Starting Rotation

CrimsonCowboy

CrimsonCowboy

Moderator
As it stands now, we have three guys who are assured to be in. Those guys are Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz, and Kevin Gausman. Sean Newcombe is likely in, unless he wets the bed in Spring Training. And then there’s a host of candidates for the fifth and final spot. Touki Toussaint, Max Fried, Luiz Gohara, Kyle Wright, Kolby Allard are those candidates. So as it stands now, what is everyone thinking for the rotation? FWIW, here’s my guess:

Julio Teheran
Mike Foltynewicz
Kevin Gausman
Sean Newcombe
Max Fried

I’m giving Fried an early edge, mainly because I like his stuff a bit more right now, but others will make it a tough call for Snitker as to who gets that fifth spot. Touki to me is the best challenger. Going to be interesting to watch and I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.
 
The Braves won't need a 5th SP until somewhere around April 6th/7th, so the names in the opening day rotation won't really matter much.

Barring injury, I expect the Braves to dole out starts roughly as:

Folty 30+ (all year)
Gausman 30+ (all year)
Soroka 20-25 (will have his workload managed closely)
Newk 20-25 (moved to BP and/or rested after the break)
Teheran 15-20 (pushed out by Wright/Soroka/Anderson)
Wright 15-20 (pushes out Teheran/Newk mid-season)
Touki 10-15 (spot starts in a hybrid role, likely the first #5 SP used)
Fried 5-10 (spot starts in a hybrid role)
Gohara 5-10 (spot starts in a hybrid role)
Wilson 5-10 (up and down from AAA)
Anderson 1-5 (cup of coffee late to get ready for 2020)

By the end of 2019 and going into 2020 I expect to see the "rotation" consisting of Folty, Gausman, Soroka, Wright and Anderson with everyone else pushed to the BP or traded away. It's fairly certain 1-2 of those 5 will be injured by the then, so the other guys listed above will rotate in.
 
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Enscheff said:
The Braves won't need a 5th SP until somewhere around April 6th/7th, so the names in the opening day rotation won't really matter much.

Barring injury, I expect the Braves to dole out starts roughly as:

Folty 30+ (all year)
Gausman 30+ (all year)
Soroka 20-25 (will have his workload managed closely)
Newk 20-25 (moved to BP and/or rested after the break)
Teheran 15-20 (pushed out by Wright/Soroka/Anderson)
Wright 15-20 (pushes out Teheran/Newk mid-season)
Touki 10-15 (spot starts in a hybrid role, likely the first #5 SP used)
Fried 5-10 (spot starts in a hybrid role)
Gohara 5-10 (spot starts in a hybrid role)
Wilson 5-10 (up and down from AAA)
Anderson 1-5 (cup of coffee late to get ready for 2020)

By the end of 2019 and going into 2020 I expect to see the "rotation" consisting of Folty, Gausman, Soroka, Wright and Anderson with everyone else pushed to the BP or traded away.
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It would seem a bit unreal if Teheran is trade bait at the deadline, especially if the Braves are in a postseason chase again. But your thought on him is not at all out of the realm of possibility. Especially considering when Teheran pitched in the NLDS. Also, just the depth and youth makes that possibility ever greater.
 
CrimsonCowboy said:
As it stands now, we have three guys who are assured to be in. Those guys are Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz, and Kevin Gausman. Sean Newcombe is likely in, unless he wets the bed in Spring Training. And then there’s a host of candidates for the fifth and final spot. Touki Toussaint, Max Fried, Luiz Gohara, Kyle Wright, Kolby Allard are those candidates. So as it stands now, what is everyone thinking for the rotation? FWIW, here’s my guess:

Julio Teheran
Mike Foltynewicz
Kevin Gausman
Sean Newcombe
Max Fried

I’m giving Fried an early edge, mainly because I like his stuff a bit more right now, but others will make it a tough call for Snitker as to who gets that fifth spot. Touki to me is the best challenger. Going to be interesting to watch and I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.
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You are unreasonably low on Soroka if he doesn't even get a mention as a candidate to fill that 5th spot lol.

But seriously, if he is healthy then I think Soroka is the clear favorite to be the number 5 at the start of the season. But I expect to see a wide distribution of starts to all these guys. It wouldn't surprise me if we had 8-9 guys make 10+ starts.
 
BeanieAntics said:
You are unreasonably low on Soroka if he doesn't even get a mention as a candidate to fill that 5th spot lol.

But seriously, if he is healthy then I think Soroka is the clear favorite to be the number 5 at the start of the season. But I expect to see a wide distribution of starts to all these guys. It wouldn't surprise me if we had 8-9 guys make 10+ starts.
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I forgot to lump Mike into that group. Oversight on my part, but he’ll have to show he’s healthy. If he is, he’ll absolutely have a say in this.
 
I like Fried more in the bullpen than rotation. His fastball reaches 95+ out of the pen while it's more around 90-92 in the rotation.

Best guess barring injury, and everyones healthy is Folty/Gaus/Newk/Julio/Soroka but guys like Touki, Fried, Wright, Gohara will make starts, and i think Anderson gets his feet wet near the end of the year.

Better question is what does it look like in 2020? It would be SUPER young but if all of them worked out (they wont), i'd love to see Folty/Soroka/Wright/Anderson/Gohara or Touki.
 
Fun fact. We could trade Folty, Gausman, Newk and Julio tomorrow and STILL have a rotation of Soroka, Touki, Gohora, Wright and Wilson and STILL have Fried in the pen. That’s a young rotation, but with a lot of nasty stuff.

Not of course saying I want that to happen....rather it’s just amazing we have that kind of depth.
 
CrimsonCowboy said:
I forgot to lump Mike into that group. Oversight on my part, but he’ll have to show he’s healthy. If he is, he’ll absolutely have a say in this.
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Sounds like he's showed he's been 100% since last September and has had no limitations. If he has already shown it to the team, who else does he have to show it to?
 
I am still trying to figure out why everyone gives Teheran a starting spot. Why is he not the guy that should be used in long relief? I see others with far more potential being sidelined because of his presence.
 
depley said:
I am still trying to figure out why everyone gives Teheran a starting spot. Why is he not the guy that should be used in long relief? I see others with far more potential being sidelined because of his presence.
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I think you start the season with Julio in the rotation as you can also delay some clocks if that's your preference, but I do not think he's guaranteed a spot for the season.
 
depley said:
I am still trying to figure out why everyone gives Teheran a starting spot. Why is he not the guy that should be used in long relief? I see others with far more potential being sidelined because of his presence.
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I have said something similar in another thread. I would experiment with an opener for JT. Having a guy to one inning then JT for 6-7 if he can. But you could also twice a week have a bull pen type game where you slot 4-5 guys going a few innings each. We have the depth to do that.
 
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