Ozzie's handling of pitchers

[BamaDoc]

First of all happy holidays to all. Ozzie appears to give his starters a long leash. Whether that is his true preference or due to a lack of confidence in the bullpen will be seen this year. Hopefully, he will also have grown as a manager as this was the first time he was responsible for the decisions. What I am getting to is that wins by pitchers will be related to starts and health issues. An earlier thread showed a number five may only make around 25 starts. What I would expect/do is give Buehrle, Garcia, and Garland the max starts around 102 total. Split the other 60 between Contreras and Hernandez as both are older. I think Hernandez will be too effective to truly be a five, but will benefit from some skips and extra rest.

Hernandez may also benefit from a pitch or inning count. Both restrictions seem to be counter to Ozzie's natural tendancies. I really think Hernandez's health down the stretch may be key. Having a starter who is not afraid of the big game should be great instead of cringing every fourth and fifth day. I read somewhere that the Sox's #5 produced a 5-15 record and 9+ ERA combined. If healthy and not abused, these five will give us a chance most every game. Also starters consistantly giving innings will keep the bullpen from burning out. The continual blowout by the fifth starter affected our team/bullpen for days/season.

[3E8]

This is why the addition of a real fifth starter and a revamped bullpen is so crucial to an injury-free pitching staff. The bullpen no longer needs to be overworked every fifth day, and consequently our starters won't need to be left in games so long anymore with more fresh arms in the pen. It's the circle of life.

[aboz56]

IMO the only two guys on this staff who should continuously go over 100 pitchers are Buehrle and Garcia.

 

Buehrle, because doesn't really throw all that hard and has never missed a start that I can remember. In other words, not at a very big risk to get hurt.

 

Garcia is another horse who can go out and throw 100 pitches time and time again. He's proven that over his career.

 

Contreras is an older guy, who could easily get hurt. He's had a few DL stint in his first two seasons already.

 

El Duque, the same thing. I would say let him go 80-90.

 

And until Garland turns from a mouse to a man, he should be given a very short leash.

[BamaDoc]

I included Garland because he made 33 starts last year with 217 innings. Average of over six innings per start which surprised me. Ozzie may get rewarded for that patience this year as Manuel used to pull Garland at the first sign of trouble. Hopefully Garland learned something?

[thelatinoheat_30]

First of all happy holidays to all.  Ozzie appears to give his starters a long leash.  Whether that is his true preference or due to a lack of confidence in the bullpen will be seen this year.  Hopefully,  he will also have grown as a manager as this was the first time he was responsible for the decisions.  What I am getting to is that wins by pitchers will be related to starts and health issues.  An earlier thread showed a number five may only make around 25 starts.  What I would expect/do is give Buehrle, Garcia, and Garland the max starts around 102 total.  Split the other 60 between Contreras and Hernandez as both are older.  I think Hernandez will be too effective to truly be a five, but will benefit from some skips and extra rest. 

  Hernandez may also benefit from a pitch or inning count.  Both restrictions seem to be counter to Ozzie's natural tendancies.  I really think Hernandez's health down the stretch may be key.  Having a starter who is not afraid of the big game should be great instead of cringing every fourth and fifth day.  I read somewhere that the Sox's #5 produced a 5-15 record and 9+ ERA combined.  If healthy and not abused,  these five will give us a chance most every game.  Also starters consistantly giving innings will keep the bullpen from burning out.  The continual blowout by the fifth starter affected our team/bullpen for days/season.

good points

 

IMO the only two guys on this staff who should continuously go over 100 pitchers are Buehrle and Garcia.

 

Buehrle, because doesn't really throw all that hard and has never missed a start that I can remember. In other words, not at a very big risk to get hurt.

 

Garcia is another horse who can go out and throw 100 pitches time and time again. He's proven that over his career.

 

Contreras is an older guy, who could easily get hurt. He's had a few DL stint in his first two seasons already.

 

El Duque, the same thing. I would say let him go 80-90.

 

And until Garland turns from a mouse to a man, he should be given a very short leash.

 

i agree w/ letting mark pitch, but i'd take freddy out on continually going over 100. he has a very hard-working delivery. i'd replace him w/ garland cause of the smoother motion, prolly less likely to get hurt. i keep hearing how freddy's motion leaves him susceptible to injury.

[elrockinMT]

I included Garland because he made 33 starts last year with 217 innings.  Average of over six innings per start which surprised me.  Ozzie may get rewarded for that patience this year as Manuel used to pull Garland at the first sign of trouble.  Hopefully Garland learned something?

You are right on with your evaluation of Garland and Ozzie's handling of him. Ozzie said the only way Garland was going to learn, develop and get over the hump was to show confidence that he could get himself out of trouble and let him alone. Once John knew he wasn't going to get pulled he would perform better. Maybe that is what happened, but we won't really know until we see John develop further as a winner in '05.

 

I don't know if I always thought Ozzie Guillen did a good job with the pitchers though.