Jon Tayler, apropos of the last post, suggests that the A's would be better off with a bullpen game in a wild card matchup with the Yankees, especially if it's in Yankee Stadium, than handing the ball to Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Edwin Jackson, or Mike Fiers. I think two of those four can be eliminated easily: Anderson should receive no consideration for a wild card game start whatsoever, and Jackson, as nice as it's been that he's had the results he's had, is simply far too unlikely to continue having them to warrant a start. So: Cahill or Fiers? I think Tayler is right that Fiers's dinger-heavy ways in Yankee Stadium would be terrifying. I could talk myself into Cahill in either park. But do I want to talk myself into something? Or do I want to see Bob Melvin throw his best players at the season's most important game? There is no tomorrow, after all, unless you make one happen.

Maybe you go with a hybrid approach. Instead of trying to squeeze five innings out of the starter, you promise them a maximum of nine hitters. The pitcher can go (relatively speaking) balls to the wall, but you also get a little more length out of a stretched-out arm than you can out of the typical bullpen guys. Hopefully that gets you into the third inning, if not quite through it, and shaves off two innings that you don't have to try to get from, I don't know, Cory Gearrin or Liam Hendriks.

So I agree with Tayler: be bold, Bob. But don't necessarily throw away all your starters when you're building the patchwork pitch quilt that you're going to use to get you into the real playoffs.