Tampa Bay Rays to use four man rotation at start of season
By David Hill
Given the numerous off days that the Tampa Bay Rays have at the start of the season, manager Kevin Cash has indicated that the team will use a four man rotation to begin 2018.
At a time when more teams are looking towards a six man rotation, the Tampa Bay Rays are bucking the trend. Instead of going with that six man rotation, or even the traditional five man staff, Tampa bay will be using a four man rotation to start the year.
The reasoning makes sense. The Rays have a quite a few off days in the beginning part of the season, and sticking with that five man rotation would make it difficult to get the starters in rhythm. And, with Matt Andriese having experience shuffling between the rotation and the bullpen, it seemed like an easy choice for manager Kevin Cash to make.
More #Rays news: Cash says they’ll go with a 4-man rotation into mid May, Andriese goes to bullpen to work into a multi inning role. Couple times they need a 5th starter will fill in with a reliever.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 18, 2018
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This decision also appears to put the Rays rotation in stone. Chris Archer will be the de facto ace, with some combination or Blake Snell, Jake Faria, and Nathan Eovaldi behind him. With that being the case, it appears that top prospect Brent Honeywell is ticketed to start the 2018 campaign back in AAA.
As for Andriese, he is expected to be a key part of the bullpen in the early going. Cash stated that he would be a heavily used multi-inning reliever, someone that the Rays are going to rely on quite a bit. And, by defining his role now, he can get used to seeing how he responds to that shorter break between outings, and to get him used to that spot in the bullpen when the games do not mean anything.
The Rays four man rotation will not last long. Right now, it is expected to be a six week experiment, ending sometime in the middle of May. Meanwhile, on those two or three occasions when a fifth starter is needed, the Rays are expecting to have a bullpen game, or to bring a reliever in to fire a few innings. Andriese may well get a start in that time frame, but that would not be his primary role.
The Tampa Bay Rays are bucking a trend around the game, and will be using a four man rotation to start the year. With the number of off days they have at the beginning of 2018, that move makes sense.