The MLB Value: Starters vs. Relievers

By: Michael A. Chase Jr.

3/12/2019

         There is a new wave sweeping across the MLB landscape in terms of managing a pitching staff. As a plethora of teams utilized relievers to start games instead of using actual starting pitchers. The popular term given to these relievers tasked with starting games is known as, the “opener”. The opener is the precursor to what ultimately becomes a bullpen game for a particular team. The manager then throughout the game plays match-up baseball with his bullpen to get the 27 outs needed for a win. This trend is becoming more popular among teams due to its success. Does make you wonder about the impact it could have on starting pitching. Raising the questions of, could this diminish the importance of having a full starting rotation? Will this new trend cause teams to change how they put together their rosters each year?

            One of the biggest reasons for this new pitching strategy is the number of injuries affecting a lot of teams pitching staffs. Injuries for MLB teams, especially to their pitching can at times be tough to overcome. Then they happen to valuable players and occur frequently then teams must find ways to cope and adjust. No team provides a better example of this injury to innovation narrative then the Tampa Bay Rays this past season.

            The Tampa Bay Rays dealt with a litany of injuries this past season to their pitching staff. Injuries to starters Jake Faria, Brett Honeywell, Jose De Leon, Yonny Chirinos, among others challenged their pitching depth. Under the direction of their manager Kevin Cash the Rays implemented this new “opener”/”bullpen day” strategy often and effectively. Utilizing relievers like Ryne Stanek, Sergio Romo, and Jose Alvarado to start games pitching an inning or so. Then following with long relievers like Ryan Yarborough, Wilmer Font, and Yonny Chirinos to pitch them into the late innings to use the backend of their pen. The Rays were so effective in executing this strategy that they managed to stay in the Wild Card race until the final two weeks of the year. Impressive considering the inexperienced and flawed roster they fielded most of the year. Obviously this was not the ideal situation for the Rays to deal with, though you must respect their innovative way to manage and adapt to stay competitive.

            MLB seeing the Rays have success with this strategy began to introduce this new pitching strategy to their team. Two major factors equated to the introduction of this strategy for teams this past year. (1) Most of the times it was implemented to combat injuries and fill vacant rotation spots. Though as the season went on and success continually grew with this strategy teams made it a regular occurrence in some instances to dedicate a day to this opener/bullpen day strategy. (2) Being the lack of quality back end starting pitching many teams. Thus they determined it was better to bullpen their way through a game then try to survive with an ineffective on every fifth day.

            This ideal to utilize this strategy as more a luxury than a necessity was done specifically by two playoff teams. The Oakland Athletics and the Milwaukee Brewers implemented this in their games into and through the postseason. For the Oakland they utilized the opener strategy in the AL Wild Card Game against the New York Yankees. With a majority of their rotation hurt and their other options like Mike Fiers on short rest they decided to put the strength of their team to use. With the A’s putting together a dominant bullpen lead by relievers Lou Trivino, Jeurys Familia, and Closer Blake Treinen they entrusted their pen to advance them. They used reliever Liam Hendriks as their opener against the Yankees. The one skepticism of this strategy caused doubt in Oakland’s strategy, because if one if not multiple relievers struggled in their appearance in this game then the A’s chances of winning were slim to none. It happened as Liam Hendriks gave up 2 runs in the first inning and set the tone for a tough 8-1 loss by the A’s to end their year. The negative end result of this strategy in postseason play.

            For the Milwaukee Brewers they came out on the positive end of using this strategy. They had success with this pitching strategy all the way to Game 7 of the NL Championship Series. They utilized this strategy due to the fact that they had many injuries to their starting rotation. Pitchers Jimmy Nelson, Chase Anderson, Zach Davies and Brent Suter hurt they needed a huge effort from there pen in the postseason. They utilized reliever/starter Brandon Woodruff to start or pitch multiple innings as a bridge guy to their top arms in the pen. Milwaukee with back end pieces like All-Star Josh Hader, Corey Knebel, and Jeremey Jeffress wanted to shorten the game. Thus with guys like Gio Gonzalez, Wade Miley , and Jhoulys Chacin starting these games the Brewers did not ask much from them in terms of length. They at times needed them to get just 9 to 11 outs and Craig Counsell would manage the pen the rest of the way. This ultimately did come back to bite them in Game 7 of NLCS when their bullpen ran out of gas. This strategy did yield some positive results, but showed not to be sustainable during postseason play.

            I see how this new pitching management strategy affects starting pitching  two factors that are affected. The first factor is the impact on how teams effectively utilize and form the back-end of their rotation. Typically teams build a five man rotation with their top three starters being the horses that lead the staff. While the 4th and 5th starters are the guys looked to give you innings and just keep you in games. The success over an extended period of the opener/bullpen day there could be a chance the 4th and 5th starter are deemed not as much of a priority. With teams possibly considering bullpen days and openers the need for the traditional 4th and 5th starters becomes less important.

            This strategy connects to the other key factor of how teams build their 25 man rosters. If teams choose to carry one or even two fewer starters on their roster this will bring about big roster decisions. This means teams at times may carry as many as 9 to 10 bullpen arms and may have to sacrifice extra position players. So this will give you a chance to be more flexible in your pitching strategy by giving you more options. But it may also hinder your position player options late in games as well. The decisions that must be made by most teams is how many starters to keep. As well as how to determine what areas on the teams are more vital based on your strategy to have depth in. In the end whether a teams makes the decision to implement this strategy or not is based on their pitching depth and injuries will play a role.

            Overall with the popularization of the opener and bullpen days have certainly brought about questions in how to manage a rotation and bullpen. Emphazing the importance of a strong pen, while in some ways diminishing the need for a strong five man rotation. The need for good deep starting pitching will never become obsolete. The want for deeper and strong armed bullpens continues to grow. Thus while starting pitchers are still key in Major League Baseball, the growth in the value of relievers of all roles is steadily on the rise.