Garrett Richards re-assumes ‘lead dog’ role for the Angels in opener against Athletics

Entering this season, Garrett Richards hopes to employ his curveball more, intent on emphasizing its spin.

In the lead-up to starting the Angels’ opener in Oakland, the right-hander was spinning brilliantly the potential benefits of his team’s expanded rotation.

“If you can get 28 crispy starts instead of 28 crispy starts and five soggy ones, I think the team would take the former,” Richards said. “Hopefully, it will boost our performance.”

Extra crispy is actually the Angels’ preference for 2018, a goal club officials believe can be achieved by using at least five and often six starters, an idea that blossomed after the December addition of Shohei Ohtani.

To better approximate the schedule that helped make Ohtani a two-way star in Japan, the Angels will be giving the members of their rotation more rest to start this season.

Rather than rigidly working every fifth day, the pitchers will be forced to practice flexibility, their schedules significantly more fluid than what’s normal for athletes who can be so committed to routine that they’ll eat the same lunch every day.

And this is happening in an era when finding five capable starters can be a challenge for teams.

No, the Angels aren’t playing this aspect of their promising season by the book. They’re instead trying to write a new-age story about an age-old game.

“I guess we’re going to find out together what it’s all about,” Richards said. “But it’s not something that’s going to be a negative. An extra day of rest…it can’t be bad.”

And it should be healthier. That’s another thing those Angels officials believe, theirs being a rotation that has been tattered by injuries the past few seasons.

Richards started only six games in 2016 and six more in 2017, his issues involving his knee, elbow and biceps.

Because of his backstabbing body parts, Richards will be making just his second opening day start Thursday. This for a pitcher manager Mike Scioscia first labeled the “lead dog” quite some time ago.

Richards became a full-time starter in July of 2013 and, since then when healthy, rarely has disappointed. In 99 career starts, he has a 3.46 ERA and nearly 2 1/2 strikeouts for every walk. The opposition has hit .233 against him.

“I’m sure at times he’s looked like a legitimate ace,” new teammate Ian Kinsler said. “I don’t see why he can’t be an ace. He’s always been a tough pitcher to feel comfortable against.”

Still, Richards will be pitching Thursday on the same mound where his most recent injury happened. He departed his first start last season in the fifth inning because of cramping in his arm.

He didn’t return until September, until the Angels basically were done being surprise playoff contenders and players like Richards were left to salvage what remained.

“It’s just a coincidence, I guess,” he said of facing the A’s on the road again 51 weeks later. “I don’t really think about that too much. I’m just really excited to be back playing baseball again.”

Pitching coach Charles Nagy said Richards this spring displayed “dominant stuff.” General manager Billy Eppler called his performance in Arizona “remarkable.”

Garrett Richards talks with catcher Martin Maldonado during a spring training game against the Dodgers on March 11 at Camelback Ranch.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images )

He had to be the final, the most obvious opening day starter to be so deemed by his manager, Scioscia, as has become his custom, waiting until this week to make Richards’ appointment official.

Even so, this start brings with it a profound amount of uncertainty, uncertainty that has nothing to do with Richards’ health.

He is about to begin what could be his final season with the Angels. Richards, 29, a first-round pick of this organization in 2009, is eligible for free agency in the winter.

The two sides have not discussed an extension and aren’t likely to any time soon.

To appreciate how dramatically circumstances can change, consider that the Angels’ opening day starter last season, Ricky Nolasco, was just released by Kansas City and, for now, is out of baseball.

Though their situations are vastly different — Nolasco, for one thing, is six years older than Richards — the point is that being the “lead dog” today doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot when tomorrow arrives.

“I’d like to stay here,” Richards said. “I like what we’ve built. I’ve played with a lot of these guys for a while now. But, obviously, it’s a business. If I can stay healthy, I know everything will be fine.”

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Kinsler, who missed the final two games of the Freeway Series because of a groin problem, was evaluated Wednesday before the Angels traveled to Oakland and continues to improve.

He is considered day-to-day, the team hoping a move to the disabled list will be unnecessary. Rosters aren’t required to be set until Thursday, giving the Angels more time to monitor Kinsler’s progress.

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