I thought I recalled it was more a stamina problem and like it was with Capuano when hitters started getting familiar with him and no longer fooled – but wanted to confirm it.

That in itself holds a lot of promise for both of them. Just hope their stamina builds up enough to carry them to the late innings often enough so less is required of our bullpen.

Joe

Regarding Niese: War then believes it’s a stamina issue involving staying in shape. Said he was pleased he showed up in ST 10 lbs lighter this year. Said he has to watch his diet because he has a tendency to gain weight during the season.
Also saw mentioned somewhere the nose fix should improve breathing and maybe aid in not getting as ‘winded’ in his starts.

So did they show signs of tiring which affected their pitches or was the league catching up to them? Hope it was more not being used to going through a 162 game season than it was with Chris.

This year from everything I have seen is nothing more than a set up for next year at best.
Decision on Wright, hoping to get enough performance from Santana, Bay and Pelfrey to move at least one of them for something, and getting Duda and Tejada a year at their positions, Ike Healthy for a full season and Niese and Gee another step forward.

It’s the latter (Niese and Gee) why I wouldn’t mess with the rotation all that much this year.
Both need to work on Stamina and messing with their Schedule and giving them EXTRA rest would seem to be counter productive to that goal.

As to Dickey: Pitch him as often as possible. It must mess with batters swings to face him. I’d like to have him open as many series as possible. It usually takes a few at bats for teams to get a bead on him. Would it be possible for him to pitch six innings twice a week?

Since the focus would appear to be to purge salary regardless of the affect on Wins, If they keep to that approach the best thing to do is to try and put Pelfrey, Santana and Bay into the best possible situation, Hope they do well so they can be traded at the deadline.

The beginning of the season seems to solve the issue even with a normal rotation…

They should have a handle on when Santana needs an extra day in his in between BP sessions and when he does then you push him back a day. Dickey is right behind him in the order and he is not really a risk to pitch on 4 days rest if and when Santana needs it, You can always skip the 5th starter or bring up someone for a spot start to get back to order when need be.

Santana should be evaluated after every start and when he needs an extra day so be it!
But guys like Niese, Gee and Pelfrey really need to keep to schedule because as much as we want Santana to last and do well it is ultimatly more important to keep Niese and Gee on track because they are likely to be here for the next 3 years where Santana could be gone as early as July if he pitches as well as we all hope!
Putting him in a 6 man rotation would only decrease any value he has even if his pitching is good enough to take a trade risk on him!

Why put up a red flag, give him the extra day when he needs it and hope he doesn’t need it all that often!