Yankees: Will they eventually replace starting pitching altogether?

The Yankees are forging a path that could lead baseball down a path it’s never been before. Could it be that soon, instead of announcing their starting pitcher for their next game, they announce their Pitching Committee?

The Yankees, led by their manager, Joe Girardi and a willing partner in Brian Cashman, have been inching their way to a top heavy reliance on their bullpen as a formula to win games.

Last night, for instance, a noticeably disturbed CC Sabathia was plucked from the game against the Rays short of completing five innings, and it wasn’t like Sabathia was getting lit up, it was more that Girardi was taking no chances in a game where his starter was just a little “off.”

And sure enough, the formula worked as Girardi called on a tandem of five relievers, each of whom threw their one inning of work, sat down, handed the ball to the next guy, the last of who happened to be (but he doesn’t have to be) Aroldis Chapman, who pitched the tenth and eleventh innings to earn the save.

This type of game is not an aberration for the Yankees; it’s destined to be their norm. Plus, the Yankees aren’t finished stocking their bullpen. As reported by YGY’s Mike Calendrillo, the team is interested in acquiring the much sought after reliever from the Tigers, Justin Wilson.

Yankees fans will recall the 1961 season, but not for the Mickey Mantle versus Roger Maris home run race to beat Babe Ruth and his sixty home runs in a season this time. They’ll recall, instead, a roly-poly left-hander from Puerto Rico, who much like Mariano Rivera and his cutter, baffled hitters with one pitch, a screwball and helped Whitey Ford to his best season ever as a Yankee.

Luis Arroyo appeared in sixty-five games as a relief pitcher and earned 23 saves, most of them for Ford, at a time when the “save” wasn’t even an official stat for Major League Baseball. We only know of Arroyo’s accomplishment because the Bible of Baseball at the time, the Sporting News, was recording the stat on its own until MLB officially introduced the “Save” in 1969.

My point, though, is that the Yankees have always been in the vanguard of baseball when it comes to how to use relief pitching and bullpens to win games. Following Arroyo, the trail is long with guys like Ryne Duren, one of the first to challenge hitters with a 95 mph fastball, the only pitch he had in his arsenal.

Sparky Lyle, Rich Gossage, Dave Righetti, and others I’m probably forgetting, all made careers for themselves as “closers” long before the word became a fixture in baseball’s vocabulary.

And now, get ready because I believe the Yankees are onto something they will introduce to baseball, perhaps not in this form, that will revolutionize the game as we know it today.

Let me explain.

The Turning of the Tide

We all agree that relief pitching has taken hold of baseball, especially in this decade, do we? Because if there is any disagreement, we haven’t been watching the same games.

And there’s a term floating around that explains more. They call it Playoff Baseball. And it’s when managers adopt a who new philosophy regarding how they use their pitching staffs. It’s driven by the fact the these are short series and “every game counts.”

And that’s how we saw, for example, Aroldis Chapman thrust into a World Series game by Joe Maddon in the fifth or sixth inning, and not in his routine ninth inning closer role.

What the Yankees appear to be doing with Joe Girardi driving the ship is to adopt playoff baseball as regular season baseball. And why not?

Girardi has the tools to do it, courtesy of Brian Cashman and the trade he recently made with the White Sox to bring in two quality relievers, Kahnle and Roberton, adding to the stash he already had.

Sabathia was not a happy camper last night when his manager took the ball from him at a time when he had 25-30 pitches left in his tank. But you could also see in his body language that he was more upset with himself. Moreover, as a veteran who understands the game, he “gets” what Girardi is doing, even though he may not be happy about it.

And maybe, Sabathia even sees where this thing is going.

Today’s Pitching Committee is………

From a pitching standpoint only, the Yankee’s turn-around following the All Star break has a man made design to it, which no team (that I’m aware of) has ever attempted to employ.

It’s been tabbed in the media as the Yankee’s Bullpen By Committee. All the pieces are interchangeable, and one of the five pitchers always gets the night off. Thus, we saw Adam Warren pitch the ninth as the closer the other night in a Yankees win.

And from there, it’s only one small step that leads to a revolution in baseball to where starting pitchers are scheduled every third day instead of every fifth day. And the expectations of the team are narrowed from six innings to three or a maximum of four innings, depending on their effectiveness, the number of pitches, and “stress level” (pitching with men on base) during an outing.

And instead of announcing Jordan Montgomery as the starting pitcher, Girardi posts a “lineup” similar to the one he posts for his position players, that reads something like this:

Jordan Montgomery (3), Chad Green (2), Tommy Kahnle (1), Dellin Betances (1), David Robertson (1), Aroldis Chapman (1), Adam Warren, Masahiro Tanaka (Standby Relievers).

Parts are interchangeable, and there’s nothing written in stone saying Montgomery can’t pitch the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning instead of opening the game.

Nothing but a folly? Think again about the benefits. Montgomery and all of the starters pitch twice a week instead of just once. His young arm is preserved, but still, as they like to say, stretched out. And everyone gets to attend the party, creating a better concept of team.

As with anything new, there are hurdles to overcome and battles to be waged. Let’s take a look at a few.

Fighting the Riptide – Starting Pitchers

Hurdles? You betcha, and the first chorus of boos will come from the starting pitchers, whose value (I.E. $) to the team is measured by wins and losses. And at one time, we used to start fires by rubbing two stones together.

Baseball is already adapting to the presence of relief pitching in the game, and it is paying accordingly. $86 million for the services of Chapman, after all, is not chump change, and that trend is continuing. Middle relievers will win big, but maybe it’s about time they did.

But when you can make the argument to starting pitchers that their careers will last longer and the opportunity for injury will lessen, and both will add more to the dollars in their pockets, they should, at least, be willing to listen.

And besides, have you ever wondered why a starting pitcher can zip through three innings mowing batter after batter down? And then all of a sudden they “lose it”?

I have, and if I were a starting pitcher, I’d jump at the chance to throw my best slider to a batter once, instead of at least twice and maybe three times as the batting order turns over, and I’m facing the same guy with my same pitches that he’s seen before.

Rob Manfred’s Holy Grail includes anything that will shorten the length of games. And the first thing he’s likely to say is that games will be interrupted more often with pitching changes almost every inning.

Not the case, Rob. In fact, the time of games will likely be reduced because the Committee comprising that day’s pitchers will know pretty much in advance when they will be entering the game and, much like the hitter who bats seventh is ready when it’s his turn, will be sitting in the dugout already warmed up and ready to go when the Yankees finish their half-inning batting.

The other thing that’s bound to annoy Manfred is that it’s not his idea. And there’s some rogue team out there, in this case, the Yankees, trying to change baseball without his “permission.”

Wake up, Rob! Number one, Joe Girardi doesn’t work for you and, secondly, you can talk about putting safety nets around the playing field because that’s for the fans. But you cannot control how the game is played on the field.

This has nothing to do with player’s safety either, for instance, the rule in place requiring players to wear a helmet when they are batting.

This is about strategy, and until you wear a uniform and are announced as the starting third baseman, Joe Girardi has a handle on things.

Fighting the Riptide – What About the Numbers?

As we know, baseball is a game built on numbers and records that are made to be broken. Except, many of them would now live forever. No one will ever see a pitcher throw eight no-hitters to top Nolan Ryan. No lefty will ever win more games than Warren Spahn‘s 363. And so on.

I don’t have much empathy for those who rue about the past and what a great game baseball used to be when, for instance, Joe Morgan, Lou Brock, and Ricky Henderson ruled the stolen base era of baseball. And how exciting it was back then and blah, blah, blah.

And mind you, I have been following this game for half a century. And I recall those times and others with the same fondness with which I enjoy the game as it’s played today.

And besides, this is going to drive the folks at Statcast nuts trying to come up with new and “relative” statistics that nobody cares about. And that alone would be enough fun for me to see how this plays out.

But there’s another thing about numbers, too. They’re all relative, and how can anyone compare to Cy Young and his 511 games won when he pitched every other day, and many ballparks didn’t have walls and fences, allowing outfielders to run forever in pursuit of fly balls?

And how many times did Joe DiMaggio crisscross the country on road trips while playing day games after night games in two different cities when he hit safely in those 56 straight games?

So, numbers will change as will the value attached to them. The “Hold,” for instance, might become the new save and be added to the leader’s boards, something we don’t see now.

But baseball has adapted well before, and there’s no reason why it can’t do it again.

Final Thoughts and Moving On

Joe Girardi and the New York Yankees are going to do what they’re going to do. Girardi has started something regarding how he uses his starting pitchers and bullpen, and baseball is taking notice.

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And baseball will take even more notice if the Yankees continue a winning pace they are currently on.

In the Post Season, we have witnessed massive changes in the manager’s strategizing to find ways to win by going to his bullpen earlier and more often.

Will the Yankees take the next step in the process, revamping entirely the idea of even bothering to have a starting pitcher, per se?

I don’t know. But at the very least, it’s a strategy that merits discussion and a whole series of tweaks before it’s ready for prime time.

In the meantime though, let’s enjoy watching Girardi push all the right buttons, while at the same time, pushing his team into the playoffs.

Next: Six reasons to bring back Girardi in 2018

And I invite you to see what other fans are thinking about using A Pitching Committee and to add your thoughts on the Yanks Go Yard Facebook page, where all Yankees fans meet to exchange ideas.