From Friday's Baseball Prospectus chat featuring Andy McCullough, one of the best beat writers around:
William (Spokane): Is Ned Yost just inconsistent or is he getting better?
Andy McCullough: He's getting better. A crucial thing happened in September. The Aaron Crow Game (the cousin of The Jonny Gomes Game) showed the limits of Yost's rigid bullpen management. After that game, pitching coach Dave Eiland implored him to be more aggressive in using Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis.
One point to Yost's credit: He listened. The next night, Herrera pitched in the sixth. Davis pitched in the seventh.
Another point to Yost's credit: He did not waver. Because the Royals lost that next night, and Yost could have easily backslid into the routine. He didn't.
During the ALCS, multiple Orioles officials lamented to me their frustration that Yost had optimized his bullpen deployment. It was almost unfair, they said. And this was when the team wasn't even using Danny Duffy, who was their best pitcher for much of the summer.
So, in short, Yost has gotten better. He still does goofy things, like letting his No. 3 hitter bunt in the first inning. But they've found a horseshoe. At this point, it's Ned's world, and we're all just living in it. Hope you are all enjoying the #Yostseason.
The Aaron Crow Game was the 14th of September against the Red Sox. Entering the sixth, the Royals were ahead 4-3. But Jason Vargas gave up hits to the first two batters. David Ortíz flied out, but the runners advanced to second and third. Cue Aaron Crow ... and after a walk and a strikeout, Daniel Nava hit a grand slam to make the score 7-4. At the time, it seemed important.
There were still two weeks left in the season, and Crow didn't pitch again when the Royals were ahead until the season's last day, in a game that didn't matter at all (the Royals had already locked up home field in the Wild Card Game).
Practically speaking, we can hardly assume that demoting Crow directly led to that Wild Card Game. After all, Herrera pitched in the sixth inning just twice afterward ... and as Andy referenced, the Royals lost one of those games. That same loss was the only time Davis pitched before the eighth. Still, Yost did show a bit of flexibility, which might have been a good warm-up for October.
Yes, Yost is still locked into "roles" ... but that's no different than every other manager in the majors. C.J. Nitkowksi's made the case that roles make sense, at least during the regular season. As Joe Sheehan points out, Herrera-Davis-Holland have pitched nearly 40 percent of the Royals' postseason innings ... which obviously isn't practical from April through September. Granted, there wouldn't be nearly so many reasons to use the trio during the regular season, because all the games wouldn't be so close. Still, Herrera and Davis quite probably wouldn't be effective today if Yost had routinely used them for more than one inning all season long.
And if they weren't so effective today, the Royals wouldn't be in the World Series. Not yet, anyway.
