Zaidi Pitching Strategy: MPT of Starting Pitching

So I read this blurb (in July) on the Dodgers at The Athletic (subscription required to read):

Their biggest need is likely to bolster a bullpen that is now down Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson and Tommy Kahnle. Craig Kimbrel has been shaky just about every time out. The cracks are forming. While trading for a frontline starter to replace Walker Buehler would help, as would fortifying their bench with a quality fourth outfielder, they just need enough arms right now. — Fabian Ardaya

And that reminded me of the biggest problem I have with Zaidi's current strategy for pitching, what I would call the Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) of Pitching: and I'll quasi-quote him here, he's not looking for starting pitchers, he's looking for pitchers who can help him get to 162 starts in a season.  

Your 2016 Giants: Playoffs

I don't have a lot of time to write before the start of the playoffs with the Cubs, so I took a comment I left on baseball monk a few days ago, and repurposed here, of course, with new edits, as I was also writing in reply to the original article.

Your 2015 Giants: Road Trip Gauntlet Over

Thought I would share some thoughts after this tough road trip.

Your 2012 Giants: Beat LA!

I think that about says it all.  Well that and it would be a pleasure to push LA out of the playoffs by beating them in this series, especially in front of their home crowd.

I would also like to see our starters do well, but I'm not quite as down about everything as the media is.  While Bumgarner didn't have a great last start, he wasn't that bad, just a little HR-itis, I think Bochy just took him out to rest out, else with 2 more innings, he could have had a DOM start instead of a DIS start.  Lincecum, while the numbers don't look great, he had a DOM start in his last start and 5 in his 6 starts in September.  I think he is fine too.  Both Vogelsong and Cain ended the season with two DOM starts, so I think that they are in a good place as well.  And Zito, while not dominant, wasn't a disaster either.

Plus, Cain had a bad last start in 2010, while generally being good for September, and we all remember how he did in the playoffs...

Speaking of which, I find this both funny and sad, but the media announced that Lincecum will get a start during the playoffs.  I had no doubts, the question was where in the series.  As Shankbone noted, you got to dance with the gal that brung ya, and Lincecum is one of them to earn that honor and responsibility.  And, as I read somewhere else, we have no choice but to hope that he can still bring it.  But that is true of any superstar player on any playoff team who struggled some this season, those teams also have no choice either.

It looks like the Reds, and I like our chances, but will dig more into it once the team is set and I spend some time looking at the angles.

Beat LA!!!

Your 2012 Giants NLDS Starting Pitching

Bochy has already announced that all five starters will be on the playoff roster.  I thought I would write about my thoughts on the starting pitchers.

Your 2012 Giants are 87-63: Clinching the Padres?

With the magic number down to 3, the Giants look pretty good to clinch the NL West Division Title during this series.  Lots of combos will lead to the Giants clinch, only a few lead to no clinch, as I commented on the Colorado series.  However, it won't be easy as the 'Dres have been as tough a team to beat over the past three months.

They have compiled a 16 games over .500 record since June 20th and 29th, their two low points in terms of games under .500, though I suppose I should go with their 24-46 record on June 20th as their low point in terms of winning percentage:  .343 or a 56 win rate over  a 162 game season (56-106).   Since that date, they have gone 48-32 (roughly half a season) for a .595 winning percentage, or a 97 win rate (97-65).  So they have been playing very well for a long time and if the Giants did not make their big push, they probably would still be in contention for the division title.  With that great play, they are only 2.5 games behind the D-backs for third place in the NL West and 5 games behind LA (though with 12 games left, it would be hard for them to catch up with LA).