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Buck Showalter
12:34
Dave, I realize you have a car and need to take your family somewhere, but why don't you just pull them in a rickshaw? Something could go wrong if you drive them, and this way you get to save the car for when you really need it later.
Dave Cameron
12:34
I laughed.
Dustin
12:35
Dave, do you actually see this high-profile gaff of Showalter altering the way that managers use their closers in high-leverage situations like this moving forward? Or is this just yet another blip towards slow, glacial evolution?
Dave Cameron
12:36
I would bet every front office in baseball right now is figuring out how to have a conversation with their manager before spring training starts about this very topic. You're probably not going to see entrenched guys change their mind, but I would be surprised if there wasn't some effort in most organizations to get their managers to not repeat this mistake.
Dustin
12:37
To those calling for Buck Showalter's head today, it's important to note: Nobody would ever want to be (nor should be) defined by their worst mistake.
Dave Cameron
12:38
Correct. Everybody in baseball has made big mistakes. Showalter's just happened to come on a huge stage.
12:39
Two minute pause.
Conner
12:42
Dave Stewart's parting comments that he has "better things to do" left me with the impression that there were a lot of issues between the front office and ownership behind the scenes. Any thoughts?
Dave Cameron
12:43
Read the comment in context; he was saying he had better things to do than criticize ownership. The people who put that quote out there without context should be embarrassed.
It was really unfair to Stewart.
Steve
12:43
Why is Showalter taking so much heat when his team only got 4 hits over 11 innings?
Dave Cameron
12:44
Because even with a stagnant offense, they still had a good chance to win.
Gabriel
12:44
Can Liriano start game 2 against Rangers after pitching last night?
Dave Cameron
12:45
He probably could, but I'd keep using him in relief.
The Oriole Bird
12:45
Thanks for your Britton article! I am totally with you. When people started going crazy on Twitter, I thought it was totally reasonable for Showalter to leave in Brach, O'Day, et al. But when it was Jimenez vs. Encarnacion, that was just crazy pants.
Dave Cameron
12:45
I think it was a bad call to go with the other guys too, but the 11th inning was off the charts insanity.
Bend It Like Cameron
12:46
How is Bend treating you?
Dave Cameron
12:46
So far, so good. Tonight will be interesting, though; I'm doing the live blog of the NL Wild Card game, which starts at 5 pacific, rather than the 8 pm starts I'm used to on the east coast. So instead of having a kid in bed and a dog that's ready to call it a night, I have to figure out how to live blog while everyone wants my attention. This should be interesting.
Anthony
12:48
I've seen reports that Britton was frustrated by not getting in the game last night. To me, it seems like a pitcher as good as Britton should have some input over when he gets the ball. To your knowledge, are there any managers who involve their star relievers in those kind of decisions?
Dave Cameron
12:48
No.
Nick
12:49
Let's say hypothetically Ubaldo doesn't blow the game, and gets out of the inning. Since he's a normally a starter and can stay in, how many more scoreless innings do you conceivably think it would have taken for Showalter to finally go to Britton?
Dave Cameron
12:49
He clearly wasn't going to Britton until they had a lead.
Sonny
12:50
Tony La Russa still employed...
Dave Cameron
12:50
Only kind of. Sounds like he's being demoted and won't have much of a say if he sticks around.
Ryon Healy
12:51
Did I deserve Rookie of the Month? Am I truly one of the games exciting young talents now?
Dave Cameron
12:51
I cannot imagine having an opinion on who should win Rookie of the Month.
Hi Dave
12:52
Who is on for the chat tonight?
Dave Cameron
12:52
August and myself.
Sirras
12:53
To get past the gender sterotypes/skewing in both analytic fields and professional sports, Sarah Gelles sounds like a boss
Dave Cameron
12:53
She's the team's director of analytics and research, so she is literally a boss.
dudeOfTheWorld
12:54
In what possible pre-game prep mtg would you not try to make a plan around ensuring those 2-3-4 hitters with the game on the line would have Britton to face? Boggles my mind. Anyone who plays Toronto dreads that part of the order. They aren't coming around again until the 13th or 14th inning.
Dave Cameron
12:54
This is the other thing that's so weird about the 11th inning decision. You know the big guys are coming up; why not stick Britton in there, and then save Jimenez for the Upton/Pillar/Carrera part of the lineup?
Matt
12:56
On a scale of 1-10, how well do you think the average American would do at their job if every decision were broadcast on prime-time television that a large portion of the nation was watching?
Dave Cameron
12:56
4
Zonk
12:57
The NL Cy Young candidates seemed to have something for everyone, didn't it? ERA (Hendricks), Strikeouts (Scherzer), Dominance (Kershaw), Win-Loss (Lester), and sentimentality (Fernandez). Not sure how you chose! Not a question since you can't tell us....
Dave Cameron
12:57
You didn't even mention Syndergaard, Cueto, or Bumgarner. Picking five was so hard.
CamdenWarehouse
12:58
do you wish you were chatting last night instead of tonight?
Dave Cameron
12:59
No, the kid is still adjusting to the new time zone, so the wife needed help last night. Plus, it was our anniversary. I picked a lousy day to get married 8 years ago.
Frank
1:00
Buck has been beaten to death. What dis you think of Gibbons' pitching decisions? Obviously they worked but Stroman seemed to work at the start, pulled him appropriately, mixed pitchers well in the middle and then had Liriano ready to long at the end. Agree?
Dave Cameron
1:00
I wasn't super high on using Biagini as long as he did, but yeah, mostly I thought he did a good job.
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