From northern New Jersey came Boom Boom Mazzaro
A righthanded starter straight out of high school
He pitched in the minors at Stockton and Midland
And blew them away with all of the tools

(CHORUS:) So hurry home early, hurry let’s go
Boom Boom Mazzaro’s facing Robby Canó
Hurry home early, hurry let’s go
Boom Boom Mazzaro’s facing Robby Canó

He was traded by Oakland for David DeJesus
To be the fifth starter for Dayton and Yost
His minor league record looked like he was ready
But then in spring training his arm looked like toast

(CHORUS)

LaPorta and Hafner gave Boom Boom a beating
Just six weeks later he was back on the mound
He gave up six runs in five innings at Kauffmann
And the fans all demanded he be sent down

When asked who was responsible for his going down in flames
He pointed to the offices and said “You all know their names”
They may make cool judgements after the fact
But the name of the game is be hit and hit back

(CHORUS)

Thats one of the upsides of a six man rotation i was musing,sure the likes of Hochevar & Sanchez would complain of losing innings but Hochevar has had a history of injuries so it could be argued his arm would benefit from a season of which is a lighter load

The key is whether we are really going to compete this year i dont think we are & if were not then we may as well take advantage of that fact & really have a good look at what we have got,having an extra day off would really take the pressure of these guys especially youngters like Duffy or Monty not to mention the likes of Paulino or Mendoza who are still working it out how to be the most effective in the big leagues!

Reducing the workload & sharpening up for 2013 may not be a bad idea at all whilst we get a genuine competition between starters which could produce the most positive of results.

You bring up an interesting proposal. Funny thing is I could see Yost going for it. If he had his way, he would have a 15 man pitching staff. He likes having lots of pitchers and hates using the bench.

Downside is I don’t see the 1,2,3,4, and 5 starters getting any relief appearances in. Either their starts would suffer or the relief jobs would be haphazard. And don’t think the likes of Hochevar and Sanchez would be happy as would not get enough innings without the relief appearances to get their bonuses. But some pitchers like Chen, Paulino and Mendoza might fit in very well to this plan as they have often done both relief and starting.

It would be a very interesting experiment. Probably won’t happen but would be very interesting to see whether it works as well on the field as it looks on paper.

I think having another shut-down reliever to cover for Sanchez, Duffy, and Paulino’s high pitch counts is more important and more often used than having a fourth man sitting on the bench. Bullpen, to my mind, looks like Soria, Holland, Broxton, Herrera, Coleman (all of whom can close), Mijares, Teaford, and maybe Mendoza or Wood for long relief when Duffy strikes out nine, walks six, and hits 100 pitches after four innings. If the rotation continues to average six innings, optimism, that leaves 486 innings for the ‘pen, about 60 innings per reliever on average with eight men. Should be a seriously dominant ‘pen. With Mijares, I expect Collins in Omaha to polish control and learn to get lefties out consistently, only reason to sign Mijares, other than hope he rebounds and can be traded mid-season.

My personal outside-box idea for a rotation (feel free to laugh all day, but I like this idea) – I would have a seven-man rotation slotted by day of week. The #1,#2,#3 would pitch Fri,Sat,Sun. the #4,#5,#6 would pitch Tue/Wed/Thu and #7 on Mon.

The logic is this: Mon and Thu have the most off-days, so use #6/#7 on those days. The weekend is the best attendance days so use your top three guys for those games. Or you might have a Bannister type that does better in days games – so give that guy Sunday. All of the starters would then be in the bullpen during the two or three middle days when they would typically throw a bullpen session to stay sharp.

You would need fewer true relievers (maybe just a lefty/righty/closer), and have your best pitchers affect more games. The #1 guy would start about 25 games instead of 32, but appear in another 25-50 games as a reliever. He might go longer in his start (7 instead of 6 innnings) and pitch an inning in two other games each week – that computes to 200-225 innings instead 192. I would prefer a #1 starter pitching 225 innings spread over more games.

Based on Greinke’s experience in the bullpen, I would think starters would benefit from regular bullpen experience since they can try different things and learn how to amp up on demand – improving their starts. Can you imagine Greinke being the closer for two games a week – nice!

Never going to happen, I know.

Thats a very good point Jim,i hadnt thought of the flexibility a former big name closer gives to Yost as far as his options for working his bullpen,especially if we hit that elusive winning streak.

Does anyone think there is any value in adding Mendoza to Jims five of Hoch,Sanchez,Paulino,Chen & Duffy thus turning it into a six man rotation?

I too question some of Moore’s moves this off season and can only pray he knows what his doing and his recent success has not gone to his head (a lot more Davies and Jacobs than Paulinos and Frannys in his background.

I also agree that Falu would have been a much cheaper option than Yuni especially since Yost plays his bench so little. Only thing I can wonder is if Moore and Yost question Giavotellis hip recovery or Moose’s hitting consistency.

Chen I fully agree because of his club house leadership and his ability to fill so many pitching roles if needed. And if remember right, Moore waited for the Comp deadline before signing him.

I still don’t like the Melky for Sanchez trade but that may be wishful thinking as I think Melky also added to the Royals clubhouse success. And with the Royals past penchant for walks, I am not sure why they have added 3 more Mijares and Broxton as well) who are on the wrong side of 4 walks per 9 innings.

Guess spring training will sort all this out, but I think the signings and trades thus far have brought more questions than answers. And don’t get me started on Frank White’s firing.