Baseball - Game Decisions - Yanks vs Sux - 5/1/05

I hate the Heirarchical Bullpen. I think having definite inning roles for your staff is stupid. Case in point, last night's Yankee-Red Sox game. In the eight inning last night, the Sux got the heart of their order up in a tie game. That'd be considered, in baseball parlance, late and close. Let's look at the play-by-play from the bottom of the eigth (courtesy of ESPN.com):

Boston - Bottom of 8th	Score
Aaron Small pitching for New York	NYY	BOS
D Mirabelli grounded out to second.	3	3
A Cora walked.	3	3
W Harris ran for A Cora.	3	3
K Youkilis hit by pitch, W Harris to second.	3	3
T Sturtze relieved A Small.	3	3
M Loretta singled to center, W Harris scored, K Youkilis to second.	3	4
M Myers relieved T Sturtze.	3	4
D Ortiz homered to center, K Youkilis and M Loretta scored.	3	7
S Proctor relieved M Myers.	3	7
M Ramirez flied out to left.	3	7
T Nixon struck out looking.	3	7
4 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors

I can understand letting Small pitch to Cora. Cora is not exactly a great batter, so you don't need the unhittable pitcher to get him out. I even agree with pulling Small after he hits the Greek God of Walks. At that point, you have to put in Rivera. The game is ON THE LINE. You need your best pitcher in this spot, right?

Mariano Rivera made 10.5 Million dollars last year. Since assuming the closer role in New York (1996, and ignoring 2002, an injury year), Mr. Mo has averaged 73 1/3 innings per season. That's ~$143K per inning, or ~$48K per out. Randy Johnson, by contrast, made $16Mm last year, to pitch 226 Innings, or ~$24K per out (and that was slightly below his career average innings, so they maybe paid more for more than they were expecting). It stands to reason that Mr. Mo's innings are more important than The Big Eunuch's. Twice as important. If they weren't you wouldn't pay him ~66% of Johnson's Salary to pitch less than a third of his innings. I suppose you might suggest that Mo has been a better pitcher in his innings than Eunuch (old habits die hard on this nickname), but I don't think you are going to argue a 100% premium in effectiveness. I don't think you'd pay that to Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson or Christy Matthewson in their prime over RJ today, simply because there is an upper limit to effectiveness, right? So, Mo's innings must be the most important.

What moment in the game would be more important than the moment when Aaron Small is pulled from the mound in favor of Tanyon Sturtze. There is only one, and that's the moment right after Sturtze gives the hit to Bellanger to break the tie. If you're not going to use Mo to get Bellanger out, put Papi on and get rid of Man-Ram, what important inning are you saving him for. The game, at the point when Small is lifted is still very winnable. You have A-Job, Gojira and Jorge coming up in the 9th. All of them are capable hitters. All of them could give you a run with a swing. Even with Matsui's troubles of late, he's not at easy out. So, Mo NEEDS to be in there to keep the game late and close. You let him pitch that jam, earn the money, and let Terry Francona decide whether he should bring in the Pap Smear for your 4-5-6 hitters in a tie game. If you get out of the inning tied, you can score in the top of the 9th, and either let Mo finish it or let Farnsworth save it for Mo. I understand that this is maybe a little against the BOOK of the moment, but this is how it was done in back in the day of the first real closers, like Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Aasenmacher, the Quiz, Sutter etc. If you pay a premium for late and close, I don't know why you don't use him more when the game really matters.

The way it was played (This is Torre's fault, but it's bigger than that, because it's the BOOK across baseball, not just in the Bronx), the best pitcher on the Yankee's staff doesn't get to face a batter in the biggest game of the season thus far. Granted, it's still May 1, but last year, the division was decided by head-to-head record, and that was only one game in the Yankees favor. I don't need Mo to pitch in every Yanks-Sux game, but I do need him in as many late-and-close, against the best hitters, situations as possible.

I know Torre couldn't be saving him for the immortal Mike Lowell, Willy Mo Pena and Alex Gonzalez. Mo should pitch to Manny and Papi. That's how you make the big money. Really.

Very frustrating, as Mo is one of my all-time favorite Yankees (Behind Lou Gehrig, Willie Randolph, Paul O'Neill, Donny B-Ball, Giambi and Jeter, but still up there). I just hate how he is used. Eventually, someone managing a game somewhere in the Show is going to get the idea that having an Ace in the Bullpen doesn't make a difference if you don't use him when the game is really on the line. And when that guy wins a couple of division titles, with a less than stellar group of other guys in the pen, maybe Baseball as a whole will wake up and figure out the best way to use the pen.