Pardon the long headline. It’s time for a rant.
The other day I was driving to work. Sirius XM’s Fantasy radio voice Chris Liss was talking about something that’s really been bothering me: the amount of days off that player in baseball are getting this year. Here’s what I am feeling about this – and last night Joe Girardi sat Aaron Judge. It is an example of a situation that has just become the new-norm in baseball. Rest, rest, rest.
Managers in the big leagues are out of control with the whole “rest” thing. It’s stupid. It was stupid last night in Houston with Joe Girardi sitting Aaron Judge with the idea of keeping him ‘fresh’. If it would have worked out and the Yankees won (they didn’t, Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman blew the game and they lost 7-6), it was still stupid.
You don’t sit him against Houston, under any circumstance. He was the Designated Hitter the night prior. He’s 25, and a strapping lad. All teams have off days. How much rest do you need? It’s stupid and my frustration pertains to the way every team in the big leagues does things now. The new norm is ridiculous. These guys are so coddled. And don’t get me wrong; it certainly isn’t Aaron Judge’s fault or the other guys who sit routinely for “rest”. It’s baseball season and if you’re healthy they should play them 160. I’m sorry, but I’m not buying that a day off is going to swing his speed up.
Sitting out the game really doesn’t equate to much rest anyway when you still have to go to the park, take warm ups, and sit on the bench. Again, Judge was the Yankees’ DH the prior two days for ‘added rest’, and he pinch hit last night anyway, so what did he save versus a 3rd day at DH? Three AB’s? Wow, what a rejuvenation.
It’s made even dumber by the fact they were playing the Astros, they are slipping in the standings, several other big bats are on the DL, the All-Star break is coming up and while he will be involved, it still provides some rest days, and while minor, it still sucks, he had a 32-game on base streak snapped by getting only one pinch hit AB.
There are other situations with other nuances that are driving me nuts of course. If this was an isolated incident, I would not be doing this post. But guys like Brandon Drury sit more than Franklin D. Roosevelt did during his presidency. Yonder Alonso fouls a ball off his leg, and he’s out for four damn days. Corey Seager gets ‘a hamstring cramp’ and then even when the team doctor deems him healthy and he’s sat out five days; he’s got to play every other day because he needs his rest.
There are no every down backs anymore in the game of baseball and it makes me sick. It’s easily one of the worst things in the game today, and it’s become accepted by far too many people around the game and fans alike.
When you buy a ticket to a baseball game – you have no way of even knowing if the player who was the reasoning behind buying the ticket is truly even going to be in the damn lineup.
If guys are healthy: it’s baseball season. It’s 162 games. You want to let them ‘rest’ for two of them and play in 160 games, fine. Otherwise, get their asses out there and let us make some hay, will you? I just want players to play, it’s that simple.
