Nationals' Late-Game Problems Have Become Organizational Issue After Blunder vs. Yankees
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Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera was presented with a huge decision on Friday night.
With a 3-2 lead over the New York Yankees in the top of the ninth inning, he could have stuck with Clayton Beeter -- who has closing experience and entered the day with a 3.00 ERA -- to record a save for the Nationals, or he could have handed the ball to left-handed pitcher Matt Krook -- who has a career ERA in the double digits -- to face a lefty-heavy part of the Yankees' order.
Butera chose the latter option, and it came back to burn Washington in a major way when Krook gave up a two-run homer to Jazz Chisholm Jr. that rendered the platoon matchup useless and led to another gutting loss.
It's easy to only point to the players as the ones who are failing. And with 26 blown saves in the first half of the season, they certainly deserve a lion's share of the blame. However, at some point, the organization has to take some heat for the way things are being run, especially since it sounds like they are going to continue operating in the same fashion they have despite what's taken place.
Nationals Still Believe in Their Platoon Splits
One thing that was made clear when new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was hired was that this organization would become more modern in terms of analytics and data-driven decisions. And when Butera was hired to be the team's manager, it became obvious that things were going to operate differently than it had during Mike Rizzo and Dave Martinez's tenure.
With that comes both the good and the bad. And when it comes to the bullpen mess Washington is currently dealing with, it's hard not to hand everyone in the organization some blame based on how little the front office did to improve that unit this past winter, and some of the head-scratching decisions that have been made by Butera.
And after the latest blunder against New York on Friday, instead of reflecting back on the decision-making process and realizing it was wrong to leave the Nationals with a career 15.63 ERA pitcher on the mound to record a save in lieu of trusting their closer, Butera doubled down on how they have operated in the first half of the campaign.
"Sitting here, talking with our group after the game tonight, we all believed the process was right and the outcome was not," Butera said, per Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic (subscription required). "We have four lefties in our bullpen because we expect them to do well against left-hand hitters and particularly against this group with a heavy left-handed lineup."
Nationals Are Overthinking End of Games
And there in lies the problem; all situations and all players aren't created equally.
Beeter has gone 7-for-11 in save opportunities this season. That was only the second time Krook has pitched in a save situation, both of which have come with the Nationals and weren't converted. The Yankees' lineup had Cody Bellinger, Jasson Dominguez and Chisholm due up, with Bellinger able to hit any pitcher regardless of split, Dominguez being a switch-hitter who has crushed lefties this season and Chisholm being someone who has over a career .650 OPS when facing left-handed pitchers.
With Washington relying so heavily on math, that's a big part of the equation to leave out when making number-based decisions.
What took place against New York isn't the first time where it has felt like there is a lot of overthinking going on in the dugout when it comes to finding outs to finish games. Plenty of times Butera has gone to his bullpen in head-scratching moments, whether that's because he has pulled a player too early or kept one in too long. That tends to happen when a manager doesn't have a group he can trust on a consistent basis, so it's hard to solely blame him for that.
But when it comes to what took place against the Yankees on Friday, things were much more simple: he could have gone with his closer to close out an important game, or he could have called upon a reliever with a monstrous ERA to get the job done.
Butera chose the latter, and it came back to bite the Nationals.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai