I spend a lot of my spare energy trying to defend Stephen Vogt in my mind, but I was at a loss after the Guardians’ loss on Saturday to the Twins.
Ok, so, the Guardians decided prior to the game that they wanted to get through three innings with Daniel Espino and Franco Aleman. Aleman has been the worst reliever on the roster and just got demoted today. The point of an opening reliever is to make sure a good reliever gets a chance to pitch meaningful innings, not to make sure your worst reliever faces
the bottom of the order, but ok, I get it. Aleman came in to face #8, #9 and #1. If he gets into trouble, you have Cantillo hot and get Aleman out right away.
…Except Cantillo was throwing early in the pen and Aleman just. Kept. Pitching.
Started the inning by getting a pop-out, great. But, then he allowed a homer to debuting rookie Emmanuel Rodriguez. It turns out a 95 mph fastball down the heart of the plate was a poor decision.
Luke Keaschell then followed with a 5-pitch at-bat ending in an 80 mph line drive that just fell in front of Angel Martinez. I think this is where Vogt and I diverged. Surrendering an 111 mph homer and then a weak contact single is a nightmare to a rookie pitcher like Aleman who has shown some signs of not being able to maintain composure. Maybe Cantillo was not quite ready yet, but it sure seemed like this was the moment to go and get him.
Instead, Aleman throws a wild pitch… immediately… and the surrenders a 60 mph bloop single to Brooks Lee. Now, Vogt HAS to get Aleman out. From the wild pitch to the SECOND bad-BABIP event, it’s time. Yet, Vogt trusted Aleman getting weak contact and left him in to face Kody Clemens who crushes RHP. Clemens got an 83 mph line drives single in front of Kwan to score another run. Another weak contact single. Ok, surely, this is enough. Get Cantillo in here.
Folks, Stephen Vogt left Aleman in for FOUR MORE BATTERS. I just cannot for the life of me figure out why. Yes, he struck out Josh Bell which seems to have fooled Vogt into thinking he had righted the ship. Yes, his pitch count was still low. Yes, he did not surrender a hit over 93 mph after the Rodriguez homer. It still seems unconscienable to leave Aleman in after this run of events and allow him to HIT two Twins batters before finally getting Cantillo in to end the inning. By then, the damage was done and the Twins had scored the four runs they needed to win the game.
In order for the Guardians to make the playoffs and have a chance in those playoffs, Vogt cannot afford any more of these errors. He has to adjust to the game unfolding in front of him and not allow numbers to cloud his feel for the ability of his pitchers to handle a situation, or let his ideal plan get in the way of adjusting to new circumstances.
I think, as a whole, Vogt makes great pitching decisions as far as getting guys in and out of games. I know opener games are tricky. But, I hope what happened with Aleman on Saturday was a one-time mistake and that it will not be the one game the Guardians needed to make the postseason because I still can’t quite figure out how Cleveland’s manager was the last to realize that Aleman had to be removed.
