Mickey Calloway Deathwatch, 2k19

[A Boy Named Seo]

It's been discussed in the IGT's but a couple of decision's in the first series left me swearing at my TV.



Game 2 - leaving Wilson Ramos in to run for himself. Did not bite the team in the ass, but easily could have. Gary asked him about it the next day, and per Gary, Mickey said something along the lines of most of the time those pinch running changes make no difference and that he was leery to burn Nido without a third catcher. A lot about that answer I didn't like.



Game 3 - stayed with the lefty Wilson to face the righty Turner with Familia warming. Turner hit the GW-homer. I'm not if Familia was ready or not, but damn, Sam.



Both are defensible, but seem really conservative to me. Saving some bullets for later is fine, but I don't think either decision put us in better situations to win those games in those moments.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm okay with him having left Wilson in. The game could have gone into extra innings, and Familia and Diaz were the only remaining pitchers available.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I don't agree. Once you hit the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, it's sudden death. I'd put in the best available pitcher. And after he's all used up, I'd put in the next best available pitcher. We've gotten to the point where teams have a zillion pitchers on the roster and a miniscule bench, but still, there aren't enough pitchers to manage for an extra inning game so Justin Wilson has to pitch with the game on the line while Familia and Diaz sit and watch. How screwed up is that? I just hope that the "save" didn't affect Callaway's decision.

[Benjamin Grimm]

The problem is that Mickey blew through too many of his pitchers early, and let Lugo throw too many pitches the day before.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Yeah I think Avilan faced two batters and Peterson just one after he was brought in on a double-switch (and Lugo was blown out from the previous day's debacle). I guess you could argue that he could have left Peterson in to start the 8th against Dozier ® and see what happens, but that one's fraught with risk, too.

[Centerfield]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The problem is that Mickey blew through too many of his pitchers early, and let Lugo throw too many pitches the day before.

This. The decision not to pinch run Ramos and his bullpen management.



During 11-1 last year, we all commented how he was burning Lugo and Gsellman. This year, it doesn't seem like he's learned a heck of a lot. I mean, 7 run lead. Come on Mickey.

[Centerfield]

Also. Jeff McNeil. Career .813 OPS against lefties. Small sample size, but still.

Too many regulars sat yesterday.

[Edgy MD]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Game 2 - leaving Wilson Ramos in to run for himself. Did not bite the team in the ass, but easily could have. Gary asked him about it the next day, and per Gary, Mickey said something along the lines of most of the time those pinch running changes make no difference and that he was leery to burn Nido without a third catcher. A lot about that answer I didn't like.

What does Mickey think happens more frequently:

2. A runner on first with no outs scoring because you replace a lumbering guy with a fleet one?


4. A team compromised because their last catcher got hurt during the game?

I don't agree. Once you hit the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, it's sudden death. I'd put in the best available pitcher. And after he's all used up, I'd put in the next best available pitcher. We've gotten to the point where teams have a zillion pitchers on the roster and a miniscule bench, but still, there aren't enough pitchers to manage for an extra inning game so Justin Wilson has to pitch with the game on the line while Familia and Diaz sit and watch. How screwed up is that? I just hope that the "save" didn't affect Callaway's decision.

Holding your best pitcher for a save in a tie game in the ninth inning or later is screaming madness. Any potential manager I interview in any potential alternate reality where I'm a guy who gets interview potential managers, this is the first issue I ask him about.

[seawolf17]

Y'all know we're only three days into the season, right? And we took two out of three from a key division rival? I think we can cool out a bit.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Y'all know we're only three days into the season, right? And we took two out of three from a key division rival? I think we can cool out a bit.

A few years back, someone started a thread where games were tracked by "should've won and did", "should've lost and did', "should've lost, but won", "should've won, but lost". Something like that. I don't think any of these were wins that should've been losses or vice versa, but we were tip-toeing those lines a little already.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I think that was one of my dumbass ideas that I typically didn;t follow through on

[Ceetar]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I think that was one of my dumbass ideas that I typically didn;t follow through on

How are the Mets Firsts coming?

[Gwreck]

Sunday:

You have (only) Wilson, Diaz, and Familia available. All pitched Saturday. Tie game, and you're going into the bottom of the 8th with Dozier, Adams, and Robles coming up (R/L/R). Who goes in to pitch?



I would have said Familia. Mickey goes with Wilson, who does great and then is left to continue in the 9th, again to righty and lefty batters.



—

Saturday: I really didn't like pulling Familia with the bases loaded in the 8th and two outs, up 4 runs. Matt Adams (lefty) coming in to PH. Familia had thrown 22 pitches. Lugo takes over.



The two decisions are strange when looked at side by side. Do you trust Wilson to pitch complete innings but not Familia? In the past, we've used Familia extensively for a full inning regardless of the matchup. Why does that change?

[Frayed Knot]

I was OK with leaving Wilson in on Sunday.

He had retired "every" batter he faced this year up to that point -- OK it was all of seven batters (4 RHB, 3 LHB) but the point is he was pitching well.

And basically if you get through that inning unscathed then you're in extras with Familia & Diaz ready to go vs Doolittle & Rosenthal already spent. Advantage = Us

[MFS62]

Also. Jeff McNeil. Career .813 OPS against lefties. Small sample size, but still. Too many regulars sat yesterday.

And the guy has four hits the day before.

This is something Mickey did last year that drove me nuts. He would rest a "hot" player and not let the player to go on a kind of streak that might carry a club for a while.

I had hoped having an experienced manager as "bench" coach would help. But in this case, I wonder if he said anything.



Later

[Fman99]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The problem is that Mickey blew through too many of his pitchers early, and let Lugo throw too many pitches the day before.

Yep, agreed. Why is Lugo going 40 pitches, to get some stupid 4 out save? Dumb.

[Centerfield]

Fire him. I'm done.

[Centerfield]

Diaz here makes perfect sense.

[Zvon]

MC seems like a spiteful manager.



Re relief:::: "So you're not going to do what I put you in there for? Well, I'm just gonna keep you in there until you do."

[Centerfield]

Mickey just said trying to bunt with two strikes was not a bad play and he didn't mind it.

[kcmets]

Watching his post game on SNY; I don't get the hat here after game 4, 3-1...

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Managers who do whacky or seemingly counterproductive things in the first week of the season shouldn't be fired. They might be secret geniuses in fact.

[MFS62]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Managers who do whacky or seemingly counterproductive things in the first week of the season shouldn't be fired. They might be secret geniuses in fact.

Its not the event, its the continuance of a pattern.

Later

[Centerfield]

A manager's job is to maximize a team's chances at winning. Bunting with Lagares there doesn't do that. A sac bunt will marginally increase a team's chances at scoring 1 run. Assuming the bunt is successful. Nothing I've seen from Lagares suggests he is a good bunter. Certainly not that AB. And bunting with 2 strikes? Jesus. If he really did that once on his own, he should have pulled him out by his ear and said "Don't ever fucking do that again"



And NOT bunting Nimmo the very next AB. The one place where a bunt really helps you is to get that runner to 3B with less than 2 outs.



It's not even that he's bad. It's that he's doing the opposite of what he should be doing.



Keep this in mind. The season is 4 games old. In a tie game against a division rival, he left his best pitcher in the pen. With a 4 run lead against the worst team in the division, he used his closer.



Last year during the 11-1 run we talked about how it was not sustainable because of the use of the pen. He's making that same mistake again.

[Lefty Specialist]

You're always going to use more pen early in the season, but Calloway doesn't seem to use it wisely. Riggleman is supposed to be his brains on the bench, but I dunno. Bunting with two strikes had both my wife and I screaming at the TV. She was done with Calloway last year, and nothing she's seen this year has changed her mind.

[HahnSolo]

I actually was surprised he DIDN'T bunt Nimmo there. Brandon's looked lost at the plate, and he's one of the few guys on the team I believe can consistently get a bunt down if/when we need one.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I don't know why the bunt to third is dead, but it's dead.

[A Boy Named Seo]

IIRC, Lagares showed bunt once on two strikes before he got hit, so if he was doing it on his own, Calloway could've had the third base coach tell him to knock that shit off and swing away. But Lagares tried again and got hit. I didn't care for the bunt there, but yeah, if you're gonna bunt in the inning, you probably do it with Nimmo up, with first and second and no outs. Head-scratching.



This is another "won and we should have won" but we tip-toed that line of "won even though we tried real hard to give that shit away"

[A Boy Named Seo]

There's a little bit of 2018 feel in this nice, little 3-1 start. Glad we're winning the ugly ones, but poor decisions haven't crushed us yet, and the .750 winning % feels like a big, fat mirage.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Let's not begin from the point of view that any of us are somehow in possession of more information or knowledge than the manager (or that any of us know with certainty for example how capable a bunter Juan Lagares actually is). I was using hyperbole above but there's an argument that in the case of Lagares' stupid bunt attempt that there may come a time later in the year where they will really need one and knowing how it played out on April 1 might be useful after all. Or not.



Valentine used to do idiotic things in April and May too but managed differently in August and September, and I thought he was a good manager