Quote Originally Posted by Trikflow77
Quote Originally Posted by Lukie
I think people underestimate the amount of stress that a pro level pitcher is placing on his body... tendons, ligaments, muscles, etc... plus they have to do it over a full season, year after year.

Even in the short term, the history of pitching on 3 days rest is well documented... and it's not pretty. I don't have the exact stats on hand, but I just know it's bad. And figure that guys who pitch on 3 days rest are usually doing it because they are a great pitcher.

And lol at comparing what you did in middle school to the major leagues... how fast do kids throw in middle school?

Anyway, something I'm surprised that's never been tried.. instead of the typical 4-5 man rotation (and in this era, pretty much 5 exclusively), have a whole slew of pitchers that throw 1-3 innings, pitching at least every other game... or something like that.
the slew of pitchers thing will never happen, starting pitchers get into groves and yanking them after 2 or 3 innings (the toughest to get through) is insane. I do think a team or two should think about a 4 man rotation though, but it would take time to work it into a mlb club.
Maybe the "pitch guys 2-3 innings every few days" thing will catch on someday. I mean, crap, look at how the role of the reliever and the closer has changed over the last twenty-five years. Nobody could have seen that 30-40 years ago.

I do agree with trikflow, though, that pitchers need time to "settle in." I've seen it at every level, pitchers sometimes need an inning or two to get comfortable with what they're doing.

Maybe things will change, but I don't think any MLB team will go to a 4-man rotation again. People are scared to over-work pitchers and with the money that is paid to these guys nobody would ever risk it. Plus, pitchers would probably be thinking long-term and not want to do it because they'd miss out on future riches....that is why CC Sabathia is the fucking man. dude has $100-150 million on the line and went out there time after time on three days rest, and he SHOVED IT, made dudes/teams look silly. goddamn he's awesome.