Brewers open a Pitchers ‘R’ Us
Posted on April 21, 2008
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Brewers manager Ned Yost knew one thing heading into Monday’s game against the Cardinals: He wasn’t going to run out of pitchers.
Thanks to some creatively twisted logic, the Milwaukee skipper and his front office decided to stockpile their active roster with 14 — fourteen! — pitchers. So does it qualify as irony that when, in the top of the ninth of a 3-3 game, he looked at his bullpen and saw two non-appetizing options: Derrick Turnbow or Eric Gagne for the fifth straight game? Because it wasn’t a save opp, the ball went to Turnbow, who predictably gave up the game-deciding run in the 4-3 loss.
With only three bench players, Yost is effectively playing an NL game with only two spare hitters — one of those three backups is a catcher, who can only be used as a last resort. This is what his bench looked like on Monday night: catcher Mike Rivera (can’t use), infielder Craig Counsell, outfielder Gabe Kapler.
The Brewers plan on sticking with this roster construction for about 10 days. Though it didn’t necessarily burn them on Monday — Counsell pinch-hit but Kapler somehow never made it into the game — you shudder to think what will happen the first time they get into a lengthy extra-inning affair. And I’m still not altogether sold on Yost’s decision to pinch-hit a pitcher, Jeff Suppan, with the go-ahead run on first base in the seventh inning of a tie game. Suppan laid down a successful sacrifice, but if the bench wasn’t so thin maybe Yost rolls the dice with Kapler there in hopes of igniting a rally. Besides, the Cardinals still had six outs remaining, so playing for one run in that spot might not have been the best play considering Gagne’s fatigue level.
In any other town, Yost would be toast by now. He all but handed the NL Central to the Cubs last year by refusing to remove Chris Capuano from the rotation before it was too late. Yost also didn’t appear to be a positive force in the clubhouse.
Yost is one of the more progressive managers around when it comes to Sabermetrics, but his off-field intelligence hasn’t translated into wins and losses on the field. I’d rather have a guy who goes with his gut and knows better than to carry 14 pitchers on a National League club.
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