setting...

[bkeich]

It is funny to read this because I think people take "innings" too seriously and "starts" not serious enough. If you want to limit a guy, you have to reduce the number of starts he makes (that extend past a certain number of pitches). That is more important than innings.

Which is tougher on a pitcher:
20 starts of 90 pitches or 30 starts of 60 pitches. I would contend it is certainly the latter, both are 1800 pitches but the 2nd one will put a great deal more stress on one's arm I suspect. So running out VV and Piveta for 4 inning starts in September wont really reduce the load on their arm as much as simply giving them an extra day or two between starts and then cutting their pitch limit to 80 or so IMHO.

[zambonir]

I suppose any start is more stressful than an off-day or non-competitive throwing day, but by September you will just be talking about 26 starts vs. 28 starts or 150 innings vs. 160 innings, they both probably accompilish the same thing.

[Austinfan]

I'd disagree, the longer pitch start puts more stress on the arm, forcing pitches when the muscles are fatigued.
Pitchers throw between starts, so a 60 pitch start isn't much more stressful then inbetween throwing.
But get to 90-100 pitches and "only the strong survive," which is what's impressive about Eflin, Pivetta nad Velasquez, they don't seem to lose velocity.

[allentown]

That's correct, but I doubt it's much of a factor if the pitch limit is 90.