Yesterday was the typical baseball game, until it kinda wasn’t.
The Rays were strolling through with a small lead but never faced a threat from the Mariners. Ryan Yarbrough was pitching a masterpiece, allowing only three weak hits and not letting anyone reach second base. He was well on his way to the first complete game in the franchise since 2016. Then Kevin Cash with two outs in the ninth, let me remind you, with one out left in the entire game, approaches the pitcher’s mound and replaces Yarbrough. Even the Mariners fans were booing the decision, as a young competitive pitcher was robbed of tossing his very first career complete game. Yarbrough took the decision like a champ, not making a scene or ripping apart anybody, but his anger was obvious.
Did Kevin Cash make the right call on an analytical standpoint? I mean, of course, Yarbrough was pitching amazing but was at 99 pitches, and bringing in a fresh arm to close out the final out makes sense. It’s a low-pressure situation for the closer, and it’s a low-risk move even after Seattle countered with a pinch-hitter. And we can always find an example about a manager who allowed a pitcher to try to complete a game only for everything to go off the rails----with the most famous recent example being Matt Harvey in the 2015 World Series.
However.
How can one not feel bad for Yarbrough and the Rays players? The Tampa Bay Rays 2019 season has been marred by behind-the-scenes controversy, another bottom tier ranking in attendance, injuries, ownership that has stopped making attempts at spending, and a massive blanket of uncertainty regarding the future of the franchise. Nonetheless, they remain in the Wild Card race, have played great baseball after the All-Star Break, and are good position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2013 when Joe Maddon was still manager. The players knows the culture of the Rays; winning by any means necessary, playing smallball, being strict on strategy, and having the next-man-up mentality. But there comes a point in which the locker room will be a bit perturbed at being seen as cogs of a larger machine as opposed to being a talented baseball team with each player having their unique talents that stand out.
The Rays are notorious for letting players go heartlessly because of budget and because of the culture, and it bears repeating, because of their miniscule budget further supporting the notion the ownership group have already been looking ahead to a future elsewhere. On one hand it’s been a successful system as the Rays produce competitive teams every year in spite of having one-third of the budget of a large-market team like the New York Yankees. On the other hand, we don’t have lifers, we don’t have Rays players remaining long with the franchise anymore. Even Evan Longoria, the man who gave Tampa Bay a massive hometown discount so he can remain there for life, was shipped to San Francisco.
One glaring piece of evidence towards the rather systematic and unsympathetic way the low-budget Rays treat their players is the fact that despite over two decades of baseball, only one jersey has been retired by them (Jackie Robinson, as it should be, his number is retired by Major League Baseball). Wade Boggs: who although got his 3,000th hit as a Devil Ray, only had 200-something hits while in Tampa. We lost Carl Crawford at his peak, we lost B.J. Upton, Longoria, Price, Zobrist, Rafael Soriano, and many others just as they are hitting their stride and making their marks in baseball. With more money, with perhaps more emphasis on player individuality, we’d see more players inclined to stay, we’d see a more consistent team to grow with and root for, and we’d see more players whose legacies warrants a retired jersey. Instead, we fans see ourselves rooting for a revolving door of lineups, rotations, and bullpens.
Joe Maddon left the Rays after the 2014 season because of his interest to break a notorious curse, but also simply because he was tired of competing year after year but seeing management not really make efforts to increase their odds at winning the World Series and elevate the franchise to the next vital step. Fast-forward to 2019, in which the Rays Republic are seeing more of the same: bargain bin diving to acquire underrated talent and craft a successful team with it. The dumpster dives are fine, but what good is it if we never keep the treasure we uncover?
Back to Ryan Yarbrough. He worked hard to be at this stage in his life. He has already been pitching in a great groove in his previous seven starts. He was on a complete roll, going the distance and not getting the early yanking from Kevin Cash. This might have been the game to not even have to go to the bullpen, which like I said has not happened in three entire years. He was rolling, the Rays are rolling, we are heading towards San Diego in positive spirits.
Then Cash yanks him with one measly out to go. And as a reminder, decisions like this do backfire once in a while, so imagine if the next batter hits a home run and ties the game. You probably would have had to separate Yarbrough from Cash to prevent a fistfight.
This sort of thing kills locker rooms. And seeing a previously-traded pitcher Jake Faria add salt to the wound by publicly calling out the decision speaks layers. Instead of the team rallying around a complete game masterpiece and rally around a great series, it just became another game with a bitter aftertaste, and the ramifications behind Cash’s decision might hurt in the long run. The Rays have been through hell and back this season, from the top of all of baseball down towards completely off the playoff picture.
Just let the kids play, please.