Jonathan Broxton does not like to pitch in the eighth inning
Tonight, Joe Torre brought Jonathan Broxton in to pitch the eighth inning instead of the ninth, and Broxton wasn’t happy about it:
Torre brought in Broxton one inning early, flip-flopping him with Sherrill to face the heart of the Cubs’ lineup.
“I couldn’t resist it, really,” Torre said.
The manager said he didn’t think Broxton had a problem with his decision, but the closer’s body language indicated he wasn’t thrilled.
“You still got three outs,” Broxton said curtly.
FYI, Broxton is making $1.825MM this season. Torre asked him to pitch the eighth because there was already a runner on first with no outs and the Cubs had Milton Bradley, Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez coming to the plate.
Torre makes a lot of boneheaded decisions, but asking his best pitcher to pitch in the most important spot in the game isn’t one of them.
August 23rd, 2009 at 1:19 am
I agreed with this decision one hundred percent (uber-rare, given that it’s Torre). I wish all managers had the balls to throw their closers in the eighth or the seventh, whenever the other team’s 3-4-5 is coming up.
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August 23rd, 2009 at 9:04 am
And I wish stubborn players would see pitching in high-leverage situations as more important than just coming in to pitch certain innings. Boo, Broxton.
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