High and Tight.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Girardi Gets What Torre Never Could

Girardi said he never had any intentions of using the ultra-effective Phil Hughes in the eighth inning of Sunday night's 5-2 win over Boston. He called on lefty Phil Coke instead, and watched him give up a 1-0 lead on Victor Martinez's two-run homer.

But Girardi sounded like he'd do it again to avoid overusing Hughes, or any other reliever. Hughes had pitched the three previous days.

"The bullpen is something you have to watch," Girardi said. "You don't want to fall in love with one guy because you can wear him down. You can hurt him. You don't just want him effective for two weeks, but for the whole season."

He said he's willing to bite the proverbial bullet to stay away from a pitcher.

"I knew yesterday I'm not going to use Hughes," Girardi said. "Sometimes, you've just got to say, 'Hey, know what? We don't have this guy today.' "

I'll admit, when watching the game I questioned not using Hughes myself, but I wasn't aware he'd been in three consecutive days. It worked out anyway, but I'd have preferred Bruney or Aceves to face the righties there after Coke got Ellsbury.

In any case, Girardi is makingthe right moves here. He's not falling into the Torre trap of falling in love with a reliever who then has his arm fall off.

Look at the post-Torre careers of former Torre flames Tanyon Sturtze, Steve Karsay, Ramiro Mendoza, Paul Quantrill, Ron Villone and Scott Proctor if you want to see what could have been in store for Hughes.

Labels: all hail girardi, bullpen, joe girardi, joe torre, phil hughes, phil phranchise, torre is dumb

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 10:01 AM 14 comments

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Is There Really Any Doubt Anymore that Torre Had to Go?

The number of players - relievers, mostly - finally coming clean on the ineptitude of St. Joe is growing daily. Take a look at these comments by Scott Patterson:

Following a phenomenal season at Class AA Trenton last season in which he posted an outstanding 1.09 ERA in 43 games and was voted by the Thunder fans as their favorite player, Patterson finds himself increasing his once long odds of making the Yankees’ bullpen with each spring outing.

“He’s been great,” first-year Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ve brought him in during the middle of some innings and he’s gotten us out of three or four really tough spots. He’s done everything you could ask to rookie to do. He’s impressed me.”

The Yankees have been more receptive to using younger pitchers recently and rookie Joba Chamberlain played a large role in the bullpen late last season in rallying New York to the American League playoffs. With that in mind, Patterson believes he at least has a chance of going north with the major-league club.

“If Joe Torre were still the manager, my chances wouldn’t be very good,” Patterson said. “It’s different with Joe Girardi in charge. He seems very willing to go with the best players, regardless of the experience. I don’t know if I’m going to make it but I think I will at least be considered. That’s all I can ask for.”

Patterson is scheduled to pitch again today against Cincinnati at Sarasota. Girardi has been using Patterson early in exhibition games, giving him a chance to face opposing major-league hitters before mass substitutions ensue in the later innings.

Patterson had the chance to face major-league hitters during the off-season when he pitched in the Venezuelan Winter League and posted a 1.54 ERA for Lara in 20 games.

Labels: all hail girardi, bullpen, joe torre, scott patterson, torre is dumb

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 10:06 AM 1 comments

Thursday, March 06, 2008

They're Finally Saying What I've Been Telling You for Years

Kyle Farnsworth has joined fellow bullpen mate Brian Bruney in repeating that Joe Torre had no clue how to manage a 'pen, and that he picked favorites (including when selecting a coaching staff):
Farnsworth:
After a year in which Farnsworth said he had communication problems with Joe Torre, the big right-hander is hoping for a better result under new manager Joe Girardi.

“It’s tough when you lose the confidence of your manager,” Farnsworth said Thursday. “You come in and prepare yourself day in and day out, and you have no clue about anything.”

Farnsworth went 2-1 with a 4.80 ERA in 64 games last season, but never threw more than one inning in an outing. He pitched in consecutive games just five times, and three straight days twice.

“I don’t know how that came about,” he said.

Farnsworth battled occasional problems with his back last season, yet said he could have pitched on consecutive days more often. His back has not been an issue this spring.

Girardi played with Farnsworth with the Chicago Cubs, which is giving
the pitcher a comfort zone.

“It’s definitely good to have,” Farnsworth said.

Bruney:

[Bruney] believes the changes on the Yankees' coaching staff - particularly Dave Eiland taking over as pitching coach for Ron Guidry - have helped him focus on the task at hand rather than worrying constantly about the consequences of a bad outing.

"I formed a relationship with Dave where he's easy to talk to," Bruney said. "In the past, I might not have had that relationship; I didn't talk to Gator."

Bruney also admitted to a level of fear in playing for Joe Torre, who was constantly criticized in recent years for overusing certain relievers.

"With Torre - and I'm not trying to bad-mouth anybody - sometimes you would go out there and try to be so good because you were scared of doing bad," Bruney said. "You can't pitch like that. (Joe) Girardi understands that you make mistakes - and I'm going to make them."

Girardi admitted to never hearing of Bruney before last season, but he isn't taking anybody's word when it comes to reputations.

On Aug.7, the Yankees sent Bruney down to Triple-A to open a roster spot for Chamberlain, a move Bruney didn't take well. He returned a little more than two weeks later when Ron Villone went on the disabled list, but he allowed runs in five of his final six outings of the season, prompting Torre to leave him off the playoff roster.

"I used to dread coming to the park," said Bruney, 26. "I enjoy getting up every day and coming to the field now."

"In years past, I was like, 'I can't ever go bad, because if I don't do good, I'm going to get sent down,'" Bruney said. "That means a salary cut, having to move. All that stuff becomes a big jumble in your mind. Now, it's easy to play.

"I'm not scared to fail."

You really didn't have to be a genius to see this was happening. Too bad the media largely ignored any mistakes by Torre until after he was long out the door.

Labels: all hail girardi, brian bruney, kyle farnsworth, torre is dumb

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 4:41 PM 1 comments