Great 2nd guess by David Cone on today’s Yankee broadcast. David Robertson pitching in the bottom of the 8th inning. Second and third, 2 outs and Yankees ahead 4-3. Boone elects to walk Donaldson to pitch to Smoak with the bases loaded who had homered his last at bat. Cone says right away: bad move; “I don’t like it.” “It’s a mistake to make the pitcher have to throw with the bases loaded.”
Boom: grand slam on a 3-2 pitch.
Welcome to managing in New York. But of course, he will communicate well to Robertson when he gets to the dugout and will no doubt give him a big hug. Somewhere Joe Girardi is smiling.
SU knows it’s early but the Yankees’ dominant right-handed line up pounded out 4 hits through 8 innings. It’s a long season.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I was yelling as well.
And congrats re Ben….
Phil
Sent from my iPad
I’m with with Cone, I didn’t like the move. But the numbers for Donaldson and Smoak vs. Robertson gave Boone a pretty compelling reason to make the move he did. Girardi’s binder would have presented the same stats. Would Joe have acted differently? Hard to say.
Still, watching Smoak’s at bat, Robertson actually came within fractions of an inch of striking Smoak out twice. Credit Smoak for barely fouling off two pitches that would have been strike three and hanging in there.
Looking at how the inning unfolded, the bigger issue was letting Toronto get runners on 2nd and 3rd with less than two out. That’s what made the situation a tough one. The walk to Donaldson has to be viewed as a reaction to a tough situation as much as the cause of one.
Back to Cone’s point, he was reacting to how it would feel to be the pitcher in that situation. This is what gets lost in so much of the data driven decision making. The players have to perform and sometimes they can perform better with a margin for error. To analyze that situation with data, you would need a sample of Robertson vs. Smoak with the bases loaded, two outs and a one-run lead late in the game. Until you have meaningful data on that situation (and you never will), you don’t really have useful data. I also started thinking about Cone understanding the pitchers’ mindset and, while I’m sure there have been some, I couldn’t think of a single pitcher who made the transition to manager.
And overall, the bullpen has not looked great. This is supposed to be a strength.
Bud Black was manager of the Padres and Roger Craig managed the Giants. Even Larry Rothschild managed the Rays at one point. But more catchers become managers vs. pitchers.