Joe Maddon, outside the box thinker, shaded the Rays for thinking outside the box
Joe Maddon became noteworthy for his outside the box thinking as Tampa Bay Rays’ manager, but he doesn’t see his former team’s starting rotation plan becoming widespread.
Joe Maddon and the Tampa Bay Rays were a match made in heaven for nine seasons, as a manager who thinks outside the box was paired with a franchise that needs to find unique ways to win. He has taken that same mindset to the Chicago Cubs, with success.
The Rays got some attention last weekend for using reliever Sergio Romo as as starter in back-to-back games. It was a variation on the bullpen games manager Kevin Cash has used in place of a fifth starter all season, and the Rays split the two games as Romo did what was envisioned with two scoreless appearances.
As the former Rays’ manager, Maddon was asked about the concept of a reliever starting games on Tuesday.
"That was done out of necessity,” Maddon said Tuesday afternoon. “If you don’t have enough starters that you like, you may choose to do something on a day, maybe two days. To see that becoming a part of the norm, I doubt it. If you want to do it that way, you would really have to nurture that in the minor leagues for a long time. I think you’re going to wear out bullpen dudes if you’re going to do something like that."
Even with some obvious ideas, Maddon is spot-on. The Rays did what they did, and will probably keep doing what they did, with Romo or another reliever out of necessity. They clearly don’t have enough starters to fill four or five spots consistently, so playing matchups early can set up who will follow someone like Romo into a game for success. Maddon’s also got it right that the idea of relievers as starters has to become a full organizational plan, cultivated in the minor leagues over years.
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Even the Rays won’t be using an “opener” every day. But as their sample size with the concept presumably gets bigger over the rest of the season, the other 29 organizations will have something to evaluate for themselves.