Everything about this week was a failure for the Philadelphia Phillies. While the players deserve a chunk of blame for underperforming, just about everything decision Ryne Sandberg made was wrong.
Starting on Sunday, with A.J. Burnett struggling, it was a chance to take advantage of the eight-man bullpen. Remember, Sandberg and the Phillies already knew their home opener was moved to Tuesday, meaning they had an off-day on Monday.
Burnett clearly did not have his best stuff on Wrigley Field and the Phillies were down 4-0 in the fourth inning. The struggling offense was able to load the bases and Burnett was due to bat. Rather than use his eight-man bullpen with an upcoming off-day, Sandberg gambled with Burnett at the plate. He flew out softly and they hardly rallied again.
In the home opener, there was very little he could do as Kyle Kendrick and the team pitched poorly. But after a pair of productive games at the plate, he benched Cody Asche the following evening against right hander Matt Garza.
Wednesday and Thursday the defensive alignment seemed to be off too. This is a staff-wide concern, but the manager ultimately is the one leading the pregame team meetings on matchups, how to attack hitters, where they expect the swings to be and the extra details like that. It seems like every ball hit to the outfield causes the outfielders to run all the way from a different outfield position than the one they’re playing. Not entirely his fault, but wanted to make a note of it to benchmark it and track whether he can guide any type of improvement.
One thing I do question from him, however, is why he had the infield so drawn in with Aramis Ramirez on third and one out on Thursday. Ramirez is a below average runner, and the team had a decent chance of getting him at normal depth. Plus, it opened the door for an even bigger rally.
Finally, on Friday, it was like Sandberg was not even watching the game. A.J. Burnett clearly did not have it, and as it turns out the veteran was pitching with a sore groin, yet Sandberg flirted with disaster by keeping him in the game. The clear sign that Burnett was off was the fact he was not attacking the strike zone against the Marlins’ bottom of the order. Sandberg gambled and rolled with his veteran until he was too injured to pitch and had to be removed. One can only wonder if Burnett would not have gotten hurt had Sandberg acted more timely.
The thing that manifests from all these points is, what is actually different about these Phillies from the 2013 Phillies? The games the past three days seemed to be games from April 2013, just with a different manager. That brings up the question, is this Sandberg can even fix, or has the general manager not supplied enough talent?
Something to keep an eye on: Trailing in the ninth inning of a 7-4 home game, Sandberg elected not to use closer Jonathan Papelbon. That is a spot many teams often use their closers, being that they will not have the chance to have a save situation any way. It is possible that Sandberg chose not to use him because he felt the three-run deficit was too significant and keeping it close did not matter, or a few other conspiracies. One of which is that Papelbon is still hurt, and, in typical Phillies fashion, they’re playing him through the injury. The second of which is that they are limiting his Games Finished. If Papelbon finishes 97 games between now and the end of 2015, he vests to make a guaranteed $13 million in 2016. By that point, he will be 35.
