Marlins manager Clayton McCullough faces scrutiny as high expectations amplify every pitching change, determining wins and losses.
It’s the second year of Clayton McCullough’s managerial tenure with the Miami Marlins, but it’s the first season with expectations.
The talent is now there. The talent can win. The talent is proving to win early so if they don’t win its going to be because of how the talent is managed. Because of that, the decisions McCullough makes, and the results of them, will be more profound and scrutinized.
Chief among the decisions that a manager makes during the game is when to come take the ball from the pitcher, and who to hand it off to. There is truth and application to the famous Kenny Rogers lyrics, “You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them.”
Against the Cincinnati Reds this week, he did both.
On Tuesday, McCullough sent ace Sandy Alcantara back on the mound in the ninth inning to try to earn his second consecutive complete game shut out. With a 2-0 lead, he allowed a double to Matt McLain and walked Elly De La Cruz, a matchup that Alcantara said afterwards that he should’ve been “more aggressive” against.
With only two outs to go and his pitch count at 95 (a season high), McCullough pulled Alcantara and leaned on his rested bullpen to finish the job. It didn’t work and it frustrated their ace pitcher, who is in the last year of a five-year extension.
McCullough impressed to reporters on Wednesday his relationship with Alcantara.
“I feel like Sandy and I have a good relationship, and we've formed one over the last few years,” McCullough said. “I understood his frustrations. Last night, I was frustrated too, and I think our whole group was coming up on the short end of what was a very winnable game there right to the end. So I understood the rawness of emotion after. I felt anytime you lose an major-league game, and it comes down to the end like that, it's not a good feeling for everyone.”
Alcantara said after the game he felt he deserved to be asked whether or not he was good to continue before being taken out of the game in a crucial situation. McCullough said the decision was made and unwavering from the moment he exited the dugout.
“There was nothing you were going to say to me that was going to change,” McCullough said, “right or wrong.”
On Monday, McCullough left his fifth starter Janson Junk on the mound in the eighth inning after throwing seven innings for only the fourth time as a Marlins pitcher. He only allowed one run leading up to that inning but a solo home run from Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson forced McCullough to go to his bullpen.
In both instances, he left his starter in too long and got burned, and took his starter out and got burned. Like many managers, McCullough lives and dies with who he chooses to come out of the bullpen. Much like blackjack, whether you hit or stay depends on the hand at the moment.
“I think if I look at every decision that say the outcome wasn't what it was hoping for, I think I reassess a lot of things during the course of the game and course of the season and and would I do anything different the next time? I don't know,” McCullough said. “I think that I just looked at that moment, and I look at each moment as what do I think is gives us the best chance to win today, or put us in a position to win a game tomorrow?
"I fully understand the criticism," he added. "That's OK. That is certainly a part of this, and I have to be OK with it. Ultimately, I have, what I feel like my job is to do, is to try to put our team in the best position to win, and that there'll be a number of instances where that doesn't work out, and I have to be accountable for those times."
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