Braves won't, but should, use an opener Saturday

C

CJC

Mashin' to Mississippi
With the news of Scherzer being scratched on Saturday, the typical response would be just to roll Ian Anderson out and hoping he can go 6+. I want to propose that we should go with a RH Opener followed by a LH reliever for a 2-3 inning combo, then roll with Anderson when the lineups dictate.

Why?

1.) LA Will either go with a 2nd bullpen game in 3 days or with a replacement SP who hasn't pitched in a while, or will try Buehler on short rest. Odds are that they will try to avoid the pitcher hitting again and will start pinch hitting the first time the 9 spot comes to the plate.

2.) Since LA will be going to Pinch Hitters early, we can use the RH followed by a lefty to make them either unwind their platoons early and shorten their bench... or we can get Minter facing some favorable matchups for 3-5 outs.

3.) Anderson can appear in inning 3-4 and if he can only go 5 we still get to the back end of the bullpen for the leverage at bats.

4.) Instead of making Matzek or Jackson work through trouble. We can sub in the next in line for favorable matchups if anyone gets on base.

Thoughts?
 
CJC said:
With the news of Scherzer being scratched on Saturday, the typical response would be just to roll Ian Anderson out and hoping he can go 6+. I want to propose that we should go with a RH Opener followed by a LH reliever for a 2-3 inning combo, then roll with Anderson when the lineups dictate.

Why?

1.) LA Will either go with a 2nd bullpen game in 3 days or with a replacement SP who hasn't pitched in a while, or will try Buehler on short rest. Odds are that they will try to avoid the pitcher hitting again and will start pinch hitting the first time the 9 spot comes to the plate.

2.) Since LA will be going to Pinch Hitters early, we can use the RH followed by a lefty to make them either unwind their platoons early and shorten their bench... or we can get Minter facing some favorable matchups for 3-5 outs.

3.) Anderson can appear in inning 3-4 and if he can only go 5 we still get to the back end of the bullpen for the leverage at bats.

4.) Instead of making Matzek or Jackson work through trouble. We can sub in the next in line for favorable matchups if anyone gets on base.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Nah. Long about the sixth, Ian will be cruising.
 
Has anyone actually thought about who the **** we’re actually going to pitch if one or both these games go extras? Are we pinning our hopes on Dylan Lee and Chris “Balls go flying at the speed of sound” Martin?
 
We dont have the depth in the BP to do a BP game like the Dodgers do. Even w/o Kelly, they still have Price, Phillips, Graterol, Knebel, Jansen, Vesia, Gonsolin, Bickford. Plan should be 5 innings from Anderson then see what the BP can do from there.
 
I agree that tactics like this are optimal. I love the idea of forcing the opposing team into a platoon lineup, and then forcing them to either unwind it or deal with the platoon disadvantage in the middle innings.

However, the NLCS is not the time for a team to be trying these things for the first time. Players in high stress situations don’t need the added stress of performing in new roles.

Ideally, I would like to see tactics like this used occasionally throughout the regular season. Times when the BP is tested and about to have a day off are perfect scenarios to get players used to this type of usage. A handful of games managed as “playoff” games would add a bit of intrigue to the monotonous regular season grind as well.
 
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