The Phillies have an interesting dilemma coming into 2019 with their starting rotation. They simply have too many options to go around. We’re not here to debate the quality of those options as far as subjectivity goes, but it is an interesting concept to look at. With all of the options the team has, outside of simply sending some to Lehigh Valley, is there a way to solve that dilemma by “piggybacking” two starters together? It’s an outside-the-box idea, once with some potential and also some pitfalls, but it does have some merit in theory.
The natural issue we find is that piggybacking is an experiment used with pitchers that usually is done in the minor leagues as a way to keep innings and pitch counts down.