Shower thought of the day, how could the Sox employ the Tampa Bay Rays opener strategy? Whether you like it or not I think this strategy is going to be the future of pitching. Some teams are toying with it in their minors as we speak.
You can't deny its effectiveness, since May 19th the Rays are #2 in the major leagues with a 3.35 ERA with Blake Snell and a bunch of "who"s. With the pitching talent coming through our system, how filthy would our numbers be? I admit I dont understand how they decide who does what, but basically there is an "opener" (~2 innings) and a "bulk guy" (~5 innings) and someone who can cover whatever is left. The issue is that it requires a number of malleable pitchers who can at least go 5 innings.
Lets come up with a pitching pool:
2019, 2020 Pitchers who can go at least 5:
Kopech
Rodon
Lopez
Giolito
Cease
Hansen (2020+)
Dunning (2020+)
Adams
Fulmer
Guerrero
Stephens
FA (Corbin?)
2019, 2020 pitchers who can go ~2 innings:
Burdi
Hamilton
Burr
Jones
Cedeno
Frare
Fry
Thompson
Free Agents
Example game:
Game 1
Burdi 2ip
Kopech 5ip
Hamilton 2ip
It is fun to think about with the flame throwers on this team.