August 15, 2006
Torre's Explanation
Joe Torre explains why he bunted with Abreu:
Abreu, who hasn't had a sacrifice since 1998, was asked to bunt and he took several shots at it. "I don't practice it at all," he said.
He got a bunt down and nearly beat it out, but advanced the runners, the fans giving him a hand.
"I talked to Larry Bowa, who managed [Abreu for four years], and he knew he'd never asked him to bunt," Torre said. "Bobby hasn't been swinging the bat as well as he was four or five days ago, or I might've done something different. In that situation, I've got to get a run."
So he takes the bats out of the hands of two left-handed power hitters. Lackey is very good against lefties, but he's much better vs. righties. And since Abreu doesn't bunt, there was a good chance he wouldn't get it down. Bobby's grounded into just eight double plays all season. The chances are by swinging away he likely had a very good chance of getting a runner to third with no more than one out.
Posted by David Pinto at
11:45 AM
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I think Dave's judgement is a little harsh in this case (I'm also thinking of the 'Torre is an Idiot' post from yesterday. First, although I don't know him, I doubt Joe is actually an idiot. Second, I'm sure he forsaw the very likely outcome of A-rod at the plate with 1 out and the bases loaded. A-rod's having an off year but one can hardly fault a manager for trying to get that situation to be a reality. Finally, A-rod came though by driving in the go-ahead run with the Yankees 6 outs from a win. Ultimately, that run is the winning run. There just isn't a "correct" call in that situation.
I recommend the bunting and game theory sections of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball (Tango, Lichtman, and Dolphin). Those chapters might get some doctrinaire sabr-heads to ease off a little on the anti-bunt crusade.
Torre's explanation is basically calling out Abreu. He says Abreu hasn't been hitting as well (from just 4 days ago?!), so he'd rather him try to get a bunt down knowing Abreu doesn't practice bunting than let Abreu hit away. That's poor managing in my book. Especially when Giambi's on deck and there's a really good chance he'll be walked to set up a force at any base and keep the double play alive.
Would you ask Jim Edmonds, Kirk Gibson, Chipper Jones, or Fred Lynn to bunt in that situation? Based on Abreu's most comparable players, that's what Torre did. La Russa would be destroyed if he did this (outside of this year as Edmonds has been pretty bad), and Bobby Cox wouldn't even consider asking Chipper to lay down a sac bunt.
Bunts are not always bad, but in the AL a lot of them are. When playing for one run in the 9th, they can work well. Bunting with a pitcher makes sense, bunting with a power hitter (even if it's doubles power) doesn't.
