Buck Showalter Discusses Wild Card Criticism

[atomic]

I remember, and cant image to think how it would have been dissected in OH, if the internet had been around back then.

I wonder if Managers kept their jobs longer back in the 70's compared to now. I remember Yankees getting fired all the time back in the 70's and 80's.

[MDtransplant757]

I wonder if Managers kept their jobs longer back in the 70's compared to now. I remember Yankees getting fired all the time back in the 70's and 80's.

Because of how insane Steinbrenner was.

[Redskins Rick]

I wonder if Managers kept their jobs longer back in the 70's compared to now. I remember Yankees getting fired all the time back in the 70's and 80's.

King George had a fast temper and would fire managers (and rehire them) at the drop of a hat.

[MDtransplant757]

King George had a fast temper and would fire managers (and rehire them) at the drop of a hat.

And you thought your boss was an insane, irrational jackass. It could be worse, you could be a manager for the Yankees back in the 70's and 80's

[Redskins Rick]

And you thought your boss was an insane, irrational jackass. It could be worse, you could be a manager for the Yankees back in the 70's and 80's

Legend has it that George would sit on top of his RV in a lawn chair and if the cops were not directing traffic out of the parking lot quickly enough (in his opinion), he could come down and get involved himself.

[Aristotelian]

So the Tribe was up 3-1 and lost the WS. WOW

Can you image the firestorm here in OH, if that had happened here?

Francona made two huge mistakes, in my opinion. 1) Starting Kluber and Tomlin on three days rest. The data really don't look good with this strategy, and Kluber and Tomlin don't seem like the kind of guys capable of bucking the trend. 2) Leaving Shaw in after the rain delay. He didn't look great in the 9th, looked even worse to start the 10th. You hate to lose a pitcher after only two outs, but pitchers always do terribly after delays, and it is something relievers are very rarely asked to do. I would not be surprised if Shaw had never pitched through a delay in his career to that point. Just a bad, bad idea to throw him out there against the meat of the lineup.

Maddon also took a huge risk in extending Chapman three games in a row, and Rajai Davis made him pay for it. He would have been the goat if CLE had somehow won that game.

Just goes to show, even the best minds in the game sometimes get it wrong, and sometimes the "right" decisions lead to bad outcomes and bad decisions pay off.

[SteveA]

Francona made two huge mistakes, in my opinion. 1) Starting Kluber and Tomlin on three days rest. The data really don't look good with this strategy, and Kluber and Tomlin don't seem like the kind of guys capable of bucking the trend. 2) Leaving Shaw in after the rain delay. He didn't look great in the 9th, looked even worse to start the 10th. You hate to lose a pitcher after only two outs, but pitchers always do terribly after delays, and it is something relievers are very rarely asked to do. I would not be surprised if Shaw had never pitched through a delay in his career to that point. Just a bad, bad idea to throw him out there against the meat of the lineup.

Maddon also took a huge risk in extending Chapman three games in a row, and Rajai Davis made him pay for it. He would have been the goat if CLE had somehow won that game.

Just goes to show, even the best minds in the game sometimes get it wrong, and sometimes the "right" decisions lead to bad outcomes and bad decisions pay off.

It's interesting.

All of Francona's and Maddon's questionable decisions involved extending and relying too much on their best players, trying to get more out of them than they might have been able to give, mainly because they had guys on the postseason roster that they basically didn't trust at all to use in any important situation.

Buck's questionable decision was the EXACT opposite. His best player was completely rested and available and he chose not to use him at all when the game was on the line.

Nothing to add to that, just that it is very interesting. Maddon and Francona perhaps overreacted to the importance of the game by relying on a small core of good pitchers and hardly using others at all. Buck treated the game like a Tuesday night in June where you don't push your best player outside of his normal role.

[Hallas]

Francona made two huge mistakes, in my opinion. 1) Starting Kluber and Tomlin on three days rest. The data really don't look good with this strategy, and Kluber and Tomlin don't seem like the kind of guys capable of bucking the trend. 2) Leaving Shaw in after the rain delay. He didn't look great in the 9th, looked even worse to start the 10th. You hate to lose a pitcher after only two outs, but pitchers always do terribly after delays, and it is something relievers are very rarely asked to do. I would not be surprised if Shaw had never pitched through a delay in his career to that point. Just a bad, bad idea to throw him out there against the meat of the lineup.

Maddon also took a huge risk in extending Chapman three games in a row, and Rajai Davis made him pay for it. He would have been the goat if CLE had somehow won that game.

Just goes to show, even the best minds in the game sometimes get it wrong, and sometimes the "right" decisions lead to bad outcomes and bad decisions pay off.

To be honest, Chapman is fortunate he didn't give up the game right there. He threw nothing but meatballs and pitches well outside the zone all inning.

[PaulFolk]

One thing I don't see mentioned is the roster construction. Why would you need 15 position players for one game??? That boggles my mind. Wouldn't you stack the roster with pitchers for this exact scenario? This is the American League, how many pinch hitters do you need for one game?

They weren't all pinch-hitters. They were also available as pinch-runners, defensive replacements, etc. Six bench players isn't an unreasonable amount at all.

Even with 15 position players, the Orioles still had NINE available relievers for the game. Are you suggesting that nine relievers isn't enough? The O's had plenty of arms. They just didn't use the best one for some reason.