Palladino: Terry Collins, Joe Girardi Took Caution To The Extreme Last Week
By Ernie Palladino
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Between Terry Collins adopting, and then abandoning, a six-man rotation and Joe Girardi skipping Michael Pineda over his scheduled start Sunday, it seems both managers have become afflicted with a case of the crazies.
Luckily for Collins, he came out of his in time to save himself from destroying the rotation. Dillon Gee, proving again with a four-inning, four-run outing last Wednesday in San Diego that he belongs in the bullpen, was sent there after Collins ditched his idea after just one go-around. He came up with the idea for the same reason Girardi skipped his current ace in favor of CC Sabathia.
To save innings.
You see, both of these otherwise sane managers have fallen victim to the modern-day fascination over workload. Basically, it's the product of overthinking, with both Collins and Girardi taking it to the extreme.
For sure, some situations can arise that call for remedial measures such as theirs. If Girardi skipped Masahiro Tanaka down the road -- a likely possibility if the right-handers continues to pitch as well as he did in his comeback start last Wednesday -- it will be regarded as a smart move. Tanaka and his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament needs all precautions to prevent a season-ending episode.
Pineda, though, has healed beautifully from his shoulder and back issues that limited him to 76 1/2 innings last year. He has basically sailed through the beginning of the season, posting a 7-2, 3.33 mark. He has thrown hard. He has thrown comfortably.
In other words, he's perfectly healthy.
Yet Girardi skipped him Sunday because his 70 1/3 innings pitched puts him on pace for a season total of -- saints preserve us -- 210.
The pitchers of a not-so-distant era would have laughed at that number. Nolan Ryan still chuckles as he remembers the several seasons of 300-plus innings he compiled in a biblically long, Hall of Fame career.
Deep into this current age of the five-man rotation, 33 starters pitched more than 200 innings last year, with David Price and Johnny Cueto working MLB highs of 248 1/3 and 243 2/3 for Detroit and Cincinnati, respectively.
Girardi's overall goal is to limit Pineda to 200 innings, which seems overcautious at best, and counterproductive at worst. Despite Mark Teixeira's apparent power rebirth, the Yanks can ill-afford to skip their most quality pitcher without evidence of injury.
Also, there is the chance of throwing him off his rhythm. He last pitched in Seattle. He won't pitch again until Friday in Baltimore. That's 10 days of rest for a perfectly healthy arm. While it's entirely possible the extended rest won't affect Pineda in the slightest, the risk that it will is way too high.
Girardi outthought himself here.
So did Collins when he put his entire rotation in jeopardy with his six-man gambit. Like Girardi, he is mesmerized by the innings count. Yet the reason behind Matt Harvey's just-broken five-game (0-3) winless streak was not the Tommy John surgery of last season. Jon Niese is not struggling because of his usual aches and pains.
He had five physically sound starters he wanted to baby through 24 games in 25 days. So he threw Gee in there, ticked off the ultra-competitive Harvey in the process and caused himself one, big needless headache.
It was another case of overthinking. Given the state of his own terrible offense, Collins really didn't need to be tinkering with the rhythm and rest periods of his arms.
Starting pitchers always have been creatures of habit. They are less flexible than anyone thinks. They should, as much as possible, be kept in their normal rotation unless an existing condition warrants otherwise.
For Girardi and Collins to skip and extend as they did last week, well, it's just crazy.
