Managing a baseball team is largely a thankless job. Similar to officiating, or offensive lineman, most of the notoriety manages get is from their mistakes. Poor decisions, or non-decisions, that result in sub-optimal results.
Phillies skipper Rob Thomson makes dozens of decisions every gameday. He rarely gets the credit he deserves for his good decisions, which come from having a sense for the game, the team, and/or the moment.
He made a ton of decisions Monday night during his team’s 5-2 win over Miami. Two of them drew the most attention by far. First, he decided to replace his star right fielder, Nick Castellanos, late in the game with Johan Rojas. Then, after a brief back-and-forth with Castellanos regarding the move, he made the decision to bench the slugger for Tuesday’s game.
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SIGN UP HERE "One of the many things about Nick that I love is that he's very emotional," Thomson told reporters. "He loves to play and he loves to play every inning of every game. I just thought last night, he made an inappropriate comment after he came out. And so today he's not in the lineup and I'm gonna leave it at that."
Both moves were dissected on social media and sports-talk radio. Both moves were by the book, and both moves were right on the money.
In an era where “load management” is a thing, Castellanos is Thomson’s most durable player. That alone gives him tremendous value. He had started 236 consecutive games prior to his benching, a number not reached by a Phillies player since Pete Rose more than 40 years prior.
Castellanos has been the team’s most consistent hitter this season. While virtually every other regular has gone through a pronounced slump at some point, he remains as dependable as a sunrise. His batting average is .278 for the season, yet it hasn’t dipped below .270 since April 6th, following the ninth game of the season. His bat is necessary in a lineup as streaky as Thomson’s.
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No player is perfect, and Castellanos’ shortcoming is when he and his team are in the field. His issues aren’t readily visible, he doesn’t unleash errant throws, and what he gets to, regularly ends up in his glove. The problem is his range, his instincts, and his foot speed pursuing balls in the outfield. He’s the worst outfielder in baseball by those metrics, and a prime candidate for a defensive replacement in a late-and-close situation.
We don’t know what Castellanos said to Thomson when he was told his night was over. Thomson didn’t go into detail, out of respect to his player. My guess is that it was not “Well, gee, Topper, I’m gonna have to respectfully disagree with ya there.”
Judging from Thomson subsequent act, what Castellanos said could not be printed here, and would call for a trip to the parking lot if shared at a local watering hole.
Maybe Castellanos wanted to play the rest of the night out because he was in his home park, playing in front of family and friends. Maybe he was just having a rough day. Thomson’s call to remove him from what at the time was a 3-1 game was the right one, and his player thought differently, and told him.
He also told him in front of a dugout crowded with his teammates and fellow coaches, men who respect Thomson for his measured decision-making, and his even-handed leadership. If he had let a player tear him up in front of them, the optics wouldn’t be great. Thomson doesn’t rule with a heavy hand, but when he needs to put the boss hat on, he does, and that should be unquestioned.
If he felt Castellanos’ words warranted a one-game benching, no matter how it would hurt the team, that’s his decision. And like most of the decisions he makes on a daily basis for his club, this was the correct one.