In case you missed it yesterday, Joe Girardi made some unusual managerial decisions. First, he removed journeyman pitcher, Jaime Garcia, with two outs in the 5th inning and one out away from notching his first Yankee win. He apparently was not happy when taken out and Girardi let him have it in the dugout for whatever he expressed either verbally or otherwise.
Then, Betances was taken out with 2 outs in the 8th inning and a runner on 1st after striking out his last batter. Girardi brought in Chapman who, of course, gave up a walk and a single for a run before notching a 4-out save. Betances did not stick around in the clubhouse afterwards.
SU has no problem with either move. Garcia allows a ridiculous number of baserunners every inning and is one of those pitchers, at this point in his career, where you need to get him out when he is facing batters for the 3rd time around. Sabathia is in the same category this season. He will be gone after this season and won’t make the post-season roster. He should be happy he’s on a contending team. As for Betances, he can’t throw his fastball for strikes and is walking a lot of batters now. Look, truth is that Chapman is no sure thing either so you try and piece things together. But when your starters go only 5 innings, you have to cover a lot of outs.
SU asks this question: statistically, aren’t you rolling the dice to assume that all of your relievers will be effective on any given day? If David Robertson is effective in a game, why not pitch him a 2nd inning? When you are trying to cover 4 innings, it feels like having all 4 relievers be on in a game is unlikely to happen.
SU has said it before: check your ego at the door. And the same goes for the batters who continue to be so bad with runners in scoring position. This will become a bigger problem in the post-season and in a Wild Card game. But at least there are meaningful games being played down the stretch with a number of youngsters ready to move up next season.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I like the idea about leaving in a reliever when things are going well. I guess the counter argument is that if you use Robertson for 2 innings then he’ll need more rest before his next appearance.
Hopefully these guys can use this as motivation. Chapman turned into a different pitcher after looking weak in the 8th and then starting the 9th with a walk. The Bullpen got active and he really turned it up a notch for the last three batters. It was good to see him respond although relievers at his price point should not require as much attention…they should figure things out on their own.
Unless Betances and Chapman have multi year deals to stay here I have no problem in letting them both go at the end of this season. Bring back Andrew Miller if possible. These two walk so many batters and are not fooling as many batters as in the past. I do like the balance of our bullpen and i’m sure we can get another solid reliever in the off season.
I wish Hicks would stay healthy. If you include Castro and Didi and maybe even Ellsbury and Gardner here are 5 contact hitters that should average between 270- 300. If Haliday is healthy again you have 3 power hitters. Toss in Headley and both Fraziers and this should be enough to compete offensively next season. I haven’t even discussed Bird because there isn’t enough to go on yet.
Side Note;
Last season there were 4 NFL teams tied for 2nd place in having back to back games in which they scored less than 20 points. Guess which team had done that 7 times in a row? ELI’s team. What does that tell you?
Ah, I see you are beating the rush to start bashing Eli! No Beckham last week and no line protection. Let’s see how he does in the home opener. When you compare him to the other QBs in the league, he is more than adequate although not a Rodgers, Brady or Brees certainly. Chapman has a 5-year, $85 million contract so you can look forward to being frustrated by him for another 4 years. Betances will be a free agent in 2019 I believe and since Randy Levine (allegedly) bashed him in the arbitration process, he may look to depart NY as someone will make him a high paid closer.
It’s all about the W and Garardi is doing a great job with what he has got.
Howard, you hit the nail right on the head talking about relief pitchers giving you two innings. With an expanded roster there is no reason to limit a reliever. You can always give him the next day off. Do whatever it takes to get the W today. Worry about tomorrow tomorrow. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!
Long suffering Jets fan here and it is hard to believe the team may even be worse than anticipated. We need a little luck but maybe this will be the year we finally draft a franchise changing QB.
The Giants offensive line is so offensive! The GM should be fired for not improving a unit that has been terrible for 2 years. They are wasting the last few good years of Eli by not protecting him at all. They can’t block the rush or open a lane for the running backs. They stink! The rest of the team looks like a contender so trade a few picks and pick up at least two competent linemen. Leaving the same unit and expecting different results is insanity.
Jeff, there is no excuse in the NFL to be bad for as long as the Jets have been. Everyone operates under the salary cap; it’s not acceptable to be this bad this season. And as you know, drafting the franchise QB is always a crapshoot – just not guarantees.