So does using your best bullpen arms in the highest leverage situations and worst bullpen arms in the lowest leverage situations. Those games where Tazawa was clearly not himself but was still getting the 8th inning hurts a lot more than moving him to lower leverage would. Also, the 3 high leverage appearances that Abad got when we first got him and he blew every one of them. And things like using Hembree vs. LHB and going weeks between seeing Robbie Ross pitch, etc.
See, it's this kind of revisionist BS to blast a manager that I can't stand. Should we look at Abad's pitching log to see what really happened?
2 Aug @Sea: Price is dominating for once through 7 innings but in the 8th he falls apart. After a lead-off HR to Zunino he gets burned for a flare single to left and a seeing-eye ground ball between 1st and 2nd. JF gives him one more batter but it's clear he's gassed when Heredia hits a sharp liner to right to score the 2nd run and cut the Sox lead to 4-2. Barnes comes in to face Gutierrez but Servais counters by inserting the left-handed Seth Smith - Barnes strikes him out anyway for the 1st out of the inning. Now it's Robi Cano and so Farrell brings in his new toy, lefty specialist Fernando Abad who was acquired just for these situations. Abad gets ahead quickly 0-2 and throws a FB just outside but Cano lays off for a ball and then disaster: Abad leaves one down the middle and Cano crushes it out for a 3-run homer and a 5-4 lead. Abad recovers to get Nelson Cruz (on a worryingly deep fly) and Dae-Ho Lee but the damage has been done and the Sox lose 5-4.
Verdict: Abad failed in his 1st outing but Farrell used him as he was supposed to be used.
4 Aug @Sea: Pomeranz' 4th start for Boston still looking for his 1st win. The starter looks sharp through 4 but runs into trouble in the 5th and gives up 2, tying up the score 2-2. Ross and Tazawa are effective in the 7th and 8th and Abad is handed the ball to start the 9th with the game still tied. He starts off getting LH'er Leonys Martin on a weak nubber which Sandy scoops up to throw him out but then gives a single to switch-hitter Shawn O'Malley (his 3rd hit of the game). Abad rallies by bearing down on lead-off hitter Heredia to get the righty to pop out to Shaw at 1B but is too fine with Gutierrez and walks him. Farrell has seen enough as Cano is up and he doesn't want to be burned in the same way in 3 days. Kimberly comes in and gets Cano to ground out to end the threat and the Sox go on to win in 11.
Verdict: Abad was ok but gave up a hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning and Farrell couldn't trust him to face Cano. Manager was cautious after the earlier disaster and made what was likely the right call. Sox win.
7 Aug @LAD: Price's last bad start for a long while, giving up 6 runs (3 earned) in 5IP. Abad comes in for the 6th to face Utley (L), Kendrick (R) and Seager (L) and retires them 1-2-3 (Utley by K) on 11 pitches. In the 7th Tazawa gives up back-to-back HRs and the Sox lose 8-5.
Verdict: Abad did his job. Our knuckleballer was lost for most of the rest of the year in a pinch running mishap but as far as Abad's usage goes JF was flawless.
10 Aug v NYY: Not a pretty 7th inning. Pomeranz started again and pitched well but got into trouble in the 6th. Clay came in to relieve him and got a DP with just 3 pitches. Posters were incensed later that JF didn't leave Clay in but the manager knew he'd be starting for Wright on the Saturday and so had to bring out Barnes for the 7th to protect the 4-1 lead. Barnes was, shall we say, ineffective. Single, single, single until Girardi let ARod pinch hit and Barnes retired him on a deep fly ball. With Gardner and Ellsbury due up he brings in Abad. The lefty dutifully gets Gardner swinging and gets ahead of Ellsbury but then surrenders an RBI single past a diving Hanley. Then the pitch that sticks in the craw. A change-up, almost eephus pitch to Hedley and it's another RBI single - this one past Hill at 3B - and the lead is gone 4-4. Farrell takes Abad out but replaces him with Tazawa and bad becomes worse and the Sox lose 9-4.
Verdict: The eephus was ugly - this is the game that convinced me that Abad wasn't to be trusted (and that Tazawa was gassed) but it also had a similar effect on JF.
12 Aug v Ari: Mop up duty in the 9th after Price left with a 9-3 lead. Got the 1st 2 outs quickly but then gave up a double, RBI single and a walk before closing out the win.
Verdict: Not clean but harmless.
15 Aug @Cle: After Pomeranz' best start to date for the Sox JF brought Abad in with 2 outs, a run in and the tying runner on 2nd in the 8th inning of a 3-2 game to face switch-hitting Jose Ramirez. I wouldn't have done that but it worked out as Abad got Ramirez to fly out harmlessly to short left-centre. Sox win 3-2.
Verdict: Ok, more trust than I would have shown but it worked.
The next 5 appearances were all low-leverage mop-up duty type outings. The point of all this is to show that as bad as the memory tells you Abad was when he joined, the managerial decisions to use him were rational. When he was first inserted to face Cano, that was exactly what he'd been acquired to do - face the opponents' top lefty threats. The 2nd outing he did ok but Farrell rightly had him on a short leash. Then he did well in his 3rd outing with a 1-2-3 inning (rather than "blowing every one" of his first 3 outings as SpaceMan asserts). The 4th outing was awful but it was 2 batters and he'd been pretty good his last time out so I find it hard to fault Farrell for using him there. I only found the 6th appearance questionable and it actually worked out so I think this altogether this shows pretty well how hindsight and mis-remembering makes people think much worse of the managers than is fair.
If you found the post long and tedious I apologise - it's just one of those things that is hard to prove unless you go into the detail and it's something I feel is important to do.
