Baltimore Orioles: What the (Heck), Buck?

Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter has given the fans back home a tough pill to swallow this offseason due to his questionable bullpen usage in the Wild Card game.

In a winner-take-all contest, you want your best players on the field, win or lose. Apparently unless your name is Buck Showalter, who played with fire from the bottom of the ninth on by keeping Cy Young candidate Zach Britton on the bench, when any run that crossed the plate would spell the end to the O’s season.

Zach Britton just completed arguably the best season by a relief pitcher of all time, allowing just four earned runs over 67 innings, good for a 0.54 ERA. His strikeout rate over the course of the year was a bit over one an inning and his ground ball rate was an astounding 80%. It’s seriously hard to justify not bringing in Britton in at least one of a number of tense situations.

Josh Donaldson led off the bottom of the ninth with a double off of reliever Brad Brach, and Showalter decided to intentionally walk Edwin Encarnacion to set up a double play. Jose Bautista struck out looking for the inning’s fist out, and Buck goes to the bullpen, but not for Britton, much to the dismay of Twitter, but instead to fellow left-hander Darren O’Day.

O’Day induced an inning-ending double play, so no harm, no foul. Those of us on social media even mocked ourselves, assuming that Britton would be in with the next opportunity.

Nope.

In the bottom of the 11th, Brian Duensing relieved O’Day and struck out Ezequiel Carrera, who was 0-for-10 against Duensing in his career. Carrera struck out, and Duensing was removed. Another good call by Showalter there.

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Instead of (finally) bringing in his closer, Buck went with Ubaldo Jimenez with Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson due up. Both singled, putting runners on first and third, leaving a huge opportunity to bring in Britton, who again, had an 80% ground ball rate this season. Edwin Encarnacion ended the game on a no-doubter off Jimenez.

Sure, Encarnacion was 4-for-14 against Britton in his career, good for a .286 batting average to go along with a .375 OBP. The man hitting behind Edwin, Jose Bautista, was just 2-for-9 against Britton in his career with a pair of singles.

Ubaldo’s numbers against both sluggers were also solid, but Jimenez is not in the midst of a career season, and is also a starting pitcher that came on in the middle of an inning. How often does that actually lead to a positive result? In the situation that Baltimore was in, you have to bring in your closer, because if a run scores your season is over anyway. There is no tomorrow. You can’t leave weapons on the bench. Use him for two innings if you have to, even if he would be unavailable for Game One of the ALDS. At least you’d potentially be in the ALDS.

For all of the genius that has been heaped upon Buck Showalter over his career, and deservedly so, this one was certainly a boneheaded move. He was trying to be too cute and seemingly prove that he can win a game without even using his best relief pitcher, in a tie game, in extra innings, on the road.

Instead, his lack of bullpen management in the Wild Card game could potentially end up costing him his job. In his seven seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Showalter holds a 547-482 record (.532) and the furthest the O’s have gone under his watch was the 2014 ALCS in which they were swept by the Royals. They seemingly have the tools to contend, and Showalter could have just put himself on the hot seat, deserved or no.

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Firing Showalter would give the Orioles a 66.66% chance of winning the World Series title next year, as the Yankees (’96) and Diamondbacks (’01) each won the year after moving on from Buck. The ’07 Rangers didn’t have that same luck, but did make an appearance just a couple of seasons later.

Should he be fired? Probably not, but these kinds of decisions are what usually lead to such decisions being made.

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