Romo: The opener tb rays

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Sergio Romo came in and shut down the top of the Angels’ batting order in the bottom of the first inning. In the top of the second inning, an Angels error led to a long inning that led to a Rays grand slam to put them ahead 4-0. Romo did his job and he rewarded the Rays for their experimentation. According to the broadcast, he might open tomorrow’s game, too.
 
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So I just read what happened with reliever, Romo, getting the start for one inning (spectacular 1, 2, 3, three strikeout inning) before handing the ball over to Yarborough for six innings. But I don't understand why they did that.

By the way it appears that Romo is again going to start today's game before again handing the ball over to someone else after an inning.

Why are they doing this?
 

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"Once we got the lead we wanted to get, [take Romo] out and hand the ball to Yarbrough,'' Cash said. "As soon as [Robertson] hit that home run, we were on the phone.''
 

Kev

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If I were an MLB manager, I'd have a team FULL of relievers and make changes every inning or two. Get righty on righty and lefty on lefty, keep hitters off balance, never let a hitter see same pitcher twice. There's a huge advantage to be had here. I expect Maddon to be the first guy to do this and for others to copy. Would allow MLB teams to limit salaries as well.
 

EV Whore
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If I were an MLB manager, I'd have a team FULL of relievers and make changes every inning or two. Get righty on righty and lefty on lefty, keep hitters off balance, never let a hitter see same pitcher twice. There's a huge advantage to be had here. I expect Maddon to be the first guy to do this and for others to copy. Would allow MLB teams to limit salaries as well.

Roster size is not big enough to pull this off. Just based on simple math you need some innings eaters.
 

Honey Badger Don't Give A Shit
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So I just read what happened with reliever, Romo, getting the start for one inning (spectacular 1, 2, 3, three strikeout inning) before handing the ball over to Yarborough for six innings. But I don't understand why they did that.

By the way it appears that Romo is again going to start today's game before again handing the ball over to someone else after an inning.

Why are they doing this?

Rays continue to lead MLB w creative use of deep dive analytics. (Many forget that Joe Madden was the first to actively utilize defensive position shifts in 2007-2009 initially to counter hard pull hitters like Red Sox David Ortiz)

Here we have Cash wanting to get 6+ IP out of rookie LHP Yarborough but preferring he not face the opponent's 1-2-3 batters three times - buttressing strong analytical data which demonstrates batters success jumps dramatically the third (or more) time they see same pitcher, same game
 

Honey Badger Don't Give A Shit
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Fun Fact....Since opening April with a meager 3-12 start, the TB Rays are a crisp 19-10
 

Honey Badger Don't Give A Shit
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Roster size is not big enough to pull this off. Just based on simple math you need some innings eaters.

Correct. But it's clear that in past three to four seasons teams like CLE, CHC, TBR are leading transition towards targeting starter for 15-16 outs (as opposed to more traditional hope he works into 7th inning) and then roll one guy out with target of 4 to 5 outs and then crush eighth and ninth inning with two to three arms.

Combine that with a strategy of fully exploiting all allowable loopholes for roster movement between minors and majors and you can turn a 12 man pitching staff into more like a 13 to 14 man staff.

Do not have the precise numbers for this year or even 2017 but do know that in late July last year (over 100 games in) the Rays had make like 80 roster moves between AAA and the big club.

And While their overall season was unsuccessful they did finish fourth in AL ERA and Runs Allowed
 

Honey Badger Don't Give A Shit
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Oh and to further agree with HarryCaray's astute post, would note that teams, including Rays, still want at least two or three SP who they can target for 20 outs (for TB this is Archer, Snell and lesser - Faria). But this differs from past approx 50 years when prevalent model was to have four or five guys called upon to do that.
 

EV Whore
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Correct. But it's clear that in past three to four seasons teams like CLE, CHC, TBR are leading transition towards targeting starter for 15-16 outs (as opposed to more traditional hope he works into 7th inning) and then roll one guy out with target of 4 to 5 outs and then crush eighth and ninth inning with two to three arms.

Combine that with a strategy of fully exploiting all allowable loopholes for roster movement between minors and majors and you can turn a 12 man pitching staff into more like a 13 to 14 man staff.

Do not have the precise numbers for this year or even 2017 but do know that in late July last year (over 100 games in) the Rays had make like 80 roster moves between AAA and the big club.

And While their overall season was unsuccessful they did finish fourth in AL ERA and Runs Allowed

Yeah it's definitely headed that way. I just don't think we'll ever see an elimination of the starter and the emergence of a team that throws primarily bullpen games, unless the roster rules change dramatically.

Teams can't continue to move players up and down for a long stretch or their players will start running out of options.
 

Honey Badger Don't Give A Shit
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Yeah it's definitely headed that way. I just don't think we'll ever see an elimination of the starter and the emergence of a team that throws primarily bullpen games, unless the roster rules change dramatically.

Teams can't continue to move players up and down for a long stretch or their players will start running out of options.

I also thought that as an obstacle, but it was due to my misunderstanding "player options".

Yes, after using three Options for a player the team must expose him to the waiver wire.

But an Option does not = being sent to minors.

A single move from 25man (majors) to minors (40man) in April, for example -- triggers One Option.

And then for remainder of that season, the club can move him back and forth as frequently as they wish provided the player remains in minors for minimum of ten days.

If a club chooses to demote a player from 25man to minors in three of their first five seasons of MLB service, they are now out of Options for that player in next two seasons. (Rules change a bit after 5 MLB seasons).

The limit of 3 Options per player extends across MLB teams in event of their being traded and/or FA signed to another club. Thus some young players may join a team with only two or one Options remaining available.

Meanwhile a player who has never been sent to minors from a 25man roster (for example, Evan Longoria) still has all three Options available were the Giants or any future team wanting to toggle him up and down to AAA

See: https://www.mlbdailydish.com/platform/amp/2011/9/3/2400914/mlb-roster-rules-25-man-roster

and again note that I myself could not have accurately explained this before reading above article
 

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Right, I understand that. It's either an option year or not, if the player gets sent down that entire year counts as an option year.

What I was saying is flexing players between the minors and majors is not a viable long-term (multi-year) plan, as you could only do it for 2 years with each player.
 
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[FONT=&quot]“The way that their lineup stacks generally speaking is very heavy right-handed at the top,” manager Kevin Cash said when asked about the plan after Thursday’s game.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It allows us in theory to let Sergio to come in there and play the matchup game in the first, which is somewhat unheard of – up until Saturday anyway.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Then Yarbs can, in theory, have the availability to get deeper in the game. There’s no more secret about the third time through the order, everybody knows that. And that’s kind of what this is about.”[/FONT]
 

Life is Good
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I think this is a brilliant strategy, especially for a team like the Rays who have a very good 1-2 and a moderate 3, but then a drop off from there in the rotation.
 

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