Moving Chase Silseth to the rotation works best under this one condition

The Los Angeles Angels placed Jose Suarez on the 15-day IL with a left shoulder strain. There's no timeline, but a shoulder strain doesn't sound great. In all likelihood, he'll be on the IL for a while, and even if he isn't Suarez and his 9.62 ERA through his first six starts of the season shouldn't be in the rotation anyway.

The Angels had four legitimate options for pitchers to use to replace Suarez. Prior to his most recent appearance, Tucker Davidson had pitched really well in a long relief role. I thought he'd get consideration for this spot, but isn't because he hasn't started a game in over a month. The same can be said about Jaime Barria. The Angels also could've promoted someone like Kenny Rosenberg to join the rotation or even a younger arm in Sam Bachman. The fourth option, and the one Phil Nevin is likely going to go with, is moving Chase Silseth from the bullpen to the rotation.

I've liked how Silseth has looked in the bullpen. In his first three appearances out of the bullpen, Silseth had five scoreless innings under his belt including two scoreless on just 17 pitches in St. Louis. His most recent appearance wasn't quite as good as he allowed six runs (three earned) in Sunday's loss against Texas. I think a big reason for that was the fact that he had to throw 73 pitches. While I've liked Silseth in the bullpen, I think moving him to the rotation makes sense, but mostly under this one condition.

Moving LA Angels pitcher Chase Silseth to the rotation makes sense if they use an opener

Chase Silseth has the stuff to be a productive starting pitcher in this league. The Angels were so high on him to the point that they promoted him last season to the majors despite having only 26 innings of experience in AA. His issue has always been staying sharp as games would progress.

I thought Silseth looked solid for parts of his seven starts last season. He had a 2.57 ERA in the first innings of his starts, allowing just two runs in seven innings of work. From innings 1-3 Silseth had a 4.58 ERA which isn't great, but isn't dreadful. His issue was the middle innings, as Silseth had an ERA of 11.00 from innings 4-6. That's a problem. There's a reason the Angels were 2-5 in his starts.

Silseth seemed to always run out of gas as games progressed, and he only completed five innings once. That one time was his first start in Oakland. He's looked better out of the bullpen because he's more effective in a shorter role.

The only way I can see Silseth moving back to the rotation make sense, is if the Angels implement an opener. Use someone like Andrew Wantz or Ryan Tepera against the top of the order for an inning or two and then turn to Silseth. Use Silseth for four innings or so, and hope he doesn't run out of gas.

If they do this, Silseth would only have to face the meat of the opposing lineup once or maybe twice. The Angels would ideally get through five or six this way with only using one reliever. It's unorthodox, but I think that's the best way to use Silseth if this is the direction they want to go in.

Fortunately, the Angels won't need to make this decision for a little while longer. The Angels won't need to use their sixth starter until sometime in the middle of next week while the Angels are in Baltimore. In all likelihood they won't do thi