Banister Tinkers With Rotation to Account for Rest Days

When Jeff Banister was hired to replace Ron Washington and interim manager Tim Bogar, we heard all about how Banister subscribes to a good mix of "gut managing" and deep analytics.

While it might have nothing to do with ERA+ or baBIP or FIP, Banister is using some analytics to adjust his starting rotation in the coming week.

Banister and his coaches have come to the conclusion that ace Cole Hamels and Martin Perez are at their best on the traditional four days of rest between starts. On the other hand, they've come to the conclusion that Colby Lewis, Yu Darvish and specifically Derek Holland are better on extra days of rest.

For that reason, Banister has pushed Holland's next start back to Tuesday at Cleveland, meaning he'll have seven days of rest between starts.

"We've seen that he's sharper and stronger when we do that," Banister told reporters.

With all the scheduled off-days the Rangers have had this month, Banister has been able to be liberal in his rotation tinkering, but when they go on one of those 20 games in 20 days stretches, it's going to be harder to accommodate.

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