If necessity is the mother of invention, then the mother of necessities calls for the mother of inventions. And boy, do the White Sox face the mother of necessities.
Enter the the 3-3-3 system of pitcher rotation, as first put forth by Bill James cohort Dave Fleming in 2009. I’ve written about it twice before, including once at the trade deadline this past summer when the White Sox were down to three starters ... but this being all about threes, the third time should be the charm, right?
Fleming’s idea, an extension of the fact that baseball is all about threes and multiples of threes (from the number of strikes and outs to the number of players and innings), is that instead of the timeworn and worn-out system of pitcher rotation MLB teams use, they should instead be innovative.