OAKLAND–Thank goodness for off days.
Two off days in the next week allow the White Sox to put off what has been an agonizing decision: Who is the fifth starter this week?
As it stands, they won’t have to answer that question until a week from Saturday when they host the Atlanta Braves at U.S. Cellular Field.
If they can’t make a trade soon, what’s next in the long pursuit for a fifth starter?
Sox general manager Ken Williams has shown he’s not afraid to roll the dice, so here is a bold solution–go with a four-man rotation.
It’s actually a move Williams has considered–talking in spring training about how it could be accomplished–but it would take guts to implement. If it doesn’t work, or if one of the four starters develops an injury, it could be disastrous.
The five-man rotation has become part of modern baseball. But does it make sense when most teams struggle to find four quality starters?
Sandy Koufax pitched more than 300 innings three times in a four-year span, often pitched on two days’ rest and in one game threw 205 pitches.
In the last two years of his career, 1965 and 1966, Koufax made 84 starts and completed 54 of them. Of course, Koufax retired at 30 because of arm problems.
But the standard treatment in those days was sitting with your arm in a bucket of ice and taking one cortisone shot after another. There was no arthroscopic surgery or ultrasound treatment. Pitchers receive better care now than ever–and throw less.
Also, bullpens are not staffed by failed starters as they often were in Koufax’s day. With a 12-man pitching staff, which the Sox have had, four starters and eight relievers should be enough to carry the load.
In fact, current conventional baseball wisdom holds the reason for 12-man staffs is not so much the lack of quality starters but the specialty nature of relief pitching.
One reason Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is hesitant about a four-man rotation is because he does not want to use relievers for more than one inning.
“We have a couple guys I’d like to see only go one inning,” Guillen said. “They might go two or three innings, but I’d rather see them throw one inning.”
Where have you gone, Rollie Fingers, the master of the multi-inning save?
With Damaso Marte and Billy Koch, one inning seems reasonable. But Neal Cotts, Jon Adkins, Shingo Takatsu and Cliff Politte can go longer.
Going to a four-man rotation would involve cutting down a starter’s side work between starts, perhaps watching the pitch counts closer in games and maybe going to the bullpen a couple of batters earlier.
It also would involve management displaying the nerves of a cat burglar.
Four!
How a four-man rotation might work if the Sox adopted it beginning with their game Tuesday night in Oakland, a 6-4 loss in 12 innings
NOTES
The rotation: This schedule is based on giving Esteban Loaiza and Mark Buehrle the most starts, given their status as the aces of the staff, meaning Scott Schoeneweis and Jon Garland are skipped on occasion to keep Loaiza and Buehrle on a schedule of three days’ rest.
Days off: As much as possible, this schedule keeps the Sox’s four starters pitching on three days’ rest. However, open dates are built into the schedule, sometimes delaying a start. The number in parentheses is the days off since that pitcher’s last start.
Unknowns: This schedule is meant as an exercise to look at the feasibility of a four-man rotation for the Sox. It does not account for injuries, the emergence of a fifth starter, the whims of Ozzie Guillen or locusts. So don’t go buy those tickets for that season-ending game expecting to see Schoeneweis just yet.
6/2 @ Oak Buerhle
6/3 OFF
6/4 @ Sea Garland
6/5 @ Sea Loaiza
6/6 @ Sea Buehrle
6/7 OFF
6/8 PHI Shoeneweis (8)
6/9 PHI Loaiza
6/10 PHI Buehrle
6/11 ATL Garland (6)
6/12 ATL Shoeneweis
6/13 ATL Loaiza
6/14 OFF
6/15 @ Fla Buehrle (4)
6/16 @ Fla Garland (4)
6/17 @ Fla Loaiza
6/18 @ Mon Shoeneweis (5)
6/19 @ Mon Buehrle
6/20 @ Mon Garland
6/21 Cle Loaiza
6/22 Cle Schoeneweis
6/23 Cle Buehrle
6/24 Cle Garland
6/25 CUBS Loaiza
6/26 CUBS Schoeneweis
6/27 CUBS Buehrle
6/28 OFF
6/29 @ Min Garland (4)
6/30 @ Min Loaiza
7/1 @ Min Buehrle
7/2 @ Cubs Schoeneweis (5)
7/3 @ Cubs Garland
7/4 @ Cubs Loaiza
7/5 OFF
7/6 ANA Buehrle (4)
7/7 ANA Garland
7/8 ANA Loaiza
7/9 SEA Schoeneweis (6)
7/10 SEA Buehrle
7/11 SEA Garland
ALL-STAR BREAK
7/15 @ Oak Buehrle
7/16 @ Oak Loaiza
7/17 @ Oak Garland
7/18 @ Oak Shoeneweis
7/19 @ Tex Buehrle
7/20 @ Tex Loaiza
7/21 @ Cle Garland
7/22 @ Cle Schoeneweis
7/23 DET Buehrle
7/24 DET Loaiza
7/25 DET Garland
7/26 MIN Schoeneweis
7/27 MIN Buehrle
7/28 MIN Loaiza
7/29 @ Det Garland
7/30 @ Det Schoeneweis
7/31 @ Det Buehrle
8/1 @ Det Loaiza
8/2 OFF
8/3 @ KC Garland (4)
8/4 @ KC Buehrle
8/5 @ KC Loaiza
8/6 Cle Schoeneweis (6)
8/7 Cle Garland
8/8 Cle Buehrle
8/9 Cle Loaiza
8/10 KC Schoeneweis
8/11 KC Garland
8/12 KC Buehrle
8/13 @ Bos Loaiza
8/14 @ Bos Schoeneweis
8/15 @ Bos Garland
8/16 OFF
8/17 DET Buehrle (4)
8/18 DET Loaiza (4)
8/19 DET Garland
8/20 BOS Schoeneweis (5)
8/21 BOS Buehrle
8/22 BOS Loaiza
8/23 @ Det Garland
8/24 @ Det Schoeneweis
8/25 @ Det Buehrle
8/26 @ Cle Loaiza
8/27 @ Cle Garland
8/28 @ Cle Schoeneweis
8/29 @ Cle Buehrle
8/30 OFF
8/31 OAK Loaiza (4)
9/1 OAK Garland (4)
9/2 OAK Buehrle
9/3 SEA Schoeneweis (5)
9/4 SEA Loaiza
9/5 SEA Garland
9/6 SEA Buehrle
9/7 @ Tex Schoeneweis
9/8 @ Tex Loaiza
9/9 @ Tex Garland
9/10 @ Ana Buehrle
9/11 @ Ana Schoeneweis
9/12 @ Ana Loaiza
9/13 OFF
9/14 @ Min Buehrle
9/15 @ Min Garland (5)
9/16 @ Min Loaiza
9/17 DET Schoeneweis (5)
9/18 DET Buehrle
9/19 DET Garland
9/20 MIN Loaiza
9/21 MIN Schoeneweis
9/22 MIN Buehrle
9/23 KC Garland
9/24 KC Loaiza
9/25 KC Schoeneweis
9/26 KC Buehrle
9/27 @ Det Garland
9/28 @ Det Loaiza
9/29 @ Det Schoeneweis
9/30 @ KC Buehrle
10/1 @ KC Garland
10/2 @ KC Loaiza
10/3 @ KC Schoeneweis
How it might add up
If this schedule held up, the four starters’ totals (based on averages this year):
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BUEHRLE LOAIZA SCHOENEWEIS GARLAND
Starts Starts Starts Starts
41 40 35 37
Innings Innings Innings Innings
260.1 286 225 252.1
Sox record Sox record Sox record Sox record
in starts in starts in starts in starts
30-11 26-14 21-14 22-15
MAKING THE SOX 99-54 ON THE SEASON WITH THE BIG FOUR STARTING
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