July 23, 2014

Darvish on Six

Yu Darvish thinks MLB teams should move to a six-man rotation to reduce injuries to pitchers. Colby Lewis liked pitching once a week in Japan:

“You always felt great, really healthy and strong. Then you come here and pitch every fifth day, and it’s different. Look what happened to Tanaka. I’m not saying that’s the specific reason he got hurt, but it’s worth thinking about.”

I’ll just note that the entire of history of baseball is the history of pitchers having their innings and pitches in games ratcheted down and their days of rest ratcheted up. After all this time, pitchers are still getting injured. If teams go to a six-man rotation, I suspect in ten years someone will be calling for a seven-man rotation to prevent all the injuries.

5 thoughts on “Darvish on Six

  1. Theron

    I wonder how their opinions would change if someone proposed their salaries should drop by 1/6 to make up for fewer appearances.

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  2. Jaunty Rockefeller

    I don’t disagree, but I also wonder if there isn’t a trend in the opposite direction of increased strain on a per-pitch basis, perhaps because of increased average fastball velocity, or increased reliance on pitches that cause injury, or what have you. I have no earthly idea whether any of those I mentioned are true. But there may be a naturally occurring equilibrium of sorts at play–lesser workload, but higher strain. I dunno.

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  3. David Pinto Post author

    Jaunty Rockefeller » There is something like this with safety features. The safer we make cars, for example, the more risks drivers take with them. Some say the safest driver would be one with a spear sticking out of the steering wheel straight at their heart.

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  4. napster

    That’s all well and good gentleman, but you cannot refute the data.

    Fact: Japanese pitchers get injured far less than pitchers in the MLB. Other than the small difference in size of the baseball, the only difference is what Yu Darvish and Colby Lewis are saying.

    So it behooves everyone to stop belittling this contention because it might actually be true.

    On another note, do you know, Japanese Doctors tell their Male patients to increase their cholesterol intake — because the data shows that your risk of stroke increases when your cholesterol intake decreases.

    Maybe the Japanese are onto something, but regardless of your opinion on this matter, you still have to look at what the data is — Japanese pitchers get injured far less than pitchers in the MLB.

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  5. Pft

    Tanaka only pitched 1-2 games on 4 days rest.

    Main reason for Tanaka’s injury I believe is he threw the split at a rate double what he had thrown in Japan. Going from 15% to almost 30%

    Testosterone levels have declined since the 60’s and 70’s and strength training has pitchers throwing harder than ever, w/o HGH to accelerate recovery. Pitchers just are not that durable under these conditions.

    Without expanding the roster I just don’t think a 6 man rotation is feasible, and since most teams get below replacement level from their 5th starter, a 6 man rotation would cause quite an offensive boost and kill a lot of bullpens

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