Many Major League Managers are pretty brain dead when it comes to using their relievers. Why do so many of them assume you use your best pitchers in the bullpen only in the 9th inning? Does it make sense to use then when the game is on the line, even if it’s not the 9th inning? I don’t see why this is revolutionary thought. Rob Neyer of ESPN writes:
As Joe Sheehan points out, Joakim Soria has pitched just twice since the July 9.
In the last game before the All-Star break, with the Royals losing 5-0 to the Red Sox, Soria pitched the eighth inning. And Tuesday night, he pitched the ninth inning of a game the Royals were losing to the Angels, 10-2.
That’s it. In the Royals’ last nine games, Soria has pitched in two games, both of them already lost when he entered. A few more salient facts:
- The Royals have lost all nine of those games.
- Of the seven losses in which Soria did not pitch, five included eighth-inning bullpen implosions.
- Soria is the best reliever on the staff, by a whole lot.
I want you to think about that for a moment. Here you’ve got a team that has the worst run differential in the league, has now lost nine straight games and routinely gets hammered before that magical three-out save opportunity has a chance to rear its beautiful head.
Do you think, if you were managing that team, that you might get just a little bit creative? See if you could figure out a way to occasionally get your ace fireman into a close game?
If so, then I’m afraid you’ve just failed the Kansas City Managerial Quiz. You’ve failed, which means you are not eligible to join the ranks of an august club whose members include Tony Muser, Buddy Bell, Tony Pena, and the franchise’s newest and bestest intellectual powerhouse, Trey Hillman.
You should wear that rejection like a badge of pride.
