Good Call, Trey. Wait...I mean good call, John.

One of the most vital roles a manager plays during the game is how to manage his bullpen. Putting in specific pitchers in different situations is vital for success. In my opinion, this is one of Trey Hillman's biggest weaknesses. Specifically, I'm referring to his reluctance to use Joakim Soria, our best reliever, outside of the 9th inning.

This is a part of modern baseball wisdom that most sabermatricians disagree with. For some reason, managers in today's game will not bring out their closer if it is not the 9th inning. In reality, you should use your best reliever whenever the situation dictates. When you need a critical out in the 7th or 8th, why keep your best guy in your pocket?

To totally illustrate my point, I'd like to point to the series the Royals played against the Rays from July 17th to July 19th, shortly after I started my boycott. The Royals led each of the 3 games in the series going into the 8th inning. However, in each of the games, they blew the lead in the 8th. And, in each game, they did not bring in Soria to try to hold the lead in the 8th. So we blew every game that weekend without using our best reliever at all. He was then brought in 3 days later against the Angels late in a 10-2 blowout loss. The point is, since we blew the lead in the 8th, there was no lead for Soria to hold in the 9th. Put him in the game in the 8th, and maybe we win one or more of those games.


So I was shocked last night when I saw the Royals bring in Soria in the 8th inning last night holding a 4-2 lead with 2 runners on and 0 outs. I immediately thought, "Maybe Trey finally gets it." Then I remembered, Trey Hillman was not managing the team last night. He was away from the team with a family matter. Bench Coach John Gibbons was the man who made the call. Soria came in the game, and while he did allow 1 inherited runner to score, he got us out of the 8th with a lead. We won the game 4-3. But the point is not even that we won. It is that Gibbons made the correct strategic move and put in the pitcher that gave us the best chance to win in that situation. Big props.

I hope Trey Hillman will learn something from John Gibbons in managing this type of situation. Don't waste your closer by keeping him on your bench if he can get you a win.