La Russa’s spring double standard
Kudos to Brad Thompson and Kyle McClellan, who by a couple of accounts, have made the rotation and the 25-man roster, respectively. Despite facing fewer batters than their competition, the two pitchers are 1-2 on the club in pitching runs created this spring.
We take no umbrage with the club’s decision to reward mssrs. Thompson and McClellan for their spring bona fides; they’ve pitched about as well as anyone on the staff so far (see also their impressive K/G and K/BB numbers). But the weightiness of spring stats for pitchers seems to run counter to the way La Russa views batting stats in the same period.
Before now, we wouldn’t have cried foul about such offensive stars as Colby Rasmus and Joe Mather being left to refine their craft in Triple-A. If spring stats don’t matter to Tony La Russa, et al, we’re not going to object. But it seems that the rule should be applied consistently: If spring performance doesn’t matter on the offensive side of the ledger, it shouldn’t matter for pitchers.
If you don’t think that a double standard exists, consider last spring’s batting stars, Edgar Gonzalez and Ryan Ludwick. Gonzalez — remember him? — tore through spring, leading the team in Gross-Production Average and RC27. Ludwick wasn’t far behind. Yet both players were ticketed for Memphis, while more veteran players with poor spring performances got the nod; indeed, Adam Kennedy and Preston Wilson started opening day night. Regardless of how things turned out for Kennedy and Wilson, preferring the veterans was at least a defensible position.
But this spring, Brad Thompson, who, based on his actual regular-season past, projects to have worse HR/G, K/G and K/BB than Anthony Reyes. Similarly, McClellan has yet to even see action in Triple-A, let alone the majors, so his spring — impressive as it is — would seem to at least be counterweighted with his lack of experience, just like with Rasmus and Mather.
If the Cardinals begin the season with Anthony Reyes in Memphis, their pitching staff is better than conventionally thought. Or, they could be making a mistake by putting spring performances ahead of experience and larger sample sizes. Again, we don’t begrudge Thompson and McClellan their success. It’s just that when it comes to the criteria for making the team, the rules of the game seem to change, especially if you’re a pitcher named Reyes.
March 25th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
You are right on the money, Pip. And I for one, am getting very tired of this double standard, as you call it. I just call it a completely inconsistent approach to handling talent. It seems that if Tony or Big Dunc like you, you’ve got it made. If they have any reservations about you, for whatever reason (either stemming from personal traits, re-action to their infallible suggestions, etc.) you’re out. Is this anyway to run a club? My God, we my as well have Guzzie Busch running the show again (can anyone say Steve Carlton) …
Overall, I like Tony La Russa. He’s a Hall of Fame manager, a shrewd thinker, and he gets wins (well, at least .548 percent of the time) … but I don’t like the way he has handled Reyes in the past … perhaps he’ll (with Mo’s help) still do the right thing by him in the future, but I don’t count on it. It’s completely a double standard, and I hope Tony is prepared to have every win Mr. Reyes procures for some potential new team waved in his face.
I’ll get off the soapbox now. Fungoes is a great site. I read it everyday, and I really appreciate your analysis and viewpoints on Cardinal issues. I’ve learned a great deal (and continue to learn) about Sabermetrics from your posts. Thanks for running such a great site!
March 26th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
well i don’t read the site every day…ahem…but i check it everyday for new articles
with that said, I’m inclined to agree that it’s unfair for LaRussa and Duncan to constantly give the shaft to Reyes. I like Reyes and think he’ll be just fine, though his battle with Duncan’s principles has gotten him in this mess. It’s not his fault he’s in this mess, nor Duncan’s really. It’s just a matter of two different philosophies clashing.
What is problematic, in my opinion, is the way TLR and Duncan handle the issue and it seems to be the same publicly and privately (though I’m not in the know). Professionalism seems a rare commodity regarding Reyes.
However, with all that said, I was hoping that Reyes wouldn’t be that good in ST and would have to use the last year of options to get consistently excellent before coming up and “showing” TLR and Dunc up (or he’d be just proving that their decision was correct). In either case, I’d like to see that last option year exercised, and am even more encouraged with how he’s pitched this spring.
Again, it gives him a chance to head back down to Memphis and blow everyone away and then come up to the bigs and see if this philosophical scuffle continues. If so, there should be many teams interested in Reyes as long as TLR and Duncan don’t trash his trade value by airing public laundry as they have with particular other players (including Reyes).
My $0.22
March 28th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I think you guys are right in pointing out the unprofessionalism here. At the very least, it certainly represents the same kind of lack of coyness that led La Russa to his ridiculous winter-meetings remarks about Rolen. I’ve called TLR a thuglike authoritarian in the past, and it seems like he and Duncan have gone about the Reyes situation as if to show who’s in control. The reality of whether Reyes plays in AAA or MLB is kind of beside the point — if they took the same tack as they have with, say, Ramus — “no need to rush him” — as opposed to the negative — “He needs to work on some stuff before he’s ready” — the whole situation would’ve had a different tone. That is, instead of always beating the guy down, they could’ve come across as instilling confidence in the player, as well as to those outside the organization, who would see a precious pitching commodity rather than damaged goods.
Oh, and thanks a lot for the props. It’s a great encouragement to keep going (and maybe even post more often
).