A Thank You & An Apology

I never thought I’d still be maintaining this blog over two years after its founding. My friend and I started Fan Interference that fateful day in college for three reasons: we were bored, we were cranky, and we had serious crushes on Fire Joe Morgan. It would appear that I am still bored, cranky, and enamored, because just over two years later, Fan Interference is still here. I mention all this because April 2009 saw the most hits of any month since the blog’s inception. Ever since the Lull of 2008, hits have been steadily increasing. I think it’s no coincidence that this has happened just when the quality of both the content and appearance improved. Ultimately, this is just a long-winded “thank you.” I’m grateful to the readers for supporting this site, however regularly. I’m grateful to a certain graphic designer in Florida for our awesome logo that has provided an increased feeling of legitimacy. I’m grateful to my Roosevelt Island traveling buddy for challenging me to write consistently and well about the things that interest me. Most of all, I’m grateful to broadcasters, columnists, players, general managers, coaches, scouts, and fans for providing endless material. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Now that that’s done, I want to apologize to Jorge Posada and you readers. On Monday, I wrote a fairly serious indictment of Posada’s effort and character. This came after he apparently failed to hustle to first base on a double play in an important situation. It turns out that Posada’s hamstring was bothering him, preventing him from running at maximum speed. This development means I was very wrong, and I should have withheld judgment until something like this could be ruled out. It just goes to show that no matter how smart or observant or right I think I am, there will always be information that, as a fan, I will never know. I think it’s important to issue such an apology in this space, particularly given the nature of this blog. I have spent lots of time ridiculing people for overreacting and not following up when more information becomes available. It appears that I am capable of the same folly as those I criticize.

That’s it for now. I hope you stick with me here at Fan Interference. I enjoy doing this a great deal, and as long as that’s the case, I don’t see myself stopping. At least not until Joe Morgan uses VORP in an argument. Then I’d have a bigger task before me, like preparing for the apocalypse.

Yankees’ Deployment Of Gardner And Cabrera Indicates Wishful Thinking

Brett Gardner is one half of the Yankees’ biggest problem.

 

April is a tough month for intelligent baseball fans with no scouting background. We can’t offer any useful insight or make reasoned predictions because the sample sizes are so small. As the samples become greater, sure, we can start to put our powers to good use. But until then, scouts have a tight grip on the most important information to be gleaned from some 20 baseball games per team. They can tell whose arm action is slower, or whose hip rotation is off, not me. Heck, I might have just made up those terms. People like me want to have something interesting to say about a player or team, but for the most part, saying anything other than “it’s too early to tell” is probably just guesswork at this point. There are, however, diagnoses that we can make with a much greater degree of certainty than others. One such example is the focus of this post, and that is the Yankees’ situation in center field. 

It’s too early to doom the Yankees’ starting pitching and bullpen, like so many are in the process of doing. It is not too early to gag violently at the thought of Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera manning the position for the entire season. A look at their respective minor and major league numbers reveals that neither has any business starting on a contending team, particularly one that is clearly trying to win the World Series immediately. If the Yankees are truly going all-in on this season – and the Sabathia, Teixeira, and Burnett signings indicate that they are – then they need to upgrade center field soon. Allowing the Gardner-Cabrera duo submarine a season after committing all that money to premium talents indicates either a total lack of understanding or plain old hubris. A brief examination of the two players will support this position.

Jorge Posada Adds “Hustling To First” To List Of Things Upon Which He Frowns

EDIT: This piece was written before I learned of Posada’s hamstring injury. An apology can be found here.

The majority of readers may not take any interest in this post, but it’s not the first time that will have happened, so no hard feelings. But for the Yankees fans who find themselves reading this, I write to confirm what you undoubtedly saw in tonight’s game against the Detroit Tigers; namely, that Jorge Posada is kind of a disappointment.

The Yankees entered the top of the 9th inning down 4-0. Tigers’ reliever Fernando Rodney – who is often accompanied to the mound by a barrel of gasoline – replaced Bobby Seay and was slated to face the Yankees’ 5-7 hitters. Robinson Cano led off with a double. Nick Swisher followed with an RBI single, making the score 4-1 with nobody out. Then Melky Cabrera singled, sending Swisher to third with still nobody out. Manager Joe Girardi rightly pinch-hit Jorge Posada for Jose Molina. Seasoned Yankees fans everywhere at this point probably feared Posada grounding into a double play, which he does with some regularity. But Posada has pop in his bat, and an extra-base hit would have made the game 4-3 Tigers with no one out. You take the good with the bad. And boy, did Posada go out of his way to put forth the bad.

On the third pitch of the at-bat, Posada grounded weakly to the left side of the infield. It just made it by Rodney, which meant that the Tigers’ third-baseman would have to charge it hard to have any chance at turning two. Brandon Inge did this successfully, throwing it to Placido Polanco at second to record the first out. Polanco negotiated the disruptive Cabrera and threw to first to nail Posada by half a step, completing the double play. Swisher scored, making it 4-2 with no one on and two outs. I was grudgingly accepting of this outcome. That is, of course, until I saw footage of Posada running to first base.

Jarron Gilbert Jumps Out Of A Swimming Pool, Lake Michigan Believed To Be Next

My head is spinning from two days of the Red Sox annihilating Yankee pitching and prolonged exposure to Mel Kiper, Jr., so all I can muster right now is a post that is intended to make you go “wow” and then move on with your life. Along with 712,261 other people, I’ve come upon footage of former San Jose State defensive tackle Jarron Gilbert jumping out of a swimming pool. A real swimming pool. That is filled with water. I think I’d stub my toe trying to jump out of my bathtub (I promise I’ll put that on YouTube, should I elect to try it). Anyway, here’s the newly-minted Chicago Bear in our second installment of impressive vertical leaps.

Michael Wilbon Appears To Think The Economy Is Both Fine And Miserable

I apologize for the posting drought. Between work, my Baseball Prospectus Idol submission, and baseball season itself, I’ve been somewhat neglecting the blog. That ends tonight, with a very brief but very curious inconsistency from Pardon The Interruption’s Michael Wilbon. 

Wilbon and co-host Tony Kornheiser were debating the merits of a London-based Super Bowl sometime in the forthcoming years. Kornheiser staunchly opposed the idea, citing its status as a great American event as a factor that would limit its international appeal. This is fine. Then, this exchange happened (closely paraphrased):

KORNHEISER: Also, no one is going to London to see the Super Bowl. It’s the great American event, and people aren’t going to spend the money to go over there and…

WILBON (interrupting): No, no, no, come on Tony, people can afford to go.

The segment continued until the commercial break, after which our argumentative hosts began discussing the Detroit Pistons’ offering cheap tickets to Cleveland Cavaliers fans in an effort to maximize revenue. Wilbon offered his opinion on this unusual development, which included this nugget:

Tony, I don’t blame Pistons fans one bit for not spending money on these tickets in this economic climate. Not one bit.

I suppose these situations are not exactly comparable. The Super Bowl is a bigger event than an NBA Playoff game, which might make people more likely to splurge on a trans-Atlantic trip. But I do think there is something fundamentally inconsistent about Wilbon’s comments. It makes little sense for him to defiantly state that NFL fans can afford an expensive trip to London, and then say that Pistons fans are prudent to forego luxury goods in a time of economic turmoil. I’m not hugely riled up about this, but I do hope that Wilbon thought about what he said at some point after the cameras stopped rolling. 

The NFL Draft is tomorrow, which means we are mere days away from Mel Kiper, Jr. telling us that everyone had an okay draft. Good luck to your team, unless that team is the Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Cardinals, 49ers, Seahawks, Rams, Bears, Packers, Vikings, Falcons, Panthers, Saints, Buccaneers, Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers, Ravens, Bengals, Browns, Steelers, Texans, Colts, Jaguars or Titans. All three omissions were intentional.

The New Yankee Stadium Truly Spares No Expense

Deadspin somehow got a hold of this amazing picture, which I feel compelled to share with you:

It’s nice to see that common contempt for Carl Pavano can bring together the segregated crowds. And that deaf people are being looked after.

Modern Bullpen Management Hurts Teams’ Chances Of Victory

 

Under modern bullpen management, elite relievers like Mariano Rivera are regularly misused.

 

This afternoon’s Indians-Yankees game featured yet another example of how modern bullpen management is broken. I’ve written about this before, but the idealistic side of me seems to think that I can affect change by blogging about it. So, less than one week later, I’m back at it again.

The catastrophe began in the top of the 7th inning, with the game tied at one. Yankees manager Joe Girardi brought reliever Jose Veras in to start the inning against Cleveland’s 2-3-4 hitters – roughly the toughest part of the batting order. I would have used another reliever (you can probably guess who), but I’ve totally abandoned any hope of managers using their nominal closer to start any inning that isn’t the 9th. As a result, I accepted Girardi’s decision and hoped for the best. Of course, my hope and faith were immediately crushed when Veras walks Mark DeRosa and allows Victor Martinez to double. It’s still a 1-1 game in the 7th, but there are runners on second and third with no one out. The outcome of the game probably rests on the Yankees’ ability to squirm out of this, particularly given the Indians’ strong bullpen.

Like every manager in baseball, Joe Girardi intuitively understands the importance of this situation, but does not act on it. Cleanup hitter Jhonny Peralta (not a typo, for those new to the game) doubled, scoring DeRosa and Martinez. 3-1 Indians. Girardi replaces Veras with Damaso Marte, who proceeds to allow seven more runs through a horrid combination of fielding errors, homers, and wildness. When the dust settles, the Indians are leading 10-1.

My understanding of a manager’s job is pretty simple and, I’d imagine, fairly accurate. I think his job is to maximize the team’s chance of winning the current game while balancing that task with the requirements for victories in the future. Basically, his job is to try and win now, but don’t do anything that would really hurt the team in the future either. I’m sure it’s a tough job with a tremendous amount of pressure to perform. I can muster that much sympathy.

With that being said, I don’t understand why Girardi and his peers continually manage their bullpen in a way that clearly hurts the team and, more frustratingly, defies all reason. Girardi should have used Mariano Rivera once DeRosa walked. If not then, certainly once Martinez doubled. Again, I’m positive Girardi’s gut was telling him “this is the game right here” with runners on second and third and no one out. I’m sure of it. It would logically follow that he would insert Rivera into the game, since Rivera is his best reliever and the game’s outcome was in the balance. Clearly, this did not happen. Governed by nothing but provincial, traditional, and illogical thinking, Girardi went to inferior relievers in an attempt to control the damage. He did this because Rivera pitches no inning but the 9th, and he must have a lead to protect instead of one to prevent. Need him earlier than the 9th inning? Like, seriously, unquestionably need him to win the game? No, because it is not the 9th inning.

The overarching implication of modern bullpen management is that the 9th inning – solely because it is the last in the sequence – is inherently more difficult for pitchers than any other frame. The byproduct of this belief was the creation of the “closer,” or, the only reliever with the fortitude to navigate such a pressure-packed situation. The role of the “closer” has, in turn, produced a widespread and unquestioned code of in-game management that regularly hurts teams’ chances of success. Managers simply will not use their “closer” (who is almost always the team’s best reliever) unless the team has a lead in the 9th inning, even if the team desperately needs him. 

Managers need to stop saving their best relievers to protect leads that they might not get. It’s as simple as that. As Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan said, the first manager to realize and act on this is going to the Hall of Fame.

Chad Ford Scoffs At Your Reasonable Request For Clarification

Over the last few weeks, ESPN’s resident NBA draft expert Chad Ford has made some troubling assessments about Louisville’s Terrence Williams. On at least two separate occasions, Ford has alluded to both on and off-court concerns about the former Cardinals player. You can catch yourself up here, if you are so inclined. I’ve taken a strong interest in Ford’s somewhat unflattering characterization of Williams because I cannot, for the life of me, think of a single incident that would warrant such a portrayal. I’m trying not to get too troubled by this, but I do think it’s awfully unfair to continually file reports about a player that call his character into question, but offer no explanation for the events that made the question necessary. 

Anyway, I decided to ask Ford about this directly. Because of either incompetence or unavailability, I could not find Ford’s professional e-mail address, so I submitted my question in his chat. It read roughly like the following:

Mr. Ford, you’ve written several times that Terrence Williams has had both on and off-court issues. I cannot, however, think of a single incident that would support this assessment. Could you please elaborate? Thank you.

Well, if you clicked the chat link, you will notice that my question did not make the cut. Despite this post’s somewhat obnoxious title, I’m temporarily willing to believe that Ford was inundated with questions of superior quality and greater urgency. So, I’m not terribly upset just yet. This is not, however, the end of my small quest. I do plan on asking this question with the same balance of courtesy and curiosity in future chats.

It may seem like needless nitpicking, but I do think this situation raises some potentially serious questions about journalistic responsibility and public scrutiny. If Ford’s e-mail address is unavailable to the public and he gets to choose which questions he answers in his chats, then there is a worrisome lack of accountability that needs examination. Ford’s editor fits in here somewhere, but I don’t know how exactly. In any case, I think this is a worthwhile discussion, because the subject of debate is an individual’s character. It’s not his jump shot, rebounding, or passing ability, all of which can be evaluated subjectively. Ford is raising questions about a person’s behavior, habits, and judgment. The criticism of these qualities necessitates supporting evidence. We’re not there yet, but if such criticism can be made without pressure to elaborate, then we should all be a little troubled.

Wins : Useless :: Tweenbots : Cute

I would just like to issue your semi-regular reminder that pitching wins are a useless statistic. Baltimore Orioles pitcher Koji Uehara proved this once again tonight, by putting together the following line and still getting a win:

• 5 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 2 HR

So remember, if you are having a baseball discussion with someone, and that person cites wins as evidence for a pitcher’s success or failure, tune him or her out. 

On a significantly less cranky note, you absolutely need to familiarize yourself with Tweenbots and then watch the embedded video. Stuff like this (and Legos!) further reinforce my opinion that New York is the most vibrant, interesting, and imaginative city in the world. Enjoy.

Classic Bullpen Mismanagement Resurrects (Ha!) On Easter

When I was a child – and maybe for just a bit beyond then – my mother would hide two Easter baskets in the apartment for me and my younger sister to find. Motivated by sheer gluttony and competitive spirit, we would discerningly rampage through each room on our quest for sugar. Inevitably, with a little help from our sympathetic creator (not that creator), we would find the cradles of candy and proceed to trade with one another. White chocolate was usually the first to go. As time has passed, I have noticed that the baskets’ altitude was inversely proportional to our ages. Cabinets and closet shelves were popular hiding spots in our infancy. Later on, low-lying nooks and crannies were more in vogue. It would seem that we came by our competitive spirit honestly.

I mention this because Easter Sunday has always been a day of discovery for me. Yesterday continued that tradition, although in new ways. Expecting the Yankees-Royals game to be rained out, I consented to visit nearby Roosevelt Island with my girlfriend. Neither of us had ever been, and it seemed like a pleasant way to spend a beautiful day. Of course, several text messages from friends revealed that no, it was not raining in Kansas City and yes, baseball was being played. Oops. My girlfriend compassionately suggested that we find a sports bar on the island, but my word was my word. Nevertheless, this resulted in my third noteworthy discovery of the day – there are no such establishments on Roosevelt Island. 

Throughout the afternoon, two loyal friends peppered my phone with game updates, eventually leading to a painfully clear depiction of what was happening. Quite simply, the Yankees’ bullpen was blowing the game. I remained calm (no, really, I have a witness) until my return from the island, when I could carefully examine the box score and play-by-play information. Joba Chamberlain had pitched six strong innings, allowing four hits and one earned run, while striking out five and walking one. Reliever Brian Bruney pitched a perfect 7th inning, after which the score remained 4-3 Yankees. Unfortunately, the 8th inning brought the fourth and final discovery of an otherwise blissful day. Namely, it would appear that major league managers – even those with industrial engineering degrees from Northwestern University – still don’t know how to manage a bullpen effectively.