It's be nice wouldn't it? You could make Hammer your primary DH, cycle Ramirez, Parmelee, Arcia, and Mastroianni at the corners and use Doumit to give Mauer/Hammer/Mourneau days off.

 

Whether Gardy/Ryan would go for it, I don't know, but I don't think we're that far off from being capable of running an 11 man staff.

 

Corriea is already averaging over 7 ip per game, crappy weather and all. Once he gets settled in, Diamond will probably return to last year's average of 6-7 innings every game.

We've got a number of guys capable of stepping in and pitching 2-3 innings of relief if needed.

 

If we can get one or two out of Vanimal, Pelfry, Hendricks, Hernandez, Deduno, and DeVries to average 6-7 innings a start, I really think we could roll with 6 arms in the pen.

 

Obviously, it's not going to happen anytime soon, but once the weather warms up and DeVries and Deduno are healthy, we might get there.

 

 

Thoughts? Am I totally nuts, or does this sound attainable? If they did cut to an 11 man staff (and everyone was available) who would you go with?

Arcia needs to play every day

It's be nice wouldn't it? You could make Hammer your primary DH, cycle Ramirez, Parmelee, Arcia, and Mastroianni at the corners and use Doumit to give Mauer/Hammer/Mourneau days off.

 

Whether Gardy/Ryan would go for it, I don't know, but I don't think we're that far off from being capable of running an 11 man staff.

 

Corriea is already averaging over 7 ip per game, crappy weather and all. Once he gets settled in, Diamond will probably return to last year's average of 6-7 innings every game.

We've got a number of guys capable of stepping in and pitching 2-3 innings of relief if needed.

 

If we can get one or two out of Vanimal, Pelfry, Hendricks, Hernandez, Deduno, and DeVries to average 6-7 innings a start, I really think we could roll with 6 arms in the pen.

 

Obviously, it's not going to happen anytime soon, but once the weather warms up and DeVries and Deduno are healthy, we might get there.

 

 

Thoughts? Am I totally nuts, or does this sound attainable? If they did cut to an 11 man staff (and everyone was available) who would you go with?

 

I don't know about an 11 man staff but I agree that Arcia can be cycled in with Parm, Morneau, Hammer, Doumit and Mauer.

 

Arcia doesn't need to play every day... None of them do... They just need to play a majority of the days and some creative managing can make that happen.

No reason he couldn't play everyday. He just might not start everyday.

 

And I'm not nesc. saying the fifth guy has to be Arcia, just that it would be really nice to be able to trust an 11-man staff enough to have a fifth guy

No reason he couldn't play everyday. He just might not start everyday.

 

And I'm not nesc. saying the fifth guy has to be Arcia, just that it would be really nice to be able to trust an 11-man staff enough to have a fifth guy

 

How many teams go through the core of their season with 11 pitchers? That used to be the norm, but doing it now means swimming against a very strong current.

Five bench guys only makes sense, to me, in the Nat'l league, or with proven pitches that rarely go less than 6 innings, or because you have one bench spot strictly for a PH/DH, like Thome. And none applies in this case. We will need 12 pitchers, it's just a blessing and the schedule that we don't need 12 today.

According to Pat Reusse, Arcia is going back to AAA. Wilkin is already back.

I remember going through active rosters last year mid-year, as I was curious how many teams (other than the Twins) had 13 pitchers and 3 catchers.

 

None but us had 3 catchers, and only a small few had 13 pitchers. But everybody had at least 12 pitchers. I think that boat has sailed for good.

Just did the same and found two teams, Cle and Sea, that have 11 man pitching staffs. ChiWS have 13.

I'd settle for a 3 man bench at this point. Why in god's name is Mastro not on the DL if the two things he can capably provide (defense and SPEED!) are out the window?

 

Have we STILL not learned to just DL guys and stop hurting the club by bleeding out injuries for weeks on end?

I like the idea of keeping Arcia up (or if he falters, calling up Colabello) in order to strengthen the bench so that there is always another good bat ready to pinch hit for Dozier and Florimon. A rotation of Willingham, Arcia, Parmelee, Mauer, Morneau, and Doumit for five positions is not too bad of an idea.