San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen made a shocking comment about Mason Miller's availability for the WBC final.
The San Diego Padres are taking a potentially active role in the availability of closer Mason Miller for tomorrow night’s WBC final, with manager Craig Stammen saying today that no decision has been made about whether the closer will be able to finish the game for Team USA against the winner of tonight’s semifinal game between Italy and Venezuela.
"Not ruled out, not decided," Stammen said Monday at the Padres' spring training camp in Peoria AZ according to an ESPN report. "How we do with every pitcher, we evaluate them after their outing, see how they feel and then calculate when their next outing's going to be. So he's in that same boat."
It’s important not to take this quote at face value. The fate of nearly individual pitcher for Team USA and other international teams in the WBC is carefully managed, with intricate plans and decision parameters that are sometimes altered with no warning or notice.
That may in fact be the case for Miller, who looked like a completely different pitcher while posting his second save of the tournament for Team USA against Team Dominican Republic last night. Miller threw 22 pitches against the powerful Dominican lineup, but just 13 were for strikes, and control is normally one of the reliever’s strengths.
But Miller’s slider was especially erratic, and by the time Team Dominican got the potential tying run to third base while down 2-1 with two outs in the ninth inning he was having trouble controlling his fastball as well.
Miller got the save, but it was a nail-biter. He went to a 3-2 count against Geraldo Perdomo, then dropped in a slider that looked low according to strike zone graphics, but the called third strike eliminated the Team Dominican and generated a firestorm of controversy about the ABS challenge system not being available for this one.
Did Stammen and Padres GM A.J. Preller put in a call to Team USA manager Mark DeRosa after watching Miller’s struggles last night? It's possible, but more than likely this was a mutual check-in by both parties to see how Miller was feeling after the extended inning given his poor control.
It’s also possible that the Padres are feeling more sensitive than usual about this sort of thing. Their ace, Nick Pivetta, just made his first start over the weekend after being shut down with arm fatigue, and the team learned today that starter Joe Musgove will likely be starting the season on the injured list after making just two starts this spring.
That makes Miller’s availability on Opening Day even more important given that the Padres bullpen is considered the team’s major strength, so it will be interesting to see what the final call is when it gets made.