MILWAUKEE -- Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon often says he doesn’t mind being second-guessed. In fact, he says he likes the “barroom” arguments that come along with sports.
So let’s do some second-guessing as Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in 11 innings is ripe for another look.
Pulling starter Kyle Hendricks after 5 1/3 IP: Maddon's quick hook has been a season-long trend and is a worthy discussion topic. It directly affects the outcomes of games and potentially taxes a bullpen. Hendricks had thrown 85 pitches and was leading 1-0 with one out in the sixth inning after giving up five hits and two walks. Ryan Braun had just hit a solid single to left, but Hendricks then got Adam Lind on a fly ball.
After Lind flied out, Maddon pulled Hendricks in favor of Justin Grimm to start the parade to the bullpen early once again. Grimm got out of a jam that he helped create after walking a hitter, but Zac Rosscup gave up back-to-back home runs to Martin Maldonado and Elian Herrera in the next inning and the Brewers never trailed again. Maddon’s move lengthened the game for the bullpen.
“Before we took him [Hendricks] out, Herrera hit the ball hard, [Matt] Garza hit the ball hard, [Hector] Gomez hit the ball hard, [Scooter] Gennett hit the ball hard, [Ryan] Braun hit the ball hard, {Adam] Lind hit the ball hard,” Maddon said. “OK? For those that are paying attention.”
Maybe so, but hard-hit contact is part of Hendricks' game. You can’t just reel off hitters that made good contact without considering if it’s “normal” or if it’s because the pitcher is tiring. If hard contact was the sole criteria for Hendricks, he wouldn’t be starting in the big leagues. There’s no arguing he was probably not as sharp in the sixth inning as he was in the third, but what pitcher is? It was a 1-0 game.
“I really felt strongly about [Rosscup] right there,” Maddon stated. “That’s one thing I didn’t see coming, a couple of home runs from the bottom of the batting order against him. He’s been throwing the ball so well. You have to give them credit.”
Rosscup is good enough against lefties but against righties he’s just OK, with a career .232 batting average against and three home runs in 69 at-bats coming into the game. But Rosscup might be Maddon’s favorite new guy.
“I have so much faith in Rosscup,” he said. “By the end of the season, he’s going to show you how good he is. I think that’s an anomaly moment right there. The way that played out is really unpredictable. You would have to bet they [might] get a hit, it’s not going to be back-to-back homers.”
As for Hendricks, he’s the last person on the team to criticize his manager, but there’s little doubt how he felt after being pulled.
“Any time you get taken out of a game you never want to come out, but in that situation that’s just Joe,” Hendricks said. “It’s his philosophy.
“He knows I’m strong enough. I can go deeper in a game. He knows that, but I have all the faith in the bullpen. And the way I’ve been throwing lately, I haven’t been getting anyone out so obviously trust can’t be there.”
At least Hendricks understood he has been struggling, but what could have been the ultimate confidence boost for Hendricks turned into a deflating situation. How about the manager letting him pitch with a shutout going? Especially with a fatigued and struggling bullpen.
We can argue other moves made earlier in the week when Maddon pulled his starters against the St. Louis Cardinals with a lead or in a tie game, but at least Travis Wood and Hendricks were both struggling at the time. Between Sunday’s quick hook and an early exit for Jason Hammel on Friday, Maddon is proving he likes to go to the bullpen before it’s too late. Of course, that makes sense. But is it too early?
Hitting for Montero: With the go-ahead run at third base and two outs in the eighth inning, Maddon hit for Miguel Montero with lefty Will Smith on the mound. Montero had homered earlier in the game, but Maddon chose righty Matt Szczur to bat instead. Szczur struck out.
“That guy is really tough off lefties,” Maddon said. “I thought the righty had a better chance to move the baseball.”
To be fair, Montero is 0-for-5 with five strikeouts against Smith so now it comes down to having faith in a righty rookie or going against the numbers.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Montero said. “He told me in spring training I might get hit for against lefties.”
The Montero argument might not have a right answer. Only in hindsight or using “outcome bias” -- as Maddon likes to say -- can we attack the move.
But pulling starting pitchers earlier than needed is a major philosophical issue. The Cubs have lost three games just this week when it came into play, and nearly lost a fourth. As stated previously, some moves are more obvious than others. The Hammel and Hendricks starts qualify as the latter. Until Maddon has some bullpen arms he can trust, he needs to instead trust his starting pitcher. They wouldn’t mind feeling that trust as well.