{"id":44227,"date":"2016-11-02T22:15:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T02:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=44227"},"modified":"2020-07-27T22:15:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T02:15:10","slug":"in-joe-we-trust-but-i-dont-like-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=44227","title":{"rendered":"In Joe we trust, but I don\u2019t like it"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Game 6 of the World Series couldn\u2019t have been a more perfect scenario for the Chicago Cubs; the Cubs get a big lead, and the need for key relievers goes down.\u00a0 Aroldis Chapman can get an extra day\u2019s rest a day after throwing 2 1\/3 innings and prepare for the winner-take-all Game 7 the following night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or at least that would have been the script of just about every baseball manager, regardless of if they\u2019re old school or new school.\u00a0 Simply, there\u2019s no reason to tax key pitchers in scenarios where they really don\u2019t need to be used.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, despite the fact that the Cubs were up 7-2 in the 7th<\/sup> inning, we saw Aroldis Chapman warming up in the bullpen; at first, I figured it was just a routine bullpen session, just to keep loose.\u00a0 But then two Indians hitters were on base, and Maddon was walking out to the mound, tapping his left arm, signaling for the unleashing of the All-Star closer.\u00a0 Chapman only needed two pitches to get the third out of the inning, but not before he stepped awkwardly on first base and came off the field with a noticeable limp.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I hoped that the one out would be Chapman\u2019s only action of the night, but it wasn\u2019t surprising when he took the field in the 8th<\/sup> inning.\u00a0 FOX\u2019s commentary duo of Joe Buck and John Smoltz were schnoodling each other with predictions and reminiscing of Smoltz\u2019s career and how it related to Chapman\u2019s continual use, while Chapman continued to fire bullets in a low-leverage situation.\u00a0 Eventually, he would get out of the 8th<\/sup> without any incident.<\/span><\/p>\n

I understand Maddon\u2019s logic of taking care of today to ensure that there is a tomorrow, but a 7-2 lead after seven innings and a 9-2 lead after eight just aren\u2019t instances where an ace like Chapman is even necessary at all, especially a day after throwing a career-high pitches. \u00a0Buck touched on the idea that Maddon probably used Chapman because going into a game 7, he would have all his starting pitchers available to use from the bullpen, thus lowering the need for his regular relief pitchers.\u00a0 He\u2019s not wrong, but if such is true, Maddon and everyone who believes this to be a solid game plan is severely discounting the importance of shutdown relievers, especially versus starting pitchers.<\/span><\/p>\n

For starters, starting pitchers are used to giving up runs.\u00a0 This is not the mindset you want coming out of the bullpen when the game is tied, or at a critical juncture where giving up runs is not the best idea.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s Clayton Kershaw or Mike Leake, starting pitchers will occasionally give up runs; it\u2019s no big deal when a run here and there is extrapolated into a season\u2019s body of work.\u00a0 But in high-stakes situations, like a World Series game 7, giving up any runs at all is not a smart tactic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, starting pitchers are strange creatures of habit, where emerging from the bullpen, where the game is already underway, after warming up outside of their typical routine and rest patterns, doesn\u2019t always end in the best results.\u00a0 Sometimes they get the job done, but then there are often times where they put up clunkers, just because everything seems just a little bit off to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Relief pitchers are conditioned to understand that the only acceptable number when they\u2019re called is 0.\u00a0 Anything else is pretty much a failure.\u00a0 Aroldis Chapman is very good at putting up zeroes, and it would be, in my opinion, an optimal situation if he were at his most rested and ready to put zeroes up in game 7.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy for Chapman and anyone on the Cubs\u2019 staff to talk about how he\u2019ll be ready regardless of how much use he\u2019s had in previous games; no pitcher will ever admit to being tired or unable to go, because their willingness is their livelihood, and Chapman wants to get paid for as long as his arm can fire baseballs.\u00a0 But fatigue works in fairly predictable ways, where in the case of a pitcher, the more he throws, the less effective he becomes, without adequate rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Make no mistake, I\u2019m still rooting for the Cubs in game 7, but I write all these words because I\u2019m genuinely concerned over the tactics and decision-making of Joe Maddon after game 6.\u00a0 If the Cubs win, Maddon will be immortalized in Cubs lore, for his choice to ride Aroldis Chapman for 2 1\/3 innings in game 5.\u00a0 However, if the Cubs lose, because Jon Lester and John Lackey came out of the bullpen and give up runs, and Chapman emerges and can\u2019t clean up their messes because his arm is tired and the Indians have now seen a whole lot of him and have got his timing figured out, then game 5\u2019s heroics are forgotten and the haphazard use of Chapman in game 6 will undoubtedly be the one thing remembered and looked back upon.<\/span><\/p>\n

I like Joe Maddon, and I most certainly am hoping the Cubs can somehow figure out how to get to Corey Kluber, rout the Indians, end a century-old drought and send David Ross off as the ultimate winner, but after game 6\u2019s unnecessary use of Aroldis Chapman, I can\u2019t help but feel this dreadful concern that the Cubs are going to be just a little bit short-handed, going into this championship game.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game 6 of the World Series couldn\u2019t have been a more perfect scenario for the Chicago Cubs; the Cubs get a big lead, and the need for key relievers goes down.\u00a0 Aroldis Chapman can get an extra day\u2019s rest a day after throwing 2 1\/3 innings and prepare for the winner-take-all Game 7 the following … Continue reading In Joe we trust, but I don\u2019t like it<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,83],"class_list":["post-44227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-baseball","tag-observations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44229,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44227\/revisions\/44229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}