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Preserving Arms Pays Off In '08

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2008

TORONTO - It was about this time last season that vigilance over how many innings the valuable arms of James Shields and Scott Kazmir reached a fever pitch.

With the Rays determined to preserve their most valuable assets, the focus in the final month of a lost season turned to ensuring neither young starter went overboard in terms of a year-to-year increase in innings pitched. The philosophy manifested itself most dramatically in the Rays shutting Shields down with two starts to go after he reached the 215-inning plateau.

The right-hander didn't take kindly to the move, but of course the team got its way. One year later, that preservation effort could pay off nicely for Tampa Bay.

Should the Rays make the playoffs, their starting pitchers will be extended deeper than they ever have been, to the point that Shields could end up in the 240-250 innings pitched range and others in the rotation also would zoom past their career highs.

"That is absolutely one of the reasons why we were a little bit more conservative with these guys last year and throughout the course of this season than we probably needed to be," pitching coach Jim Hickey said. "Shutting Shields down with a couple of starts to go wasn't necessary, he certainly could have pushed through it. But we just looked at this year, actually, as far back as then."

The Rays obviously had no idea they would be pondering October in 2008 when they took those precautionary measures, but it seems their starters are well-positioned for a lengthy postseason run.

Kazmir's workload is no concern because of the month he missed to start this season. Shields is on pace to come close to last year's total by the end of the regular season, and Andy Sonnanstine (168 innings) will be under his 2007 total of 2012/3 between Durham and Tampa Bay.

Matt Garza could match his 2007 mark of 175 innings within his next couple of starts, and Edwin Jackson needs only two-thirds of an inning in his start Monday at Boston to equal last year's 161 innings.

But the Rays aren't concerned about Jackson, who never complains of a sore arm and doesn't even ice down after he pitches, and they believe Garza will be fine.

"We feel like the five guys we have are in pretty good order as far as innings and workload go," executive vice president Andrew Friedman said.

Aside from April stints on the disabled list for Kazmir and Garza, the Rays' rotation has stayed intact throughout the season with no evident signs of fatigue. One of the reasons for that, the team believes, was a decision to keep the starters in line through scheduled off days and avoid skipping certain pitchers to keep others starting every fifth day.

In addition, the Rays have kept all of their starters from going too deep in any one game - another key facet to maintaining long-term health. Garza has the top pitch count for any Ray this season, throwing 119 in his Aug. 15 complete-game shutout at Texas. Shields, who has thrown more innings than anyone on the staff, has maxed out at 111 pitches.

It all sets up about as well as the Rays could ask for, while acknowledging the inherent uncertainty. Those on the front lines certainly aren't worried about fatigue being an issue should they be called upon deep into October.

"I've never been in that situation, so I don't know," Shields said. "But I would imagine my adrenaline would take over and my body would be feeling really good."

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