“It’s such a fine line between stupid and, uh…”
“Clever?”
“Yeah, and clever.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
Unfortunately for the Colorado Rockies, Walt Weiss continues to find himself on the wrong side of the famous quote uttered by Michael McKean’s character in the classic mockumentary This is Spinal Tap.
Weiss continues to prove he has no feel for what’s happening on the baseball diamond. He undoubtedly has more of a negative impact on the team than a positive one. His managerial style (or lack thereof) isn’t hiding the Rockies deficiencies; it’s highlighting them.
Take Wednesday’s game for example. Chad Bettis was having a great outing through six innings. He’d held the Diamondbacks to five hits and only one run. Colorado was up 7-1 as he trotted to the mound to start the seventh – at that point he was in line for the win and a quality start – but that’s when the Coors Field bug bit Bettis.
The problem wasn’t that Bettis hit a wall, giving up four hits and three runs in 1/3 of an inning, it was his manager’s handling of the situation. After Bettis gave up a leadoff single followed up by a double Weiss sat in the dugout, presumably counting butterflies or staring into the great abyss; who knows. There was zero effort made to calm his starting pitcher, let him catch his breath and slow down the game. Instead, Weiss left Bettis to fend off the snakes alone and Arizona capitalized. Two more hits were surrendered, giving Arizona life and sending Bettis to the pine – without his quality start (a consolation prize, no doubt, but a much needed one) and with the game thoroughly in doubt.
In came the bullpen and, poof, the Rockies six run lead was gone. Luckily, Nolan Arenado bailed out the pitching staff with his league-leading 13th home run, helping the Rockies avoid being swept. The win doesn’t excuse Weiss’ decision. The fact remains, his poor handling of Bettis almost lost Colorado the game.
Over the course of a season a manager may account for a 10-game swing. For a contender, this could be the difference between making the playoffs and not. The Rockies aren’t a playoff contender. Colorado is building for the future. Weiss needs to make sure he’s doing two things: 1) putting his team in the best possible situation to win, and 2) helping his young team build confidence, especially his pitching staff. If he can’t do that, Colorado needs to find someone that can.
In his three years on the job, Weiss has never demonstrated an ability to improve the team’s chances to win. Too often he sways between managing from the seat of his pants and managing by the book.
When Bettis needed help in the seventh inning, Weiss seemingly abandoned him on the mound until he had no choice but to turn to the bullpen. Five days ago he pulled Jon Gray after the young right-hander had thrown only 89 pitches through seven innings and surrendered only one hit.
There’s no rhyme or reason to his decisions. Weiss has been managing as if no one else would take his job. He’s dismissive when his moves are questioned and rarely admits when he makes a mistake.
As a franchise that’s scratching and clawing for every win, a clever, outside-the-box-thinking manager would be a huge asset. Look what Patrick Roy did for the Avalanche two seasons ago. Were Colorado able to catch teams off guard and keep them on their heels, they’d steal wins left and right.
Instead, they have a manager who makes stupid decisions over and over again. One night he’ll coddle a pitcher having a career night and turn the game over to a suspect bullpen. Then he’ll claim it was an analytically based choice. The next game he’ll leave a struggling pitcher on the mound as runs pour in and state he was trying to let him battle for the win.
His inconsistencies aren’t just cause for concern, they are downright inexcusable at this point. It’s time for Jeff Bridich to send Weiss back to the high school ranks from which he came.
The boys at 20th and Blake can no longer afford to have their manager operate on the wrong side of the clever/stupid equation.
