I think, as roster space allows, spot starting should be a strategy employed by virtually all teams throughout the season, albeit to various extents due to roster make-up and circumstance.

With that in mind, it is not a bad idea to tilt more heavily to spot starting earlier in the season than later. In essence, at the 100 game mark, I’d rather be 35 innings over than 35 innings under.

There are a number of reasons for this. One, fewer teams employ the spot start in the earlier months so the pool of candidates is often stronger.

Two, you increase the likelihood of finding a gem. Sometimes, you pick up a guy who you are tentative about thinking is deserving of a permanenent roster spot because of a spot start against a weak team. Then, he tosses a great game and you keep him around until his next turn. Then, he throws another one. In the early season, maybe you found Cliff Lee last year, or Jared Washburn this year, that way. You found a diamond in the rough. All those guys are already rostered in the second half of the year.

Three, if you’re ahead of the pace you can dump pitchers for bats around the deadline. Sure you can do the reverse, but I like to think bats are more reliable short term bets, just because of sample size. (It’s often easier, mentally, to trade a high quality pitcher than a position player, becaue one plays every day and the other does not.)

Four, playoff-bound and cellar dwelling teams do weird things with their line-ups and rotations toward the end of the season, often skewing the likelihood of pitchers’ earning wins.In brief, it just gets harder to predict playing time, relative strength of team, and innings caps over the last month of the year. I don’t want to be chasing wins with Roy Halladay pitching in front of Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate. (What’s that, Syracuse?)

Five, and this also relates to #3, you have a better idea of your teams needs later in the season. Do you need Ws more than Ks, or vice versa? This may help you determine who you pick up for future starts when you’re on a tight budget.

Finally, I’ll offer one other piece of advice, especially as innings become more of a premium and the gap gets wider. Elite set-up men are all over the wire. On a per-inning basis, many are more efficient at tallying not just Ks, but Ws, than many waiver-wire starters. Consider spending some innings that way. Pick up several for a day, pick up two who are playing against eachother, behind marginal starters. In short, diversify your risk. And, if you get a clunker, you’ll have spend one inning as opposed to six, and incurred much less damaga. (Contrary to what many might be tempted to think, 1 IP, 2 ER is not the type of line that really hurts you - in fact it’s prefereable to 6 IP, 6ER, even though your Stattracker will show the respective ERAs at 18.00 and 9.00)