Tanner Houck - bulk reliever?

I am disappointed they are seeming to cap his innings at 4 per outing. I was hoping they would stretch him out into a starter role and then phantom DL one of their starters for 10 days and let Houck fill that spot. When the DL'd starter was eligible to return he could come back and they could DL another starter. I am somewhat concerned letting our starters pitch the whole year without a break after last year's short season. The Tigers have already started limiting the workload for some of their young starters. I know are starters are not that young, but I want them to have some gas in the tank in case the Red Sox make the playoffs and thought using Houck as described above would be one way to do that.

The guy I would be tempted to use as a bulk reliever would be Sale. It might get him to the majors quicker if he doesn't have to work up to starter innings and it might limit the chance he reinjures himself if he doesn't try starting until next year. Isn't the fact that Whitlock is coming off an injury is one of the reasons they are using him in that role?

Like the idea! 4 or 5 innings at most and then turn it over.

There is very much a distinction.

Just think of how they've used Whitlock this year, but without the kid gloves they've used with Whitlock.

Technically "bulk reliever" usually means the guy following an opener, but I feel like "long reliever" has a "mop-up guy" connotation to it. But he's a guy they could use in short stints or use in longer ones, and I think it'd be a really good fit for his stuff.

Guy who can come in and give you 3-ish innings when the starter can't go deep, or a guy who can get you 3 big outs against RHH late in the game.

It just feels like if they were ramping him up he'd be at 5 innings by now.

In April Cora had the luxury of using two guys out of his pen who could come in after the starter and provide 2 - 3 innings of relief and keep the team in the game. Whitlock and Andriese were very effective in those roles and it made life easier on the starters as Cora didn't have to push them, but Andriese has been very ineffective since May so he has in effect has become the mop-up man (and the last guy you want to see pitch in the 12th inning of an extra inning game your team has a good chance of winning).

Having lost the luxury of having two of those guys, Houck provides Cora with that luxury again. Cora will push Eovaldi, E-Rod and possibly even Pivetta to provide starter innings and get into the 7th if possible, but he's still going to keep Perez's innings lesser and they'll take what they can get from Richards (who will become the long man at some point most likely) but handle Sale with kid gloves when he starts, so I can see Cora mapping out Houck coming in after Sale in the 6th inning and pitching two innings or Whitlock coming in after Perez and then mixing and matching when they need shorter appearances (like Whitlock's 8th inning appearance against Oakland). They should have some really good flexibility, multiple ways to win games in relief instead of having to rely on the same 2 or 3 guys like other teams usually have to do.

I mean, that's great that Abbott says all that, but Houck for whatever reason isn't throwing the splitter, practically at all. In the last 2 starts he's thrown one.

And again, if he's ramping up to start, you'd expect to see his workload increase, not plateau, right? I guess we'll learn more from his next start.

Is a great point about the 18-day stretch. You'd just think they'd make sure he's prepared to throw more than 4 innings.

Abbott also specifically says he needs to build up arm strength though. There's also this:



So it's up in the air if he helps as a sixth starter or as a piggyback guy with Whitlock. If he gets capped at 4 IP again tomorrow, I would see it as a signal they're leaning towards the latter, although it's certainly not conclusive evidence - they also must be concerned about Houck's innings as well, so why waste bullets in Worcester, right?

It actually might be a lot easier on the pitching staff to have Houck and Whitlock working long relief outings behind planned short starts from the starters. Like I wonder which of the following they'd prefer. For reference, they're currently getting 5.3 IP per start.

5-man rotation in which Houck and Whitlock take 7 relief innings. Plan for starters to combine for 23 innings. Leaves 15ish innings (3/game) for the other 7 relievers.

6-man rotation in which you hope the starters combine for 32 IP. That leaves 3.2 IP per game for the 8 relievers including Whitlock.

I'm honestly not sure which option is better. Might be the latter if everything goes right but the former might allow for more flexibility?

The two mid season story lines for me, have been the adaptation to the new baseball for pitchers, and the wear and tear on pitchers.

Any starting pitcher who has been healthy all year is going to be getting close to already matching or exceeding last years innings limit. there are going to be many many SP who are going to be flying over their usual year to year allowable innings increase as we come down to the last 6 weeks or so. How teams handle this stuff in backing off for health reasons vs going for the win will be an interesting follow. It seems that the overuse injuries dont manifest themselves until the following season, so I could see a lot of teams, closing their eyes, crossing their fingers and hope for the best while letting their pitchers go. The RS hopefully will have a fresh Houck and Sale to give them a boost to allow rest for the current starting pitchers. Most teams may not have that level of quality coming in fresh in the last 6 weeks, so you could see a lot of burning of arms.

Is he replacing a starter or are they doing a 6-man rotation (at least once through)?

So after last night, you have to at least think about Houck's role for the rest of the season, right?

I don’t know if he can be a starter over a full season or not but I know he can be dominant in some capacity

With the imminent return of Sale, it is hard to see Houck as a full time reliever for the rest of the season and into the playoffs.

But he looks like he could be a starter for a long time based on his two plus pitches and the development of a third anything with a downward plane. I would rather have Houck in the rotation than Richards or Perez even now. Just do not see that kind of wholesale change happening now outside of injury or total loss of form by either of those guys.