Ned Yost's decision to pull Shields was one of the worst blunders I've ever seen...

[Senser81]

On my list of all-time blunders, Yost's ranks #3 due to the innumerable mitigating factors which makes his decision completely retarded...

#1 - Dodgers forfeit home field advantage for 1951 playoff against the New York Giants because they don't want to deal with the extreme travel time from Brooklyn to New York for Game 1.

#2 - Don Zimmer's insistence on playing an injured Butch Hobson at 3B down the stretch of the 1978 season, blowing a big lead over the Yankees and essentially giving the Yankees the division. Hobson regularly plays 3B and has a sub .900 fielding percentage, making 43 errors. For a point of comparison, the worst fielding 3B I've ever seen (Keith Moreland, 1987 Cubs) had a .934 FP and made 28 errors.

#3 - Ned Yost pulls James Shields in the 6th inning. Mitigating factors...Shields was a workhorse and had only thrown 88 pitches...after giving up 2 early runs, Shields had held the A's scoreless the rest of the way...Shields had given up a broken bat single and a 3-2 walk and did not appear tired...Royals were winning 3-2...instead of bringing in one of his 3 sub 1.50 ERA relievers, Yost brings in a rookie starter who made 1 relief appearance all year...Ventura is immediately wild, gives up a HR to straight CF, gives up another hit, and the A's have a 5-run 6th.

 

[EmpireWF]

Does Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in after his mound visit in the 8th inning of Game 7 rank on your blunder list?

 

[Senser81]

Does Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in after his mound visit in the 8th inning of Game 7 rank on your blunder list?

Its up there, but at least you can somewhat understand Little's thought process. I cannot understand anything about what Yost was trying to do.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Yost's decision doesn't make sense at all with the bullpen he has at his disposal. Right now, you shouldn't be worried about someone getting work in. Lock the game down the rest of the way. It's a one and done game, no excuses not to do that. Despite the fact that the Royals are in the divisional round, it's decisions like this which keep Yost on the hot seat.

 

[Senser81]

From another site...

Sending Dyson to steal third with one out in the bottom of the 9th down one run with Aoki at the plate is one of the dumbest things I've seen in the post-Sabremetrics era. It worked. Barely. Watch again and see Donaldson only being a tiny fraction of a second short of getting Dyson. Hell, on replay it seemed like the live call could have gone either way. But even outside of the fact that it was much closer than Yost probably hoped it to be, think about:

1. You have your fastest player on second...

2. And a guy hitting almost 0.400 in the last month at the plate...

3. With 1 out.

If Aoki gets a hit, Dyson scores easily, the game is tied, you've got another runner on, and 2 more outs to give. Sending Dyson unnecessarily risks that situation, which is by far your best chance of winning at that point. Yost somehow decided it was worth risking losing the game to play for a tie. Fucking terrible. Hawk Harrelson would be proud.

 

[Maynard]

hindsight is 20/20, but ventura has been a stud for KC. if it worked out he would have been a genius. not a good situation to take that gamble imo.

 

[Senser81]

hindsight is 20/20, but ventura has been a stud for KC. if it worked out he would have been a genius. not a good situation to take that gamble imo.

Ventura just threw 73 pitches two days ago...I don't care if its a prime Mark Gubicza, bringing in a starter on 2 days rest instead of one of your 3 sub 1.50 ERA relievers is completely asinine.

 

[Maynard]

that i didnt know. but still think it was way to risky in that situation

 

[Slateman]

Yost was awful that entire game.

Ventura was a terrible decision. He's never been in relief but now he has to come in? The Royals bullpen is their strong suit. If you MUST use Ventura, than at least give him a clean inning. Use Davis or Herrara to get to a clean inning.

And for whatever reason, Yost wanted to bunt like crazy with his speed on. As soon as Norris was in that game, the bunt should have been shelved and the Royals should have advanced simply using steals. Derek Norris couldn't throw out anyway, even when he knew it was coming. No reason to give up an out.

 

[Senser81]

Is Ned Yost the next Tony LaRussa...making completely mindless postseason decisions yet still winning? I bet Yost would have pitched to Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, because he would be too concerned with Steve Sax's home run power. But instead of having Eckersley face Gibson, he would have brought in Storm Davis straight from the dugout.