Baseball Musings: Manny Must be a 1.000 Hitter

April 13, 2008

Manny Must be a 1.000 Hitter

I really can't get over how much crap Joe Girardi is taking for pitching to Manny Ramirez on Saturday. It was a perfectly logical decision that didn't work out. Nice to see that Joe took the questioning well.

It is things like this, however, that keep some mangers from going outside the box. I've asked players in the past about a certain strategy that made sense and why managers don't use it, and I've always heard that they don't want to deal with the press if it goes wrong. In any given plate appearance, the odds are Girardi's decision is the right one. If he walks Manny and the next batter gets a hit, however, no one complains. It becomes management to avoid bad press.

Posted by David Pinto at 08:24 PM | Management | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I remember the year Hargrove got fired by the Indians, in their playoff series against Boston, he kept pitching to Nomar with 2nd and 3rd and Nomar kept getting hits. Finally he walks Nomar in game 5, and Troy O'Leary wins it with a grand slam. Most of the times, it's about the players.

Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at April 13, 2008 08:39 PM

Or sometimes, it's about damage control. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, RE is usually greater than 1 anyway.

Posted by: patsen at April 13, 2008 11:23 PM

I've always heard that they don't want to deal with the press if it goes wrong. Then they probably won't have to worry about making those decisions for long.

Posted by: Bandit at April 14, 2008 09:08 AM

I think the question a lot of people had was where was the bullpen? I know Mussina was only around 70 pitches, but he's been pitching in and out of trouble since his first start. The leash should probably be a little shorter.

Posted by: Scott Ham at April 14, 2008 12:44 PM

Isn't this the same type of decision that got Grady Little fired? Going with his instinct and what he thought his player could do?

He was run out of Boston and crucified by the media (all the media, all the time, all over the world) and his name can't be mentioned by the media without that event coming up.

Guess the world really does revolve around the yank-me's, and whatever they do is right?

Posted by: Ron at April 14, 2008 02:03 PM

No, actually. Grady left in a pitcher who was obviously gassed. Girardi had no intention of taking out Mussina. If you want to argue that Joe should have brought in a reliever to face Manny, that's a legitimate argument. That's not what the sportswriters were asking. They were questioning the non-walk.

Posted by: David Pinto at April 14, 2008 02:51 PM

See, you failed to read what I wrote, and just assumed you knew what I meant. Or your a yank-me lover.

"Going with his instinct and what he thought his player could do?"

Grady Little obviously thought Martinez could get the out (especially since Pedro told him he could), the decision backfired, and Little was crucified.

Joe Girardi obviously thought Mussina could get the batter out (after talking to Mussina, who probably told him he could do it), the decision backfired, and Girardi is applauded as a guy who's willing to take chances even if it backfires.

Seems like a litte bit of bias, at least to me.

Posted by: Ron at April 14, 2008 03:39 PM

Grady Little managed a team whose upper-level management had done exhaustive research on its players and concluded that Pedro Martinez, after throwing 100 pitches, was no longer effective. They told this to Little, and told him to get Pedro out of there in such situations. Little failed to do this at the most critical moment of the entire season, and -- guess what -- the numbers crunchers turned out to be right.

You can buck management based on your
"instinct," and if you turn out to be right, you live to fight another day. When you turn out to be WRONG, you can expect to get fired, and the media criticism had nothing to do with it when Little was canned.

What Girardi did, on the other hand, was to play the percentages (see Bill James' essay in the 1986 Baseball Abstract on Tommy LaSorda's decision to pitch to Jack Clark in the 1985 playoffs), which is what a manager is supposed to do. He lost this time; he'll win others. Those who criticize him are simply showing their own ignorance.

Posted by: Norman Shatkin at April 14, 2008 06:59 PM

Norman, calling us ignorant for criticizing Girardi only shows your own ignorance. Girardi botched that decision horrifically and you'd be foolish not to see it. Mussina is running on fumes at this point in his career, and should be on the shortest of leashes. Manny, meanwhile, tortures the Yanks--and Mussina--and with Ortiz struggling, he is the one guy on the Sox you don't let beat you. Even if Manny hadn't hit that moon shot of Mussina earlier in the game (did you forget that?), he never should have been given the chance. He should have been walked AND Mussina should have been pulled. Bruney was ready and has a live arm and is in the midst of a solid start to the season (Monday's outing against the Rays excepted). It was the bottom of the sixth and two outs. You have a rested Joba and Mo ready to take it the rest of the way. And considering how woeful the Yankees offense has been, you can't afford to give up a run there. Mussina just can't be counted on to get that big out anymore. (Trust me, I'm a Yankees lifer and if you watched this team every day like I do, you'd know what I'm talking about.)

Posted by: Anthony F at April 16, 2008 03:31 PM

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