Regarding Tyler Clippard

[Benjamin Grimm]

In the post-game press conference (which I watched this morning) someone asked Terry if he was considering replacing Tyler Clippard with Addison Reed as the eighth inning guy. Terry responded by saying, "You may be thinking about it, but I'm not thinking about it."

I was thinking, Terry, you should be thinking about it.

But then Nelson Figueroa and Keith Hernandez and (maybe?) Jim Duquette said that they agreed with Terry. And that surprised me. I thought the conventional wisdom was that you're supposed to play the hot hand in the playoffs.

[Frayed Knot]

Ballplayers (both current and ex-) seem to buy into the 'they need to have their roles' thing a lot more than us fans do, so, no, it doesn't particularly surprise me that Keith & Nelson are rubber-stamping the idea.
I suspect players also tend towards looking at the longer view (Clippard has been better over the last two seasons or so) vs fans who gravitate to the shorter (how did he do yesterday?!?!)

[Zvon]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: In the post-game press conference (which I watched this morning) someone asked Terry if he was considering replacing Tyler Clippard with Addison Reed as the eighth inning guy. Terry responded by saying, "You may be thinking about it, but I'm not thinking about it." I was thinking, Terry, you should be thinking about it. But then Nelson Figueroa and Keith Hernandez and (maybe?) Jim Duquette said that they agreed with Terry. And that surprised me. I thought the conventional wisdom was that you're supposed to play the hot hand in the playoffs.

I certainly rather TC didn't publicly discount it. Now he's put himself in a corner. Never let them know what you're thinking, as well as what you're not thinking.

[Edgy MD]

Even if Terry was entertaining a switch, I don't think he'd be singing about it then and there.

He could go to another guy first tonight and it not be understood as a demotion. "Clippard went last night and Schlabotnik is fresher," or "I wanted to save Clippard in case Mattingly went to a lefty."

Basically, even if he is on thin ice (which I don't particularly think he should be), it's part of Terry's job to keep him (and everybody else) confident right up to the point he falls through the ice.

[ashie62]

I do agree with Ceets that TC should play mute.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I've always thought that, "Y'know, that's certainly something to consider; we'll take a look at that" was an excellent non-answer answer to suggestions of that ilk from the press.

That said... yeah, I'm okay with Clipjoint as our LOOGY-plus, but way wary of anything beyond that, including 8th-inning duty; the behind-the-numbers numbers from the laser couple of years suggest that this last month is less bump-in-the-road or burnout, and more chickens-coming-home.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I've always thought that, "Y'know, that's certainly something to consider; we'll take a look at that" was an excellent non-answer answer to suggestions of that ilk from the press.

I was thinking along the line of, "I have confidence in both Clippard and Reed. I won't hesitate to use either one of them in a crucial spot going forward."

[Guest d'Kong76]

Ashie62 wrote: I do agree with Ceets that TC should play mute.

What did Ceets say?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

d'Kong76 wrote: Ashie62 wrote: I do agree with Ceets that TC should play mute. What did Ceets say?

I believe Ashie meant to agree with Zvon's statement. Either that or he and Ceetar or communicating telepathically.

[Edgy MD]

Picking your dude ain't as easy as all that, Reed section.