Ozzie Guillen pitching change signals

[Ytown Tribe fan]

A short while ago, in Oakland, ChiSox manager Ozzie Guillen walked towards the mound, raising his left hand toward the bullpen, talked to his pitcher, and started back to the dugout without changing pitchers.

The umpire asked him what was going on, and Guillen said, "Oh -- I was just signalling for the reliever to stay put." Incredibly, the umpire bought that line, but the Oakland manager was furious. But the pitcher stayed in the game.

Tonight, Guillen tried the same stunt in Cleveland and didn't get away with it; the ump told him he had to make a pitching change.

My question is: why do that crap at all? Is he actually going to the mound with a question of whether to leave the pitcher in or not? Or is he trying to pull something on the opponents?

What gives?

[Makofan]

How can he be "pulling something" on his opponents? They don't have to react until after they see if he's made a move or not; he could do a chicken dance on the mound for all anybody cared :)

[Crash Course]

Is there a manager's balk, lke the 1st basemen's balk, that we never see called?

Only thing I can think of, at first blush, is that it's gamesmanship. When a MGR signals for a change, it gets the wheels spinning in the head of the other MGR. Maybe Ozzie is pulling the chain of the other MGR, or trying to, with these fake moves?

[KCBOOMER]

Until the manager tells the umpire he is making a player change he can justiculate until the cows come home. In this case the other manager should recognize the difference between the first visit to the mound and the second. On a second visit the manager must make a change and any kind of signal could be interpreted by the umpires as a statement of which pitcher he wants. On a first visit the manager doesn't have to remove the pitcher and everyone should be careful not to overreact to a non-verbal signal.

It is possible in the first case that Ozzie was pulling a fast one to get a read on what Oakland would do if a pitching change was made. May be a violation of the "how things are done" code amongst managers, but not a big deal.

[RedSeat]

Bob Brenly thinks Guillen has a lot to learn.

[TimmyB]

Along the lines of the Brenly joke -- how could the ump make him change pitchers?!?

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Along the lines of the Brenly joke -- how could the ump make him change pitchers?!?

That's a good question. As far as I can recall (I was listening to the game on the radio), it was Guillen's first visit to the mound that inning; maybe just speculation on the part of the announcers, since Ozzie may well have intended to make the change anyway, and just wanted to do it the hard way.

I still don't see how the ChiSox gain anything by having the manager go to the mound and pretend to signal for a change when he doesn't really want to. It seems like a dumb stunt, especially to do it twice.