Starters and Wins

[DOUGHBOYS]

The rule change proposal of switching pitchers out and in on Fridays if not pitching Mon-Thurs, has me thinking of how much baseball has changed since free agency.
Pitchers are coddled, babied, and treated like fine china in a day care center by their agents and clubs.

Pitch counts are in place instead of "Can you give me one more inning?"
Complete games no, quality starts, yes.
An extra day of rest, nope, skipping a start.
In our game, a lot of folks squawk about not getting Wins. Eventually, the Wins rule itself will have to be modified or shelved.
Starting pitcher innings have gone down, down, down till now, we call six innings and giving up three runs 'a quality start'.
QUALITY! 6 INNINGS!
One inning over the MINIMUM to qualify.


Year after year, the relief pitcher becomes more prominent in baseball. Managers are frustrating fantasy owners by yanking Starters from a game with four...or worse, for us, 4 2/3 innings pitched.
Five innings considered good.
Six, gold.
Not afraid at all, to use their pens. Afterall, the starter has thrown half the game, he's done his job.
Now the Manager just has to bridge the gap till he gets to his specialists in the seventh, the set-up guy in the eighth and Closer in the ninth.
And eventually, those starting pitchers will only have to throw those four-six innings of almost quality or quality starts, once every six days.
Agents will be pushing for it. Doctors will be pushing for it. And so will the Players Union.
Inevitable, really.
And 20-30 years after that, once a week will become the norm. A natural progression.

Our fantasy game was/is simplistic.
Draft Starters for Wins. Closers for Saves.
Now, there are far fewer Wins.
20 Game winners, once the norm, are rarities.
During the last 10 years, there have been 22 20-game winners.
In the 90's, even with a baseball strike precluding 20 game winners for 1994-95, the nineties had 34 20-game winners.

The 'Win' itself has changed. It used to go to the starting pitcher almost excluively, depending on who won the game.
Now, 'no decisions' have become normal for starting pitchers. The game still in question in the middle innings when he has 'done his job'.
For fantasy purposes, we are now drafting starting pitchers, not for Wins, but because they simply throw more innings than relievers.
In throwing more innings, there is more chance for strike outs, and yes, more chance for a Win.

For me, the approach I take each year to pitching is shifting.
Wade Davis is more important to the Royals than their fourth starter.
In the past, on my fantasy team, Wade Davis types were thought of as a dime a dozen.
A middle reliever. Who needs a middle reliever?
Now that the Starter thinks he does the world a favor by throwing five innings and less in the future, is this still the case?
Davis could throw three quality innings in a period. And I don't mean quality as an agent means quality. I mean FANTASY QUALITY where he has a pitching line for the week of 3 inn/1 hit/ 0 ER/ 0 BB/ 4 k/ and a possible Win or Save.
Can Jason Vargas get those stats in a five inning stint?

The game of baseball is changing. We have to do the same, in the way we handle our teams in the fantasy game or in our fantasy game.
I believe in the future that Wins, as we know them now, will be gone.
I also believe that innings minimums for season long games will be lowered to mimic the real game.

The problem with Wins changing is what category can replace it in the season long game.
Some like quality starts.
This really doesn't work for me.
We are already getting the quality starts through our WHIP and ERA stats.
I do believe that any six inning start may be a category.
If replacing Wins now, I'd replace it with any start OVER six innings.
Of course, this would change the game.
Innings eaters would not be snubbed as they are now.
Arroyo, Buehrle, and Pettitte types would receive a lot more consideration in drafts.
And only Starters would contribute to that category. And that, doesn't seem right either.