Baseball Digest - We aren't the only ones second guessing Baylor.

[ChicagoDave]

Baseball Digest's Editor John Kuenster uses Don Baylor as the example of second guessing managers. Baylors removing Wood and then losing the Game. Read the article and tell me what you think.

[ChicagoDave]

Here is the article from Baseball Digest. I have been reading Baseball Digest since 1977. An awesome baseball publication.
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Managers Often Second-Guessed When Removing Pitchers From A Game


By John Kuenster
Editor


He was a lifelong baseball fan who called himself "L’aquila Italiana" (the Italian Eagle). He grew up in the old Italian neighborhood in Chicago, and in years past he often called or wrote Baseball Digest to express his incisive opinions about the game, its players and managers.

He was a sharp observer and his self-designated nickname could not be dismissed as harmless exaggeration. He could spot mental mistakes and misjudgments in a ball game quicker than an airborne eagle catches sight of prey scurrying around on the ground.

"Managers," he liked to intone, "don’t have a monopoly on brains."

It was his favorite expression, even though he was counseled that maybe he would not make such a harsh assessment if he knew all the factors in managerial decisions.

However, many second-guessers, if asked, would undoubtedly have agreed with his view last April 10 when the struggling Cubs lost a 3-2 game to the Mets at Wrigley Field.

Here was the situation. The Cubs were leading the Mets, 2-1, at the end of seven innings. Their starter, Kerry Wood, had struck out ten batters, had limited the Mets to four hits, and had thrown only 97 pitches.

A big, strong, young right-hander, Wood had dominated the opposition. When he returned to the dugout after completing his seven innings, he figured he’d be going back to the mound for the eighth inning.

Although he had developed a small blister on the middle finger of his right hand, he said, "I was fully expecting to go (back) out. I was ready to go."

Manager Don Baylor squashed that idea quickly even though he later admitted Wood’s blister "really didn’t hinder his pitching."

He told Wood, "That’s enough."

And, Wood had to sit while reliever Jeff Fassero surrendered back-to-back home runs to Roberto Alomar and Mike Piazza that won the game for the Mets.

Alomar was happy Wood had been taken out of the game. "It was a relief to face someone you know," Alomar said of Fassero who had pitched against him when both were in the American League. "I was surprised Wood did not pitch that inning."

Piazza was even more elated he didn’t have to duel Wood again. He had struck out in all three at-bats against Wood before ripping a 3-and-1 slider by Fassero to the back of the right field bleachers for the game-winning home run.

Even though Baylor couldn’t use the reliever he wanted (Kyle Farnsworth who had suffered a stress fracture in his right foot while warming up in the bullpen during the seventh inning), the Cubs manager had to take the heat for his strategy in lifting Wood.

In his defense, it should be mentioned that Baylor later said he would have been "taking a chance" of Wood incurring more damage to his blistered finger if he had kept the right-hander in the game.

Yet, he had admitted the blister wouldn’t have affected Wood’s pitching, so the second-guessers were wondering why Baylor didn’t let him continue.

The blister wasn’t that bad. It didn’t force Wood to miss his next start on April 15 against the Expos at Olympic Stadium.

Once again, though, Baylor yanked Wood after he had thrown shutout ball for six innings, using only 74 pitches as the Cubs led, 3-0.

The rationale for Baylor’s move was that Wood had been struck above the left elbow by a one-hopper hit through the mound by the Expos’ Peter Bergeron in the fifth inning.

Wood breezed through the sixth, needing only seven pitches to complete the inning. Yet, Baylor thought that was enough for his starter and went through three relievers who nearly blew the game.

Off-field strategists wondered why Wood, a sturdy, 6-5, 220 pound-athlete, couldn’t pitch with a little pain in his left arm when he threw with his right.

"I was having trouble getting my left arm up in my delivery," Wood said. "They (Baylor and pitching coach Larry Rothschild) didn’t want anything to throw off my mechanics."

The removal of Wood might be considered a case of coddling by critics whose knowledge of the game extends back more than a few years. Younger critics might say it was a case of common sense.

Whatever, whether a manager should pull a starter from a game or let him stay on the mound has become a greater source of second-guessing in baseball these days for the simple reason complete games are out of fashion in the majors.

In the 2001 season, only one of every 11 American League games and only one of every 13.5 National League games resulted in a complete game for a starting pitcher.

Our old Italian friend earlier had addressed this modern trend in no uncertain terms.

"These managers today," he claimed, "are afraid to let their young pitchers develop. They baby them. They make decisions on the number of pitches they’ve thrown. They pull them even when they’re throwing well, are in a tie game or have the lead.

"What a crock of - -! Money is at the root of it. They have these highly-paid relievers, who work one or maybe two innings, and they figure they’ll look foolish if they don’t use them."

Although our friend voiced his gripe with a sense of righteousness, he missed one big point.

And, that point simply can be found in the lack of sufficient quality starting pitching for all 30 teams in the majors today.

How many clubs have more than two top-notch starting pitchers who can be expected or are physically equipped to go the distance every time they take the mound?

When many managers get to their 3rd, 4th and possibly 5th starter, they’re ready to summon help from the bullpen on a moment’s notice. They don’t have the same options their counterparts had in the days of Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Bob Gibson or Fergie Jenkins who in their prime finished 50 percent or more of the games they started.

Other than the silly innovation of the designated hitter rule in the American League, the expanded employment of relief pitching represents the biggest change in the essence of the game at the major league level over the last 30 years.

That being the case, the door remains wide open for second-guessers, sometimes unfairly, to pick apart a manager’s cerebral powers.

Long-retired Hall of Fame manager Al Lopez chuckled when he was asked to expound on the current tendency to deny starting pitchers the opportunity of finishing so many of their games.

"I can’t see why they put so much stress on counting pitches," he said. "Early Wynn used to throw as many as 140 pitches a game. He worked a lot of batters to a 3-and-2 count. But, if he was throwing good, I saw no reason to take him out.

"My goodness, Carl Hubbell once pitched an entire 18-inning game, and came back for another start with only two or three days’ rest. And, he threw the screwball, the toughest pitch on the arm."

As a manager for the Indians and White Sox, Lopez worked with many highly regarded starters including Wynn, Feller and Bob Lemon, all Hall of Famers, as well as Billy Pierce who also belongs in Cooperstown.

What motivated him to relieve a starter?

"Maybe, I had an advantage because I was a catcher in my playing days," he said about his sense of knowing when to remove a starter from a game.

"It doesn’t take a genius to know how well a pitcher is throwing. If all of a sudden, he’s being hit hard, and if his pitches are starting to come in high, then you get ready to make your move."

Sparky Anderson, another Hall of Fame manager, piloted World Series winners in Cincinnati (1975 and 1976) and Detroit (1984). What does he think about the precipitous decline in complete-games pitched?

"We’re creating arms with no strength," he said. "A lot of managers don’t want their starters to go past the sixth inning. They want the bullpen to finish it.

"I never worried about the pitch count. Now, you’ve got minor league coordinators who get upset if a young starter goes over 100 pitches. They’ll say, ’Get him out of there.’"

So, even in the minors, big league prospects are not conditioned to go the distance.

"They’re being protected," Anderson said.

Sparky didn’t actually say it, but he thinks today’s managers are babying their starters, and he told a couple of anecdotes to underline his sentiment.

"When I was at Detroit, Jack Morris was a fighter, tough as nails," he said about his ace starter. "If I went to the mound with the idea of taking him out, he’d say to me, ’I don’t want some other guy ruining this game. If anybody is going to ruin it, I’ll do it myself.’ So, I’d leave him in, and let him work his way out of whatever problem had developed.

"In Cincinnati, I used to listen to the stories Waite Hoyt liked to tell. (Hoyt broadcast Reds games then and was a Hall of Fame pitcher who toiled primarily for the Yankees).

"One time," Anderson related, "Hoyt recalled when he was warming up before starting a game for the Yankees. ’My elbow was killing me,’ he said. ’Before I went out to the mound, I told Miller Huggins (Yankee manager) my elbow was hurting like hell.

"’Huggins says to me, ’Well, your elbow better get well real quick or you’ll be in Newark tomorrow.’ So I took four aspirins every few innings, and by the time I finished the game, I had taken 12 of the damn things, but I made it through to the end, and we won."

It’s hard to conceive a similar development taking place in today’s game.

[SmedIndy]

A link and the synopsis is fine...ChicagoDave.

I'd rather have Baylor remove Wood too early than too late. But under 100 and he should be able to start the next inning (and watched carefully).

[Duque]

You usually figure Baylor would leave the guy in for too long rather than remove him too early.

Managers taking out pitchers is a tough call. I generally favor the proactice approach, taking out a guy before he gets tired, but I see a lot of managers waiting until the absolute last second to pull a guy, even when everyone in the stadium knows he's got nothing left.

[gyb13]

One point in favor of Baylor and his small-ball approach - Cubs are 30/33 in SB attempts

[SmedIndy]

Originally posted by gyb13
One point in favor of Baylor and his small-ball approach - Cubs are 30/33 in SB attempts

To quote noted scholar Derek Coleman:

"Whoop-de-damn-do". 14th in runs, 13th in OBP, 12th in OPS.

[KCBOOMER]

I would think this is a cheap shot. To select one game and blow it all out of proportion is decidedly unfair. It has been shown repeatedly that over use of under 25 year pitches leads to serious arm trouble. Gee, I think it even happened to Kerry Wood.

And to cite Sparky Anderson ("Captain Hook") is like the kettle calling the pot black.

With all the mistakes Baylor makes his enemies should be able to cite a better example of it than this.

[gyb13]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
To quote noted scholar Derek Coleman:

"Whoop-de-damn-do". 14th in runs, 13th in OBP, 12th in OPS.

I agree...but it could be worse....look at the pirates.

[VNV Nation]

I agree with Boomer on this. This is barroom journalism at its worst. Just stupid.

[MattNYY]

Originally posted by gyb13

I agree...but it could be worse....look at the pirates.

Or it could be even worse. Look at the Devil Rays.

[gyb13]

Originally posted by MattNYY
Or it could be even worse. Look at the Devil Rays.

The D'rays are a bad example for what I was illustrating. I was arguing that although Baylor gets criticized for small ball, at least they are successful with their steals (30/33 for an incredible 91% success rate). The Pirates, meanwhile, are also seen as a 'small ball' team, but they lead the league in CS and have a terrible SB% (32/58 for 55%). Not only do they emphasize small ball, which isn't a successful philosophy in baseball today, but they are bad at executing it. TB, although arguably a worse overall team, is a respectable base-stealing team (35/50 for 70%).

Anyways....I, too, agree with Boomer on this being an over the top attack on Baylor...