Why Bobby Cox can’t (and won’t) start Conrad in Game 4
Managerial mercy required. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Well, I’ve slept on it (though not well), and I’ve decided: Bobby Cox cannot start Brooks Conrad in Game 4 of the NLDS tonight. This has nothing to do with baseball strategy. It has everything to do with human kindness.
Brooks Conrad is a journeyman whose journey has led him into the wilderness, and he can see no way home. It’s incumbent on someone (meaning Cox) to come rescue him. It isn’t that Conrad has developed Steve Sax/Chuck Knoblauch Disease, where he can’t throw straight. Poor Brooks is so confused he can’t even think straight.
We saw it last night even at those times he wasn’t making an error. He looked to second base before throwing — accurately — to first base, and in the game’s strangest moment he called off Derrek Lee to run over and catch a pop that should have been the first baseman’s all along. It isn’t that Conrad isn’t trying. On the contrary, he’s trying so hard he can barely remember where to stand.
Credit Conrad for facing reporters after the worst postseason game any Brave has ever had. (Let’s recall that Lonnie Smith ducked out after stopping at second base in the Metrodome in 1991.) But now it’s up to Cox. He has to do the right thing: He has to bench Brooks.
If that means playing Troy Glaus at third base and letting San Francisco bunt three times an inning, so be it. (The Giants are starting Madison Bumgarner, who’s a lefthander, so having Glaus at third — as opposed to Eric Hinske — makes a bit of tactical sense.) Omar Infante can move back to second, and Conrad can go back to being a pinch-hitter.
The important thing is to get Conrad in the dugout. He’s doing no one any good at second base, himself least of all. (His evocative postgame words: “I wish I could dig a hole and sleep in it.”) And there’s no percentage in inflicting further indignity on the tough little guy whose big hits helped get the Braves beyond Game No. 162.
He’s doing his best, but at the moment his best isn’t very good. I’m not certain what Bobby Cox will decide, but if I’m anything of a Bobby reader after 25 years of study, I’d say he’d made up his mind last night. This would not be a punitive benching, a Charlie-Finley-trying-to-deactivate-Mike-Andrews-in-the-World-Series thing. This would be an act of mercy.
Update: The Braves have announced their lineup for tonight’s game. Glaus is starting at third base. Conrad isn’t starting.
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800 comments Add your comment
David
October 11th, 2010
11:18 am
Brooks is CONFUSED? You catch the ball or field the ball, and throw it to first. I learned that when I was three years old!
Earl Weaver
October 11th, 2010
11:19 am
Maybe Cox will bring Conrad in to pitch in a save situation in the top of the ninth.
chillahill43
October 11th, 2010
11:19 am
and bench ROY who should have called him off on the second error or who should have been busting it to make the catch in the 9th or who has exactly the same number of hits it october that I do (zero) and then bench your All Star catcher for calling a hanging slider on a 2 strike count where the man has just shown you he cant hit the heater (1996 Yankees mean anything to ya about using your 2nd best pitch) Or howz about benching all your right handed hitters when they pitch a left.. This from the HOF manager that always uses percentages. Or hows about benching an offense that had gotten exactly 3 hits (one from our pitcher) in two of the first three games. really we need to bench the Hitting coach that refuses to talk to these guys about thinking about not swinging at every 53 foot bouncer to the plate. Hell lets bench the manager that pulled out our closer. Well he is our closer now that our True closer is hurt… Plenty of reason to bench and moan… Go play the Game.. There are reasons that some people are fill ins… There are reasons that people rise to the level of their incompentency. There is plenty of blame to go around.. The manager may need to look in the mirror.
reckingball
October 11th, 2010
11:20 am
How many people think that when Cox is ejected, Chino makes all of the decision for the remainder of the game, from that point on?
Chief Knockahoma X
October 11th, 2010
11:20 am
Cox should have let Kimbrel win or lose the game. My bet is that he would have won it, and Conrad wouldn’t been goat. Chop!
Larvell Blanks
October 11th, 2010
11:21 am
Karl Childers 10:07 – “If our all-star catcher had simply called for three more 95 mile-per-hour fastballs up in the strike zone, Buster never would have hit the ball anywhere. Instead he decided to speed up Buster’s bat by calling for Kimbrel to throw a slider.”
1. It would have been difficult for Kimbrel to throw a 95 mph fastball to Posey, since he was in the dugout at the time. The angle would have been all wrong.
2. I suppose McCann could have called for a 95 mph fastball from Moylan, who was actually on the mound at the time, but I doubt he would have gotten it. Even if he called it three times.
3. He did in fact get an easy ground ball, which is basically Moylan’s raison d’etre. (Of course, if you’re going to bring in your ground ball pitcher, it might help to have a ground ball fielder in the game, but that’s a Bobby issue, not a McCann issue).
4. Other than that, everything you said is right on.
Karl Childers
October 11th, 2010
11:22 am
Phillistein, is it better to throw a guy a pitch he has not come close to hitting or throw him something slower? Seems very obvious to me. Are you saying that since Buster can’t catch up to the high fastballs you would throw him an off-speed pitch so he’ll hit a ground ball to your patchwork infield? Thanks, but I’ll take my chances with the strikeout. And, by the way, that grounder wasn’t “induced” it was hammered. McCann screwed the pooch.
Chief Knockahoma X
October 11th, 2010
11:22 am
Let Conrad play the first six innings and then replace him. We need his bat. He will homer tonight. Chop!
John
October 11th, 2010
11:23 am
fine- Ross, Hernandez, or anyone eles at third- Conrad has the Steve Sax disease and it will not be majically cured- do something. Also Sanchez wasn’t close to getting around on Kimbrel’s fastball- why Wohlers it and throw an offspeed pitch?
JC Boscan IV
October 11th, 2010
11:24 am
Wow…with the hateful comments toward Conrad on here from Braves “fans”, maybe he could retract his 2 grandslams, his 6 other homers, his suicide squeeze bunt that beat the Twins earlier this year, etc. He clearly needs a break – his fielding problems are mental now. People should get off of his back. Heyward should have called for the ball that Conrad was given an error on. Heyward had been hurt on the previous play, but if he wasn’t healthy enough to play RF, he should have been replaced. Like someone else said, Heyward could have caught the triple if he’d taken the right path to the ball when it was hit. If he had, that runner would never had been on base to score.
Glaus was a World Series MVP, and his experience could have made a difference in this series, espcially if our “run-producers” are going to continue to fail to hit. If Heyward can go hitless, let Glaus and Hinske try to do better than that!!! Glaus showed leadership in Friday night’s game, telling his infielders what he was going to do if the ball was hit to him, and he did it, saving that game. Maybe there are a couple of big hits left in his bat……….
David
October 11th, 2010
11:24 am
Why does everyone feel sorry for Conrad? Does anyone feel sorry for surgeon’s when their mistakes kill patients? “Oh Dr. Smith is all heart and he was trying really hard. And the only reason he had the opportunity to do this surgery is because he saved the patient before, so obviously it is his right to kill the patient…”
tim
October 11th, 2010
11:25 am
This team has lost 3 All-Stars (Chipper, Prado, Wagner), still trying to find a left fielder, a worn out rookie right fielder, a piece meal infield, an extremely young bullpen, and 2 of their starters (Jurrjens and Medlin) are gone, and their lefty out of the bullpen (O’Flaherty) is out. So…..if someone told me this in April, and that we would still be playing baseball in October, I would have taken that every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Am I frustrated? Sure, all Braves fans are frustrated. But, this has been a hell of a ride, and the future is looking bright again for this team. Bring in Freddi Gonzalez to coach it next year, and lets see what we can do.
reckingball
October 11th, 2010
11:26 am
Canrad has been a great player for the Braves, coming off the bench.
He doesn’t deserve to be booed.
I just don’t think that there are many managers in MLB, that would have started him at 2nd yesterday.
I was even supprised when Cox started him.
Skip
October 11th, 2010
11:26 am
Bobby Cox is the moron here, does he get a bonus for every pitching change he makes?…taking Kimbrel out for Dunn may be the worst decision of the last 10 years for the Braves, Kimbrell’s fastball was working, he had 2 outs and was our best chance to get the strikeout we needed. Instead he brings in a cold Dunn with lesser stuff in the most pivitol situation, Kim brell had 4 batters under his belt, had shaken off any jitters he might have had and gets pulled because a lefty WHO HITS FOR A BETTER AVERAGE AGAINST LEFTIES is coming up! All of this is done when we are thin in the bullpen….sure lets burn 4 pitchers in the ninth as we out think ourselves….dumbo move Bobby, so what was the plan if we went into extra innings, bring in Ankiel? Why can I figure this out from section 417 but Bobby can’t figure it out in the dugout with every chart known to man? If Kimbrell was left in and gave up the big hit nobody would have questioned it, he was our best chance to close out teh game….Period!
Earl Weaver
October 11th, 2010
11:27 am
Tim: Right on.
Earl Weaver
October 11th, 2010
11:28 am
Reckingball: Totally agreed. I’ll never be a “Bobby Basher.” I mean, come on. A moron? Yeah, Bobby knows NOTHING about baseball. Right. But it did perplex me that he had Conrad in there in the 9th.
Ted Turner's mustache
October 11th, 2010
11:29 am
They need to sit Brooks. God bless his heart, anybody who plays sports has been there. You make a mistake, then another, and then you start to get jumpy and anxious, and that little voice inside of you starts saying “please don’t hit it to me.”
The throat gets dry, the palms get sweaty, the eyes twitch. It’s a terrible feeling. It’s Nick Anderson shooting airballs from the foul line in the ‘95 NBA Finals. It’s Dustin Johnson on Sunday at this year’s US Open slicing tee shots into the next county. It’s Kerry Collins in the 2000 Super Bowl throwing the ball to the Ravens, again and again.
He needs to sit until this passes. He simply CANNOT play the field right now. Any games with the Giants figure to be tense, low scorng affairs. Another error would kill us and would destroy the young man’s future.
He is having, let’s be honest, maybe the worst playoff series by a position player in MLB Playoff history. Four errors in three games. A popped up Bunt. A .100 average. Its just brutal to watch.
Start Diory Hernandez at second, or third, play Infante at the other, and pray for a few timely hits.
If there is any justice in the universe, Conrad will come off the bench to hit a three-run homer off “the freak” in Game Five to win the series. Wouldn’t that be something?
GSU Eagle 91
October 11th, 2010
11:29 am
I still think we can win the series…Just get the bats going somehow, and get an early lead on SF…No matter what happens I will give BC credit for the walk off hits he had that enabled us to BE in the postseason…
Winner of this series is going to be steamrolled by the Phillies in 4 or 5….
coach joe
October 11th, 2010
11:29 am
Win tonight and its a five game series just like everyone thought.. NOONE is hitting the ball. If not for our good pitching, we’d be out already.. Bobby is too loyal but thats life.
Win tonight and we move on to another night. anything can happen..Please hit the ball..
Poor Conrad… Go Braves..
John
October 11th, 2010
11:29 am
good to hear from Sugar Bear @ 11:21- can you strap ‘em on and be ready tonight?
Bryan
October 11th, 2010
11:30 am
I’ve been there. You screw up one play, so you just HAVE to redeem yourself. And so you push…and what happens? You overreach, you try to do too much, you forget the fundamentals in trying to do something amazing. You get caught up in trying to show everyone that you’re not the idiot that just made an error, but rather the amazing fielder that you know in your heart that you are. You try to balance out the awful play with an amazing play — and instead you make several more awful plays.
That first error? Totally the right-fielder’s ball — but Conrad was going to make an amazing play, throw out the runner, etc. He was going to show everyone that he was a solid fielder — he was going to do the amazing. And…well, it turned out how it always turns out. After that, it was all downhill — after that, his mind just couldn’t let him do the little things, because it was trying to do the amazing. And you just can’t play good baseball that way.
That’s not an indictment of the guy — it can happen to anyone. In fact, it happens more to the guys who really care — the guys that give 110%. If you don’t care, then the ball goes by you and you just shrug and catch the next one. It’s only if you care a LOT that you get caught in this trap of always wanting to redeem yourself for the last mistake. And you can’t blame a guy for caring too much.
So it’s not like he’s a bad guy for getting stuck in this mental trap — quite the opposite. But at the same time, he’s totally stuck — he’s only going to keep getting worse until he has time to step back and just play ball again. You have to sit him until he can hit that “reset button.”
Skeezix
October 11th, 2010
11:30 am
I still can’t believe what I saw last night.
Supes
October 11th, 2010
11:31 am
Brooks Conrad should NEVER field any position for the Braves ever again. Pinch hit only, pinch run, and if no other choice, then field a position (as long as he is with the Braves). There is a reason why is a 30 year old journey man type minor leaguer. He can’t play consistently good enough defense to stay in the big leagues and his bat is pretty average. He pinched hit above his head all season long and had some huge hits, but he’s made many errors when in the field (not just last night’s game).
I wonder if the old senile fool will start him today, that would be a great way to end his Braves tenure…epic fail again.
Skeezix
October 11th, 2010
11:31 am
I still can’t believe what I saw last night!
Earl Weaver
October 11th, 2010
11:32 am
When we used to play softball, sometimes, after we’d each had about 4 to 12 beers, we’d just mix up the line up in the most absurd of ways. I think it would be mildly funny if Cox did that tonight. The lineup:
C – Brooks Conrad
1B – Johnny Venters
2B – Kyle Farnsworth
3B – Chipper Jones (why not?)
SS – Jayson Heyward
LF – Omar Infante (this may actually work. Dude can play anywhere)
CF – Derrick Lee
RF – Alex Gonzales
P – Brian McCann
If nothing else, it would be entertaining.
Don
October 11th, 2010
11:32 am
Once again, the MVP for the opposing team was our own Bobby Cox.
Clarence
October 11th, 2010
11:33 am
When you make 3 errors in 1 game, is that bad?
thickfreakness
October 11th, 2010
11:33 am
Mark-
He couldn’t do it for Norton, so what makes you think he’ll do it for Conrad. It is extremely important for Bobby to be correct and not be second quessed. Don’t be suprised if Conrad is back out there for Bobby’s redemption and not Conrads. This riff with Wren the past 3 years has really hampered Bobby’s ability to manage this team in a professional way.
Sam
October 11th, 2010
11:33 am
agree. Thought he should have been replaced earlier. It was apparent that his nerves were getting the best of him. He can still hit but get him off the infield. Work with him in the Spring to become a better/confident infielder. Now is not the time.
NEW CARS
October 11th, 2010
11:33 am
Mark,
I know this is off subject, but did anyone else have flashbacks of Wohlers-Leyritz in 1996 when Kimbrel threw that slider to Sanchez. If we could have one do-over for the whole season I think McCann is calling for the heat up in the zone. I don’t know why other teams constantly do that to us, but we seem to feel that our power arms have got to get folks out with the breaking stuff. Sanchez would have sat down and we would be up 2-1 and ready to win out. Then Huff was sitting on an 0-1 slider and hammered it, like Ibanez did a couple of weeks ago. Go up in the zone with that cheese and then throw hook off the plate. I was disappointed in the outcome, but I’m still proud of all my boys for the effort this year.
I would like to see Glaus at 3b today, maybe we break out and score 5-6 and give Bobby at least one more road trip.
reckingball
October 11th, 2010
11:33 am
David@11;24……Have you heard about anyone having a stroke or heart
attack, and dropping down dead, while watching the Braves game yesterday?
It’s only baseball.
Captain Of Section 423
October 11th, 2010
11:34 am
Mark, you are absolutely right. I feel terrible for Conrad. I think that this has gotten into his head more and more as the errors mounted up and it has been a snowball effect. I think that he is a very good baseball player, but Bobby needs to do the right thing for the team and for Conrad.
Earl Weaver
October 11th, 2010
11:34 am
All of this is moot. No WAY does Conrad play in the field today. No way. Not even worth discussion.
tim
October 11th, 2010
11:35 am
….and to continue my rant, this is like a team coming out of spring training looking for parts to put together a team that can contend for a post-season spot. Stop bitching about Bobby, Brooks, Heyward (wow, how can ANYONE be critical of the ‘Say Hey’ kid???), the bullpen, and everything else and just think about what this team has accomplished. NO ONE had this team contending back in April, and they were in first place as late as September! Chill folks, and look at the glass as being half full.
Earl Weaver
October 11th, 2010
11:36 am
reckingball@11:33: True dat. Horrible analogy. And yes, I DO feel bad for surgeons who lose patients – as long as it wasn’t pure incompetence.
Larvell Blanks
October 11th, 2010
11:37 am
Karl Childers 11:22 – “And, by the way, that grounder wasn’t ‘induced’ it was hammered. McCann screwed the pooch.”
Dude, when you’re in a hole, quit digging. Hammered? I’m looking at the replay right now – it was a slow tapper he reached out and poked to the second baseman. And I’m still waiting for you to explain how McCann could have called for a 95 mph fastball from a guy sitting in the dugout.
Kentavo
October 11th, 2010
11:37 am
On the bright side; look at all these rookies getting playoff experience. With an offensive upgrade (a real one, not a Glaus-like bargain bin one), shedding of some dead wood (KK, McClouth and Melky come to mine), and we’re back in bizness.
I’d keep Ankiel for 4th OF role, non-tender Diaz and go hard after Crawford and/or Werth.
Re-sign Hinkse now!
Oh yeah, get a real back-up 3rd baseman; Wiggington?
But we HAVE to get a legit cleanup hitter.
Skeezix
October 11th, 2010
11:38 am
Mark: The darn AJC blog system is eating posts again!
MeaneyMouse
October 11th, 2010
11:38 am
Sorry dude. Gotta bench ya. You gave us many thrills and chills with your game winning homer and other homers during the season. But you have made 2many errors. Hope you overcome this and I do beleive you will overcome this. Still hope you remain on the Braves. GoBraves. Beat SanFran!!
David
October 11th, 2010
11:39 am
@reckingball….yep, only baseball, and conrad is making WAY more than surgeons, or any other person in the medical field whose mess ups cost lives. you do your job or you go home. he isn’t doing his job. cox isn’t doing his job. period. why do tickets to the game cost so much? so they can pay this yahoo half a million dollars to lose games. that’s why.
Grace
October 11th, 2010
11:40 am
Sit him out, and if anything, let him pinch hit. At this point he’s a major head case. The pitchers will have no confidence with him attempting to remember how to play defense.
Abner Doubleplay
October 11th, 2010
11:40 am
tim, Bingo! What most of the freelance fans do not realize is, there are no “do overs” in baseball, especially when down 2 games to 1 in a three out of five post-season series. You put the best line-up on the field and you make adjustments as the game progresses. You armchair managers – Bradley included – don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. Errors happen, walks happen, whiff with RISP happen, and Bobby Cox hasn’t thrown a pitch, taken an at bat, or fielded a ground ball in 40 years. It’s the difference between watching a MLB game and managing one. Ditto the Conrad-bashers. He’s in the show, and the reason they call it “the show” is because people like you pay to watch it.
David
October 11th, 2010
11:40 am
They have come this far with what they have left from April. Injuries and some bad trades and still made it. Cut em some slack.
Kentavo
October 11th, 2010
11:41 am
OK, I just saw Ankiel has a $6 mil option; scrap that.
da roosta
October 11th, 2010
11:41 am
You absolutely bench him and have him pinch hit when needed. He is a professional baseball player making errors. GET IT RIGHT OR GET WHAT YOU DESERVE! Go Braves! Do the right thing!
SadDawg
October 11th, 2010
11:41 am
I hope Conrad hits the game-winning homer tonight, AGAIN.
Sweet Old Buck
October 11th, 2010
11:43 am
Glaus at third. Infante at second. Hinske in left field. This is it. No time left for Cox stragegy.
Skip
October 11th, 2010
11:44 am
Its sad when the oil change company who gives discounts based on how many runs the Braves score is making out better sponsoring the Braves then they would have sponsoring the Thrashers.
Its just as sad when no sportswriter in this town will call out Bobby Cox for over managing yet again, every article is about Conrad who is the more dramatic and obvious story, but any true baseball fan who was there knows Bobby’s pitching changes were the real reason we lost.
reckingball
October 11th, 2010
11:45 am
Was Conrad a yahoo when he came off the bench and hit a walkoff grand slam?
He should of have been on the bench, and used to pinch hit, not starting the game.
Keith
October 11th, 2010
11:45 am
Re: David
Your analogy is not only a terrible example, it’s morbid and tasteless.