dylans said: Small market clubs (i.e. Royals) can not afford 4-5 good starters. I think a great strategy to counter the payroll deficit would be to run 5-9 1-2 inning guys up there every night. They could just straight deal knowing they are just pitching to a few batters and not have to conserve. As a fan it would suck waiting on all those pitchers to warm up. I think you’d see a rule change to limit the number of mid-inning subs. But I’ve thought this for a long time. There are a dozen affordable guys the Royals could find who would be decent pitchers if they only had to go 2-3 innings.