Star Pitchers Dictating Their Usage

[Turning2]

With the Skubal dust up, there were suggestions about how much he would "agree" to pitch in the final 2 months just prior to his free agency. Do teams that just traded for a stud arm actually allow that guy to dictate to them "I won't pitch every 5th day, or more than X amount of innings per game"?  How would a player actually enforce these stipulations? 

[DonBarclay]

I would imagine it’s multiple fronts. The agent has some leverage - steer players away from clubs that “abuse” (I use that term very loosely) arms. Organizational reputation amongst players matters, again for FA purposes. Media can be worked by players and agents. Analytics probably say that using guys on short rest and going through lineups 4 times are bad strategy. And at the end of the day, an organization wants to reasonably do what is right for the player as well. 

The days of CC 2008 usage are all but over. 

[Turning2]

2 minutes ago, DonBarclay said:

I would imagine it’s multiple fronts. The agent has some leverage - steer players away from clubs that “abuse” (I use that term very loosely) arms. Organizational reputation amongst players matters, again for FA purposes. Media can be worked by players and agents. Analytics probably say that using guys on short rest and going through lineups 4 times are bad strategy. And at the end of the day, an organization wants to reasonably do what is right for the player as well. 

The days of CC 2008 usage are all but over. 

Right, and I don't mean to imply that a renter team should abuse a guy either. It would be a bad look and irresponsible. It just comes off sounding like a prima-dona for a player to basically say "I'm not going to give my all to the cause".  Personally, I would use him as I see fit, and if he doesn't comply, then there is probably a breach of contract issue or some other way to penalize the player. I would make it quite clear - YOU are NOT the boss. 

[SeaBass]

Josh Hader did when he went to the Padres, pretty much had the same song and dance there that he did here, wanted to be a 1 inning only pitcher only in save situations during the regular season. Playoffs he was open to more creative uses. All in the name of maximizing his upcoming free agency. The Padres FO complained about it after he left. Maybe their fans did too? I don't clearly remember but I know it was a thing there.

[SeaBass]

I guess I would also say, I tend to think that teams listen to their players about usage more than you might think they do. They're not slaves (might be a harsh word but you get the idea) I think there is a back and forth about how players feel about what they're doing and what they aren't comfortable with. I don't have any evidence of this but it kind of seems logical to me. I just don't see a team forcing a guy to go out there and throw a 50 pitch inning just to take one for the team and flirt with a possible injury or arm issue afterwards.

[Turning2]

Oh, I'm sure they dialogue with their players about such things. These are multimillion dollar assets. It's not in an org's best interest to abuse, overuse a player even if he is a temp / rental. They can't let that asset walk all over them though either. 

[SeaBass]

2 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

Oh, I'm sure they dialogue with their players about such things. These are multimillion dollar assets. It's not in an org's best interest to abuse, overuse a player even if he is a temp / rental. They can't let that asset walk all over them though either. 

Sure, I think there's also an element where a team thinks, "We're getting Tarik freaking Skubal! Heck yes! He wants to pitch in this certain way? Yeah whatever you want, we're just amped you're here!"

[tmwiese55]

But there's an element of even if you're having to have these disagreements or discussions it creates a contentious situation that often leads to poor results.  And its fair to factor that into whether you should pay a huge bounty to get a guy where you know that issue is going to be there.  The dodgers don't have to worry about that though