Imagine Screwing Up So Badly Tim Kurkjian Says This About You

It's Kevin Cash's time in the barrel or, more accurately, the Boo Box from Hook as people third-guess the decision to take Blake Snell out of the game after previously second- and first-guessing it. The decision was wholly indefensible, though it may be unfair to focus all the barbs at Cash. That he would even go out and get a guy who had struck out half the batters he'd faced in that situation effectively proves he's more of an accountant than a manager, tasked with executing the decisions a computer has made for the organization.

Piling on feels gratuitous at this point but in the minutes after the final out was recorded, it felt like a responsibility, not a privilege. Hell, even Tim Kurkjian, who may be the nicest, kindest person on this planet, raised his voice over it while making some good points.

Imagine how badly you have to screw up to have Tim Kurkjian react this way! Incredible. The smart baseball man is dead right, of course. Baseball games take place on a diamond, not a spreadsheet. More information is always warranted but some of that information comes through the eyeballs, not the ones and zeroes. Last night was a strong argument that some organizations have strayed too far to the math side.

Importantly, this is bad for baseball as a whole through the entertainment prism. Think of all the incredible postseason pitching performances we'd have been robbed of if a hurler wasn't allowed to face a lineup for a third time. More abstractly, consider how much magic and poetry are robbed from us due to numerical stubbornness.