This past week was a tough one for the skipper. He seemingly took the week as an opportunity to experiment, rather than win. I guess it was because he was going against an interleague opponent, but he was not following the late Al Davis’ urge of, “Just win baby!”
I know Jimmy Rollins was unavailable for two games, so I’ll cut him so slack on that part. But he had complete control on choosing his replacement. The fact that he continues to trot out Freddy Galvis, and willingly write his name on a lineup card is a borderline disgrace to the game. Jayson Nix is not Honus Wagner, but at least gives you a chance of something happening, hitting over 100 points higher than Galvis.
It’s starting to seem like there is just some great delusion that is plaguing everyone in the organization regarding Galvis’ actual talents and Sandberg is no exception. The fact that he called for a “hit and run” with his .051 hitter speaks to how clueless he actually is in terms of his actual talent.
It’s now becoming a problem that Ruben Amaro Jr. has left him on the team, and even gives Sandberg the option of keep using him. Galvis sports the team’s lowest WAR at -0.9, which also is the absolute worst in major league baseball.
That being the case, it was ridiculous that Sandberg hit Galvis in the top of the order, batting him second against Toronto on Monday.
Slow Down there, Chief: Why in the world would Ryne Sandberg spend a challenge in the Top of the 2nd inning that was so minimal, so pointless and so borderline on Sunday? Never mind the fact that the play was pretty clear, the Phillies surrendered an infield single. He is not the one that is reviewing the play, so I’m not faulting him for that. But a good leader can step back and say, “The play was bang-bang, it’s silly to waste a challenge over a non-run scoring play in the 2nd inning of a game we lead”. His discretion seems to be irresponsible.
Fundamentally unsound: By this point, Sandberg should have had plenty of time between the start of Spring Training and now, in mid-February, to instill strong fundamentals in the team. This is not a concern for the core of Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard—those guys are veterans that know what they’re doing. But more for guys like Freddy Galvis, Dom Brown and Cody Asche. So why is it that this team (again, the younger players) continue to demonstrate a lack of awareness for situations and how to play the game. Take the bottom of the second inning on Tuesday night for example. After Marlon Byrd leads off with a double, what does Dom Brown come up and do? Instead of pulling the ball to the right side and moving Byrd over to second, the light-hitting outfielder hit a lazy fly ball to left-center field which accomplished nothing. Two plays later, Galvis ran the bases like a ten year old does in little league, assuming he can take any base he wanted. Caught in the second rundown on the play, Galvis was gunned down by major league players, just like he should expect.
What is most mind-boggling about all this is these are players Sandberg managed in the minor leagues, where they are supposed to polish these fundamental aspects of the game. The Cubs had a similar problem when he was their Triple-A manager as well, as players like Starlin Castro had countless learning moments at the major league level that should have been taught in the minors.
