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Sunday, July 06, 2008
There are some things a manager does that should get him fired on the spot…
Just as there are in any other business. In the 15th inning of the DET/SEA game tonight, and the score tied 1-1, the M’s interim (and veteran) manager, Riggleman, sent in their backup catcher, Jamie Burke, to pitch. This (sending in a position player to pitch) is usually reserved for major blowouts, and rightfully so. I have never seen it done in a close (high leverage) situation.
The explanation, according to ESPN, was:
Riggleman was forced to use Burke because his bullpen was spread thin. Reliever Arthur Rhodes woke up with a sore arm and couldn’t get loose. Brandon Morrow had pitched four of the previous five days and Riggleman wanted to give him a day off. Tuesday’s scheduled starter, Carlos Silva, had thrown on the side earlier Sunday. Saturday’s starter, R.A. Dickey, volunteered to throw, but had tossed more than 100 pitches in his start.
Someone on BTF said this, which sums up my sentiments exactly:
IMO, that’s pretty weaksauce - send up Silva Dickey or Morrow. Mariners may suck but this is the major leagues you’ve got to try to win. Instead Riggleman makes the situation into a joke, the players are laughing and it’s a novelty act.
And that’s got to be pretty dispiriting from a player’s point of view, to have pitchers left on the bench and the game lost by a position player being sent to the mound. If the manager doesn’t care, it must make it hard for the players to care. Seems to me like Riggleman may be feeling like Dave Miley.
Even though the team is obviously going nowhere this year, you owe it to the fans, the players, and the integrity of the game (not to mention, your opponent’s rivals), to NOT do something like that. In the AL (where you don’t have to worry about having to pinch hit for your pitcher), there is NEVER a reason to do something odd to preserve your bullpen. You can always use a middle reliever in any subsequent game to pitch the remainder of the game after you take your starter out. Having 7 relievers in the bullpen in the AL is a joke to begin with. Worrying about taxing your bullpen is a bigger joke.
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