Rocco Baldelli chose to use a position player to pitch so he could save his 6-8 relievers for the next game. This is old man, outdated nonsense we're dealing with and this bozo has made a mountain out of a mole hill. He basically said he took issue with Mercedes ignoring the take sign on 3-0 but he would have been able to swing on 3-1 if he hadn't been walked on four pitches.
This is ridiculous nonsense due to antiquated baseball thinking of a person who had no business being hired in the first place. LaRussa had a rep at one point of being a player's manager in the 80s. That ceased being the case in St. Louis for some reason. Nobody in their right mind would want a guy like this with a team like this in 2021. It's mental.
They're so fun as so many of us expected they would be. They're as good as they are fun, too. Their chairman did a very dumb thing hiring his friend, who the game has passed by.
I fall somewhere in between on this one.
I hated the LaRussa hire, he definitely has cost them a few games, and I don't think he should have went after Yermin publicly. In fact, I don't agree at all with the logic that Yermin shouldn't be swinging for the fences. Whoever they had lobbing pitches out there didn't apologize for the two outs prior to Yermins AB so why the hell should Yermin not take a swing. If LaRussa wants to privately reprimand him for ignoring the sign, fair enough, but there is no reason to tell the media any of this. You can simply tell them that you'll handle it internally - next question. Tell Yermin not to ignore your signs and if you feel compelled, call Baldelli and tell him that he ignored your sign and you dealt with the issue. That's, that. And I can't think of a faster way to lose your team then to tell the media that you had no problem with the Twins throwing at one of your players. So dumb.
That said, I think some of this "old man nonsense" isn't all that bad for a young team that can win. Feel free to rip a players ass for flipping a bat, shitty on field demeanor, not running out a routine grounder, etc. I think that's fine and those small things are meaningful in terms of overall discipline, toughness, etc. And to be fair, despite being young and seemingly "fun", this team is relatively disciplined, very tough and extremely competitive. Does LaRussa play a role in that or is it just the character of the players on this team? I really don't know.
It seems like Abreu is the glue that keeps this team together. If he backs LaRussa this stuff is probably memory holed by August. If he loses Abreu, this could get real ugly.
Here's something I was pondering about the Yermin HR. What role does an incentive driven contract play in a situation like this? Let's say the Sox are down two runs and need a guy on the bases - of course the contract is irrelevant. You have to take and get on base. But this was a completely irrelevant pitch. Why should Yermin take if it could cost him money? Why wouldn't a manager let him swing away to make sure he meets goals to get paid?
