I'll be honest, i thoguht it was 1B and SP... OF may have some more tangible concerns... and the dogmatic thoguht was more bout how he only did it -half-way.. and only 1 or 2 years when it was clear the entire time he was an amazing hitter.
i'd think you can avoid throwing much as a 1b - they dont' have to make a tough throw on average <1/game, i bet. and someone else can play catch in the warm-ups between innings etc. minimized effect while gaining 2 players for 1... the benefits domino into other aspects of the roster too. not saying zero negative effect, but hte net would be a positive for sure.
dh would be perfect for a day 1 or 2 after the start.. they do work out between starts.. however that existing 'rest' would mesh as far as a safety protocol... adhere to that as much as you can but adjust to 2-way needs. if they don't throw at all the next day, then dh that day... whenever they begin to throw again, it'd be safe to use them in the field where they may have to throw 2-3 times in 3 hours - maybe throw "5" less pitches in the bullpen session or long-toss etc.. (positions where you hve to gun it more often in a game would need greater care and concern)
I think you found the real reason he choose anaheim instead of LA.. or al LA over nl LA lol.. whatever that schizophrenic team wants to clal themselves nowadays.. probably jsut a scheme to sell more jerseys lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd Thrift
I don't know that I buy this. Even in Ruth's time it was understood that you had to rest a starting pitcher's arm between games, and that may include the wear you get from throwing the ball in from left field. Sure, lobbing it in after a pop fly might add no strain but can the same be said for having to throw it in hard to catch a guy trying to go from first to third on a single? You can't just concede those or else teams will start playing to that and your fielder becomes a liability. But on the flip side, the day after a guy pitches especially you probably don't want him throwing much at *all* if memory serves.
Maybe first base or DH would be a better place to put a guy like (although at first you still have that issue of throwing to other bases) but Ruth, of course, played 40 years before the DH became a thing and first base was manned throughout Ruth's career by an inner circle Hall of Famer and a very good player with a reputation for good defense. On top of that, Ruth IIRC told Boston he didn't particularly want to pitch anymore.
Aside from chucking tradition down the road - and it should be pointed out that what Ruth did in 1920 was completely unprecedented except sort of by his own 1919 season, so the Yankees were already riding the wave of ignoring tradition - there's actually not nearly as good of a reason to start Ruth and pitch him every day as people might think. At best, you might use him for a spot start or two when you really needed to win a game or something, and that's more or less how the Yankees used Ruth until he was far enough removed from pitching that they didn't trust him anymore.
Ohtani is a different matter altogether because he *can* play DH on off days. The Angels are still limiting how much he's playing for them, in part because they're not sure how much of a major league hitter he is, but also, I'm sure, because they're not sure how to handle his post-SP fatigue.
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