I'm not here to settle the argument but managing pitching staffs has been around for a long time. You have your starters, i.e guys who can give you 6-7 innings, middle relief both long (2-4 innings) and short relief (1-2) and then you have a closer or guy you trust to get the last outs. You typically are not going to pull a starter after 1 or 2 innings (at least not in the college game). Why? Because through fall and spring, you have determined who those guys are who can give you multiple innings. You don't just pull a guy and put the next guy in. You can do that like we did against VT and what happened? We had to pitch our weekday starter just to be able to try and win the game.
In the past, Dan and Roger have had the benefit of guys who could go long into the game, albeit throw 100-120 pitches, then bring in a short relief pitcher for an inning and then close with a Burdi. We haven't had that in a while and definitely don't have it now. Forbes has good stuff but for me he doesn't project as a starter. Sure he can give you 4-5 good innings but after the 3rd time through, hitters know he's only got the FB which starts as 98 but drops to 94-95 by the 5th inning and he really doesn't have good offspeed pitches to throw off the batters. Don't know about Dettmers but who knows maybe the workload as a starter is a reason for the injury?
Look at our #3 starter, Peter Michael. At first I thought Roger had worked a miracle. In 2023, Michael started 2 games and had a record of 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA. In 2024, he made 12 appearances, all in relief and no starts, with a record of 0-1 and ERA of 15.68. I kid you not.
So why did Roger and Dan think he was a starter? Maybe because they just didn't have enough confidence with other guys like Cutts and Hartman.
I think it was just coincidence that you think Dan made a pitching change when he did. Every guy is different. Some guys when they start to lose it have to be taken out right away. On Saturday before California made their comeback, he brought in Jack Brown and when he started to get in trouble, we didn't have anybody warming up fast enough to make a change. Why because they had confidence in Brown but he just didn't have it. If you pull a pitcher every time he walks a batter or gives up a hit, we would ruin the entire pitching staff. Pitching is all confidence, confidence in your stuff and confidence you can get the batter out.
