DKH
The Bergeron of HF
- Feb 27, 2002
- 74,358
- 52,419
I watch MLB Now with Brian Kenny and the panel discussion that included Al Leiter & John Hart long time GM said Kershaw coming in was agreed that day hours before the gameAbsolutely possible. What makes me think wasn't only a manager's decision is that he mentioned Kelley throwing well and only throwing 10 pitches the inning before. If the manager likes the stuff of the pitcher, he's going to go with him regardless of the number of pitches (provided he's not well over 100 or something crazy like that). Mentioning the low number of pitches is something a stat crunching asshat would use to justify their logic for a move that's outside the box, imo.
But either way, Roberts and the front office have shown they're all in on analytics and are in agreement, which makes Roberts eschewing them to go with his gut in the biggest moment of the year something I just don't see being accurate. It makes zero sense.
they got into a long discussion on Kenley Jansen non usage
What was outstanding was they brought back the previous days Leiter & Hart takes and both said do not pitch Kershaw early and play the way you won 106 games
I think Smoltz was the one who said if it goes to extra innings you can use a starter
both provided reasoning why you don’t pitch Kershaw and go with the lefty kid they brought up if they need a lefty on lefty
they said ideally if you get 6 or 7 out of Buehler you go with Baez & Jansen to close out