San Diego Padres: Experiment with a new bullpen strategy

The San Diego Padres should consider using their bullpen earlier since their starting rotation is so thin.

San Diego has assembled its starting rotation with chewing gum and tongue depressors, bringing in Jered Weaver and Jhoulys Chacin to fill out an expansion-team-quality group. The weak rotation makes the Padres a perfect test case for a very modern idea: Most starting pitchers should go through a lineup only twice, because they're likely to get hit hard the third time through. With a deep bullpen, including former starters Paul Clemens and Jarred Cosart, manager Andy Green can hook his starter after 18 batters and still have enough pitching to finish a game. With no chance to contend, why not use the season to experiment and learn something?