1 What makes a pitcher an lrp, mrp, su or cp? I realize they play for different lengths of time but why pick a guy as an mrp instead of su etc… What drives that decision?
2 Why don’t rehabbing starters skip the minors to rehab and instead just rehab in the bigs throwing innings as a closer or setup guy? Wouldn’t Strasburg be a closing ace for instance? Wouldn’t that demorailze a batter to have Strasburg coming to the mound in the ninth?
3 Is a setup man really needed? Can’t a middle reliever handle that role?
I’m just generally confused about how managers decide what roles to put pitchers in. Would they take a badass closer and make him a starter? Etc…
Lefty specialists are typically pitchers with breaking pitches that are devastating to lefty batters, but that aren’t nearly as effective to righty batters. Righty specialists are the same but reversed. The difference between setup men and closers is that closers are usually believed to deal better with the unique pressures of getting those final outs.
Rehab stints tend to last a few weeks, if not days. Managers think it’s not worth mixing up a pitcher by moving him from starting to relieving. Plus, if a pitcher has problems in rehab, better to lose a AAA game than a major league game.
Probably not; relief roles were a lot looser before the 90s and teams seemed to do just fine. (Willie Hernandez won the '84 MVP as a reliever, but only 34 of his 80 appearances were save situations.) A lot of the reason I think is fear; relief roles have become so regimented that if you use closers in setup situations, managers are roundly criticized.
In general, all MLB pitchers are starters in high school/college. Once they start their pro career, those that remain starters learn to develop secondary pitches that they can use to get batters out. Some can’t develop effective secondary pitches and only have, say, a fastball and a slider. These are moved to the bullpen.
The reason is that the more times batters see a pitcher, the more chance they have to get used to what he’s throwing. If you only have two pitches, the batter will see both of them in his first two at bats and be ready for it the third time around. If you have more pitches, you can throw something new at the batter to throw him off.
If a minor league reliever shows an especially live fastball, he is converted to a closer. Closers come with many different skill sets, though, but the important thing is an out pitch (usually a fastball) that can get batters to strike out. They also have to learn to handle the pressure of closing; you’re pitching in a situation that, if you make a mistake, either the game is over, or your offense has to score runs or else. It takes experience to be able to put all that out of your mind.
Generally, starters are the most valuable pitching commodity. If a pitcher succeeds as a starter he remains a starter. One important variable there is that starters need a variety of pitches to succeed - normally at least three, though there are exceptions (Bartolo Colon is doing very well this season throwing almost all fastballs, for example). If you have a pitchers with a great arm, but only one or two pitches, he might get put in relief and maybe be a closer - a great example there is Mariano Rivera; he really only has one pitch - the cut fastball - but as a closer its all he needs.
All relievers are pitchers who couldn’t really cut it as starters. Closers are often guys with great arms who can’t cut it as starters. Setup men are just a subset of middle relievers - guys good enough to pitch in the majors but not good enough to be starters. Lots of setup men and closers just kind of luck into the role.
Managers are pretty risk-averse. They feel that its important to keep players in particular roles - as InstallLSC notes, the press will be all over them if they do anything out of the ordinary.
A setup man is just a middle reliever who got the set up role for some reason - maybe he’s got a great arm, maybe he’s got a rep for being good, etc. Occasionally they do take a closer and make him into a starter (the Red Sox did this successfully with Derek Lowe in the early 2000’s) - but there is a lot of risk and resistance to the idea - lots of managers overvalue their closers - Neifi Perez is a good example of a guy who was a great starter prospect in the minors, was a closer in the majors, got moved to the starting rotation and got hurt. Aroldis Chapman was going to be moved into the starting rotation this year, but his manager pushed hard for him to stay a closer. Lots of people have thought Joakim Soria would have been a good candidate to be moved into the starting rotation when he was with Kansas City - he had 4 good pitches, etc - but since he was a successful closer, it never was tried.
Also with rehab assignments they may want to work on or see if a pitcher can throw a particular pitch. In the minors they don’t care if he has tho throw 30 fastballs in a row. And in rehab they may have a strict pitch count. They don’t want to have to take the guy out on a 1-2 count in the middle of a big league game.
Reputation, seniority, and the player’s contract. There’s rarely any other logic to it.
Aside from the stuff noted above, there are roster management benefits to using “rehab assignments.” MLB roster rules are so insanely complicated that explaining it all here would be nigh on impossible, but the basic jist of it is that a rehab assignment lets you find out how the pitcher is without having to screw up your MLB roster.
No and yes. “Setup man” is a subjective role and there’s really no reason to think setup men are any better than middle relievers. Many teams have no clear setup man.
In fact this has happened, but it’s rare. Relievers are usually relievers because they failed as starters, usually due to a lack of endurance.
Relievers and closers are oftentimes guys with good stuff but that tire easily. If you have a guy that is effective but can’t go at least 5 innings he is put in the bullpen. A closer is only expected to go an inning or two. His job is to give it all and save nothing except the “save” stat in the boxscore.
The roles require a different mental approach to the game. A starter prepares himself to go 5 or more innings. A reliever is expected to go at any time. A reliever that goes in early knows that he will probably not finish the game.
Of course, then there is the manager that plays the righty/lefty strategy. A reliever may be brought in to face one batter because he is left-handed. He will then be pulled, not because he was ineffective but that the manager wants a different match-up.
The earlier point about the batters getting used to what a pitcher is throwing is true. The more experience you get in seeing how the guys throws teaches you something about how to hit him. The coaches work on this. Look at young phenom rookies that enter the league that are practically unhittable. Guys like Vida Blue, Fernando Valenzuela and Mark Fidrich. Compare their records from the first half of the season to the second half. It’s not that they lost their stuff, it’s that the batters are seeing his stuff for the second, third or fourth time and have figured out something.