Why not give elite starting pitchers the ball more often?

[D-train]

If you have a starting rotation where you've got one or two really good pitchers but either your fifth guy really sucks or you have to use mediocre spot starters, with days off why not just skip that fifth spot when you get the opportunity?

Let's say for example that some combo of Castillo/Kirby/Gilbert/Miller were pitching like aces and Hancock/Woo were sucking eggs. You could easily use your better pitchers every fifth day with days off during the season and put the ball in the hands of your better pitcher(s) up to, say, 35-37 times instead of 32.

Why give your worst spot in the starting rotation an equal say in the team's fortunes as your best one? That's a thing about modern baseball that doesn't make sense and nobody will waver from just because "That's the way it's done". Oh, and (in really whiny voice) "Someone might get huuuuuurt", which is why nobody will do it. Give your ace one extra start and if he by some miracle gets hurt at any random point during the season management gets blamed and ohhhhhh we can't have that! Guys get hurt now pitching meager innings as it is, so you might as well go for it.

Look at the last three seasons. If we get our ace 35 starts and sit Marco or somebody else's ass those three (or more if we get our #2 guy more starts) times, we likely have three straight playoff appearances.

Does this make sense?

Agreed, when you have a couple guys at the top of your rotation that are clearly better, the team would be better off skipping the #5 guy when there's a day off to keep the aces on schedule.

Plus, the 5th starter is usually the one they're trying to "limit innings" anyways, so it's just a natural move imo.

But it is in defiance of their 54% slow play policy so they refuse to do it...

[Captain 97]

The M's did that all the time with Felix. Look where that got him. Out of baseball at age 33.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

I hope Logan is enjoying his 7th off day in a row.

[AZOldDawg]

Let me remind everyone of Jim Palmer, Mike Cueller, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson

[Donn Beach]

After a slow start, Seattle’s rotation has been dominant over the past 10 games. Mariners starters have led the majors with a 1.44 ERA and 0.77 WHIP over that stretch, while totaling 64 strikeouts and just nine walks. They have nine quality starts over that span, with the lone exception being Kirby’s five shutout innings in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies

[DavidGee24]

The M's did that all the time with Felix. Look where that got him. Out of baseball at age 33.

The highest number of games you can start in a season on a straight five-man rotation is 33 (33/33/32/32/32). Felix started 34 games three times and 33 games twice.

[DavidGee24]

Let me remind everyone of Jim Palmer, Mike Cueller, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson

The only one of those guys whose arm died early was McNally's at 32. I wonder what it was those guys did differently where they could throw 250 - 300 innings per season and make it as far as they did. You'd think that somebody in MLB would be trying to figure that out.

[Captain 97]

The M's did that all the time with Felix. Look where that got him. Out of baseball at age 33.

The highest number of games you can start in a season on a straight five-man rotation is 33 (33/33/32/32/32). Felix started 34 games three times and 33 games twice.

If you start opening day and pitch every 5th game you would make start #33 in game 161. That means you would need to be bumped up 4 times during the season in order to get to 34 starts. 2013 and 2014 were the years where they really pushed this

I was at one of the games where he did it in Pittsburgh in 2013. We were stoked because we thought we were going to miss him but they bumped him up. They actually did it twice in a row. He pitched in team game #31 in Toronto #35 in Pittsburgh and #39 in New York. They did it again with him in July pitching in team game #94 and 98 and in august pitching in team game #113 and #117. He then got hurt in Septemeber and missed most of the month. He would have had 34 starts if he had finished out that year healthy.
The following year 2014 was the year that Felix started 34 games. He pitched in game #1, game #5 and game #9 so they basically skipped the #5 starter the first two times through the rotation. In May he pitched in game #43 and game #47, In July he pitched in Game #93 and Game #97, as well as in game #103 and #107. In August He pitched in games #103 and #107 and in September he pitched in Game #143 and #147.

So that was 10 times in 2 years that they bumped Felix up to skip a lesser pitcher. Could be coincidence but Felix really started to decline after that.

[Captain 97]

Let me remind everyone of Jim Palmer, Mike Cueller, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson

The only one of those guys whose arm died early was McNally's at 32. I wonder what it was those guys did differently where they could throw 250 - 300 innings per season and make it as far as they did. You'd think that somebody in MLB would be trying to figure that out.

People like to glorify the good old days but the reality is that the way the game was played back then was far less demanding on the body. I am always amazed when I watch old videos and see pitchers lollipopping the ball in and hitters taking looping two handed swings. The way the game is played has changed from a mechanics standpoint as well as a physical training standpoint. We have learned how maximize output by using the body in a way that produces the most force. This means that now pretty much every pitcher can throw in the upper 90's and pretty much every hitter can hit the ball 450 feet. It also means that there is way more stress being put on the body than what players experienced in days gone by. We can train muscles to be stronger and more flexible but the ligaments are what they are and they can only handle so much before they start having issues.

[Donn Beach]

There's survivor bias, focusing on the pitchers that managed to do it as opposed to the ones like jim bouton that had to give it up with a sore arm