Ben Kabak at RAB has some interesting analysis of Joe Girardi’s decision to let A.J. Burnett pitch to Brian Roberts with 2 on and 2 out in the 7th inning yesterday. I must say though, while the rest of the piece is strong, I think Ben gets the conclusion wrong. Burnett was over 100 pitches and Roberts already had 2 hits off of him, it was a perfectly legitimate spot to go get someone out of the bullpen to get that out, especially given how well the core of the bullpen has been pitching. If that’s a problem because that hurts Burnett’s confidence and makes him pitch poorly in the future (which I kind of doubt) then maybe teams need to invest some money in getting their players personal psychiatrists.
But once again I find myself wondering a simple question; why not Mo? After all, with the game tied, 2 men on, and one of the Orioles best hitters at the plate (if not their best hitter), it’s highly possible that this represented the highest leverage situation the Yankees would face the rest of the game. And presumably Rivera would have been able to pitch to at least a couple of batters in the 8th as well. Instead, the conventional usage of the tiered bullpen dictates that, even if Girardi had gone to his bullpen in that situation, he would have brought in an inferior reliever, waiting for a save situation that ultimately never came to bring in the best relief pitcher in the history of the game. It’s utterly insane, and I really can’t wait until some modern day Earl Weaver has the guts to point that out. It’s a shame it will be too late to truly maximize the value of Mariano Rivera.
That’s exactly what I cannot figure out. Why did teams stop using their best reliever (the “fireman”) to put out fires?
The save was invented, teams began using it as a shortcut to evaluate relievers, and then people began managing to the stat. One thing that will make it hard to change is that, for relievers, money is still tied up in the number of saves you have, so taking a reliever and moving him out of a bunch of save situations is going to get you one verypissed off player. If it didn’t happen with Mo, I don’t see where it’s going to happen anytime soon.
And on top of that, there’s a lot of people in baseball who genuinely believe that hokum about the 9th inning being some sort of inherently special pressure situation. As long as your lead is 3 runs or less anyway.
Dunno if Mo was really the answer yesterday; but for sure, even Joba would have had as good a shot, if not better, than AJ.
Plook AJ’s psyche. Let him pitch 3 good innings in a row, 3 games in a row – then we can talk.
Well whether or not that exact situation was a spot for Mo or one of the better middle relievers, I think the point still holds. Just imagine that there was 1 out, or no outs even, for the sake of the illustration. The point is that bringing in your best reliever would be considered totally out of the question in that scenario, even though it’s likely to be the most precarious spot you’re in the rest of the way.
OT – except that putting in relievers and such is a manager’s job — any thoughts on lobbying for Showalter as manager next year? After all – Joe has no contract – and Buck is winning with the freaking Orioles….
Maybe he could hire us as assistants.
No, I like Girardi. I think the orthodoxy around using the closer makes that irrelevant anyway. You’d either have to be a Bobby Cox type of figure or have the front-office (and the player) buy in if you wanted to use your bullpen that way. I’m not sure Girardi could even if he wanted to.
I think Girardi is great!
He gets blame if he keeps a guy in too long, and if he pulls him early.
It works sometimes, and doesn’t work others.
They still have best record.