FanPost

The Ten Man Pitching Staff

162 x 9 = 1458 IP

Can we do it? It used to be routine in an age when GMs didn't really pay attention to their bullpens.  As I've said before it opens up CRAZY platoon opportunities.

Economically it has two huge advantages:

Platoons that hit and field like all stars are way cheaper than all stars
decent long relievers are the cheapest decent pitchers available

It also plays to the A's strengths, we have several candidates that could be in the bullpen and come in and throw 2 to 3 high quality innings at a time, and we have four pitchers with 190IP seasons under their belts.

Organizationally, we are better prepared to try this for two more reasons, we constantly stress throwing strikes and pitching to contact, and we have fielded defenses the last two years that have been very adept at turning batted balls into outs.

two more important factors, we pitch in pitchers park, and our AAA team is only a 2 hour drive away.

i see this being a big plus for the regular season, but like dingerpower pointed out in his diary, would need to be changed in the postseason.

Check this out:

Platoons that hit and field like all stars are way cheaper than all stars
decent long relievers are the cheapest decent pitchers available

It also plays to the A's strengths, we have several candidates that could be in the bullpen and come in and throw 2 to 3 high quality innings at a time.

this is a clip from an excel spreadsheet that didn't format that well:

Position    Pitcher    Appearances    avg ip    total ip    comments
1    Haren    33    6    198    avg 220 ip 1st 2 years at Oak
2    Loaiza    33    6    198    avg 195 ip last 4 years
3    Harden    32    6    192    04 189 ip/ 05 128 ip
4    Blanton    32    6    192    avg 197 ip 1st 2 years
5    Kennedy    32    6    192    avg 160 ip from 2002-2005
total for starters                972   
long Right    Saarloos    50    3    150    avg 140 ip last 2 years
long Left    TBA(Reuter?)       60    2    120    this works out to 2ip every third day of the season
setup 1    Duke    40    2    80    avg 78 ip last 3 years
setup 2    Calero    50    2    100    at StL he was used less often for over one ip/g
Closer    Street    80    1    80    averaged 74 IP 1st 2 years
bullpen innings    required if starters avg 6ip/start            486   
bullpen innings    possible with these numbers            530   

1458 total innings                   

Notes: assumes no extra innings, but also assumes no road losses