Playoff roster/rotation

S

Southcack77

Well-known member
Dodgers as a team are the best team in baseball vs. RHP. They are slightly above average vs LHP.

I don't see Fried, Touki, Wilson, or Wright to be realistic options to start a playoff game.

My level of confidence right now is something like: Folty, Gausman, Sanchez, Teheran, Newcomb. I do not have much confidence at all in the last two, but the season finish clearly leans Teheran.

But a lefty vs Dodgers may be the better play. Worth looking to see how Newcomb does on extended rest the next time he's up.

.....

11 position locks

Freeman
Albies
Swanson
Camargo
Flowers
EDIT --- Sukuki (originally had Ruiz here in error)
Acuna
Inciarte
Markakis
Duda
Culberson

6 pen locks

Minter
Viz
Brach
Venters
Biddle
Winkler

2 Rotation locks

Folty
Gausman


So 6 more spots to pick.


Possible position player choices:

Duvall
Lane Adams
Ryan Flaherty

Possible pitching choices:

Anibal Sanchez
Sean Newcomb
Julio Teheran
Touki Touissant
Bryse Wilson
Kyle Wright
Max Fried
Shane Carle
Luke Jackson
Sam Freeman
Chad Sobotka


My thoughts:

A. Duvall
A. Sanchez
J. Teheran
S. Newcomb

I don't see any way you don't take all three regulars from the rotation. They aren't going to leave Teheran after his second half. The Dodgers are lefty vulnerable and you've seen Newcomb present no-hit stuff. Can't see leaving him home.

Seems unlikely to leave Duvall since he was a major acquisition with control. you could make a case for Lane Adams or taking both being the right call though, I suppose.

That leaves two more pitching spots:

Here is where riskiness with youth vs bringing along the guys that got you here comes into play. This is Sobotka, Touki, Fried vs Carle, Jackson, Freeman.

I'd probably leave Fried, Carle, Jackson. Leaving me to pick two of Touki, Sobotka, and Freeman.

I'm going to guess Braves take Sam Freeman and Sobotka, though I wouldn't put it past Snitker to choose Carle or Jackson over Sobotka.

I think I would roll the dice and take Touki and Sobotka.
 
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There is a tricky decision to be made with respect to Newcomb this week. Do we give him a start to see how his arm bounces back from the rest. Or do we give him a couple bullpen appearance to see how he responds to relieving. I suppose there is also the possibility of giving him one start and one bullpen appearance. Snit currently has him penciled in to make a start against the Mets.
 
If I'm putting together the best possible bullpen arms, Sobotka has to be in it right now barring a last week meltdown and his arm falling off. Touki right behind him with the appeal that he could give you multiple innings if needed.
 
This is what i'd do.

Flowers, Zuk.
Freeman, Duda.
Ozzie.
Swanson.
Camargo, Culberson.
Nick, Acuna, Ender, Adams, Duval.

Rotation: Gaus, Folty, Sanchez, Julio.

Bullpen: Winkler, Viz, Brach, Minter, Biddle, Venters, Sobotka, Freeman/Newk. I'd consider Touki, but i think if it's LA, we'll go with 4 LH's and 4 RH's out of the pen. Could maybe not use Duval and go with 9 in the pen, 4 man bench.
 
There are quite a few decisions that I think could hinge on how players do this week and also who we draw for the NLDS.

1) Teheran vs Newk vs Touki as fourth starter. Teheran is favored now, but there could be a combination of events that changes this.

2) Duvall vs Adams for 4th bench spot. If Duvall has some good ABs this week he gets it. I don't believe Tucker is available (it appears we traded for him on September 2), but if so having a second left-handed bat on the bench would not be a bad thing.

3) Do we carry 8 or 9 relievers. I think this actually could be a fairly important decision. The Dodgers have a deep lineup (in the sense they have position sharing at several spots) that allows them to gain the platoon advantage in a lot of high leverage situations. Our best counter is to go with 9 in the pen (with at least 4 of them lefties), which would allow us to use them to get just one or two hitters out.

4) Which of the relievers to carry. Do we go with a guy who can give us 3 or more innings. I think there is less need for this if you have 9 in the pen.
 
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Someone mentioned that Tucker may be eligible for the postseason since he was on the club earlier in the season. Not sure how true that is.
 
Players must be on the 40-man roster, the 60-day disabled list or the bereavement/family medical emergency list as of midnight ET on Aug. 31 to be eligible for their respective clubs' postseason rosters. Consequently, players that are acquired via September trades or signed as free agents in September are ineligible for postseason play.

Clubs can petition the Commissioner's Office to add any player that was not on the 40-man roster as of Aug. 31 -- provided the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing a player who has spent at least 60 days on the 60-day disabled list. The Royals were able to use this tactic to add Brandon Finnegan to their roster during the 2014 postseason, despite the fact that Finnegan was not on the 40-man roster as of Aug. 31.

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/postseason-eligibility

probably rules out Tucker
 
nsacpi said:
Players must be on the 40-man roster, the 60-day disabled list or the bereavement/family medical emergency list as of midnight ET on Aug. 31 to be eligible for their respective clubs' postseason rosters. Consequently, players that are acquired via September trades or signed as free agents in September are ineligible for postseason play.

Clubs can petition the Commissioner's Office to add any player that was not on the 40-man roster as of Aug. 31 -- provided the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing a player who has spent at least 60 days on the 60-day disabled list. The Royals were able to use this tactic to add Brandon Finnegan to their roster during the 2014 postseason, despite the fact that Finnegan was not on the 40-man roster as of Aug. 31.

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/postseason-eligibility

probably rules out Tucker
Click to expand...

AA was in the booth yesterday and clarified it with Chip and Joe.

Any player on the 40 man on August 31st is eligible. So there doesn't need to be any magic wands waved or creative trickery to get Sobotka on if we wanted.

What I didn't know was, he also said any player who was in the organization from top-down on August 31st is eligible.

He expounded on this by saying for example if he wanted to call up a player from AA or A or DSL to be on the NLDS roster he could theoretically have no issues doing it, even though they weren't on the 40 man roster.
 
The original list posted by Southcack77 had Flowers as the only catcher. Doing the POs with 1 catcher is a non-starter IMO.

Adams has AA behind him being on PO roster. With Adams on roster, Duda would be the only LH hitter on a 4 man bench.

Newk could/should be left off roster or on it as a reliever.
 
salmagundy said:
The original list posted by Southcack77 had Flowers as the only catcher. Doing the POs with 1 catcher is a non-starter IMO.

Adams has AA behind him being on PO roster. With Adams on roster, Duda would be the only LH hitter on a 4 man bench.

Newk could/should be left off roster or on it as a reliever.
Click to expand...

Who else would you want as a second LH on the bench? I don't think we have any good options.
 
OP, you actually should have 12 position locks because you accidentally left off Suzuki.
 
Bravesfannchar said:
I have zero confidence in JT and Newcomb. They walk way too many people.
Click to expand...

I think Julio could go 5 innings, and give up 2-3 runs or so which is a quality start. I have no confidence in Newk, hope hes traded this winter.
 
weso1 said:
OP, you actually should have 12 position locks because you accidentally left off Suzuki.
Click to expand...

Sanchez is a rotation lock as well.

I think the 4 remaining spots are:

Teheran (in the pen if not in the rotation)
Newcomb (same)
Touki
Sobotka

I thought I would have Duvall, but I don't see a spot for him. I don't see us leaving off any of these 4 pitchers.

ETA: Nevermind, I didn't see you had Ruiz as a lock. Why on earth would he be a lock? I would replace him with Duvall.
 
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salmagundy said:
The original list posted by Southcack77 had Flowers as the only catcher. Doing the POs with 1 catcher is a non-starter IMO.

Adams has AA behind him being on PO roster. With Adams on roster, Duda would be the only LH hitter on a 4 man bench.

Newk could/should be left off roster or on it as a reliever.
Click to expand...

For purposes of that list, Ruiz=Suzuki.

I don't know why I do that, but I do it fairly often. Usually catch it.
 
salmagundy said:
I searched for that 2nd LHB and found no one. Flaherty doesn't fill the bill IMO.
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If you believe Adams has his swing back he could work like a second lefty when not pinch running as he has a history of reverse splits (hits righties very well in MLB but not lefties)

His line vs righties this year (smaller sample due to being in minors mostly): .333 .444 .800 1.244 (5-15 including 3 BB's and 4 K's).
 
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