Via Big League Stew, Brian Fuentes complains about Athletics manager Bob Geren:

Fuentes: There’s just no communication. Two games, on the road, bring the closer in a tied game, with no previous discussions of doing so. And then, tonight, in the seventh inning, I get up. I haven’t stretched, I haven’t prepared myself. If there was some communication beforehand I would be ready to come into the game – which I was, when I came into the game, I was ready. Just lack of communication. I don’t think anybody really knows which direction he’s headed.

How much different is this compared to past managers?

Fuentes: It’s a pretty drastic difference.

Last season, Bill James came up with the concept of work regularity scores, based on the idea that pitchers actually do better when they are given roles and regular work, rather than setting schedules based on opponents (for starters) or bringing in pitchers based on a situation (relievers). If you look at Brian this season, his regularity scores were very good (25 is the highest) up until the San Francisco series, when he scored two 15s, indicating very different use than normal. In this case, it messed up Fuentes so that he’s given up five hits and three walks in two innings over his last four appearances, all resulting in losses. Brian may have a point.