A Whole Lot of Dumb Going On

For all the college degrees associated with analytics, it still makes for a lot of dumb baseball, like the idea of carrying thirteen pitchers on a 26-player roster. That leaves a four-player bench, which is sort of like having four sips of water left in your canteen for a hike through Death Valley. Yesterday, White Sox manager New-Mickey Venable took his four gulps way too early, and his team paid for it. Down a run in the eighth yesterday in Texas, Venable opted to pinch-run for catcher Edgar Quero, who’d opened the inning with a single. It was a decision both odd and dumb. First off, the 22-year old Quero doesn’t even look like a catcher, which means he doesn’t run like one either, as evidenced by his twelve stolen bases in A-Ball three years ago. Second, Venable should’ve thought twice about lifting Quero because Kyle Teel, his other catcher, was DH’ing. You know what that meant, right? Teel came into catch, and the pitcher hit in Quero’s spot. Reliever Tyler Alexander grounded out to end the tenth inning with the go-ahead run on second. Wait, there’s more. The Rangers actually gave Luis Robert Jr. a two-out intentional walk in the eleventh inning. Why? Because that brought Vinny Capra to the plate, and he did not disappoint, the Rangers, that is. Capra flied out, and Texas won on a two-out walk-off single from Adolis Garcia. I would’ve walked Garcia to pitch to Jonah Heim, who was 0-for-5 on the day, but what do I know? Then again, what does GM Chris Getz know? Before the game, Getz sent down Tim Elko and replaced him with Ryan Noda. Elko is 26-years old, Noda 29. Elko is a career .291 hitter in the minors to .255 for Noda, who hit sixteen homers with 54 RBIs and a .229 BA for the A’s in 2023. After yesterday’s 0-for-3 debut, Noda has a .210 career BA. He’s not the future. Who/what is? Miguel Vargas at first and Bryan Ramos at third, or Vargas at third and Ryan Galanie at first. Who’s Galanie? He’s the first baseman at Double-A Birmingham, with seven homers, 52 RBIs and a .302 BA, that’s who. He and/or Ramos should be here, not Noda.