The answer to this question is pretty obvious. Of course Ron Washington has some sense. He’s a major league manager, and he guided his team to the AL pennant last year. But as this season begins to grow, I’m starting to wonder just how much sense he actually has, specifically when it comes to managing his bullpen. The past two days, the Rangers have been tied heading into the ninth inning. This is a PERFECT scenario for you to use your best reliever, which in Washington’s case, is closer Neftali Feliz. So who was on the hill for the Rangers to start the inning off? Yesterday, it was Darren O’Day. Today, it was Darren Oliver. Neither of those two pitchers is your best reliever.
The Rangers have used six relievers over the past two days. The one that did not get used is the one that should have been used the last two days, Feliz. O’Day got used yesterday and came into the game against the bottom of the Tigers lineup. In his last outing on Sunday, he walked two batters in 2/3 of an inning. He allowed a leadoff single to Brandon Inge, and after being given a free out on a sac bunt by Alex Avila, he walked Austin Jackson. That should have been it for him. Washington left him in. He struck out Ramon Santiago. Now there is DEFINITELY no reason to keep him in. Next batter, he walks Ryan Raburn on five pitches without making Raburn swing the bat to load the bases for Miguel Cabrera.
Let me put this into perspective. The bases are loaded with two outs in the ninth inning for Miguel Cabrera, one of the best hitters in baseball. Who do you want facing him: your young, flamethrowing stud, or a guy who was a Rule 5 pick last season? If you’re Ron Washington, you go with the Rule 5 pick. And sure enough, on a 2-1 count, Cabrera dropped a single into left field to win the game. Well done Wash, you lost the game while your best reliever sat in the pen eating sunflower seeds and gawking at women in the crowd.
That brings me to today. Today was kind of a different story, because Dave Bush started, and Dave Bush is not a player you want starting games for your team when you’re trying to defend your pennant. So he allows six baserunners in three innings and gets the hook. It’s going to be a long day for the bullpen. The Rangers don’t really have a long man in their pen. I guess you could qualify Mason Tobin, who threw two innings today, as the long man, but he’s another Rule 5 pick, and he’s not very good. What is it with this team and the Rule 5 picks? Anyway, the bullpen ends up laboring, with Mark Lowe and Arthur Rhodes following Tobin, throwing an inning apiece. Washington goes to Darren Oliver in the eighth, which really isn’t that bad of an idea. Oliver has an easy eighth, and Washington sends him out again for the ninth. Tie game, bottom nine, and you’re going with a journeyman converted starter on his last legs. I know Oliver has reinvented himself as a reliever in recent years, but keeping Feliz on the bench in this situation is ridiculous. After a lineout by Avila, Inge smacks a homer out to left on the first pitch. Game over, series lost, best reliever sitting on bench in the ninth inning of two close games. Check and mate.
It’s not just Washington that subscribes to this “Capital C Closer” theory, lots of managers do. The thing is, Washington’s use of Feliz this season has been stupid at best. He doesn’t use him in either of the past two games, but he has no problems letting him finish out two of the first three games against the Red Sox to open the season while the Rangers have a four run lead? What the hell does that do for your team? If you’re not going to use your best reliever in the critical moments of the game, but you will use him in order to lock up a meaningless, horrible statistic, what’s the benefit to your team in the long run? It doesn’t make sense to me.
One other thing about Washington, but he’s definitely not the only manager in the AL West guilty of this. Who the hell did Mike Napoli piss off to only play in six games this season? The guy has a 1.312 OPS in 18 at bats, and is one of the best hitters on the team. Why is it that he can’t buy playing time? Most people cite his shoddy defense as a catcher, but there is no reason that Yorvit Torreabla and his anemic bat should is worth defensively what Napoli brings to the table offensively. And if his defense is so bad, why not put him at DH? You’re letting Napoli lose at bats to Michael Young? The same Michael Young who’s had one season with an OPS over .800 in the last four? It’s borderline offensive. I feel bad for Napoli, because he’s one hell of a hitter, but he keeps getting thrown into awful situations. Mike Scioscia playing the worse than Torreabla bat of Jeff Mathis instead of Napoli was criminal, especially when advanced catcher defensive statistics showed that Mathis was a WORSE defender than Napoli. It stuns me that things like this still happen in 2011, but here we are.
