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Ends, Means, Justification, And The Miami Marlins

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What if you had the chance to take the bat out of Giancarlo Stanton’s hands? Why would you ever want that, unless you’re a member of an opposing team, or maybe sitting in the outfield seats without a glove? Marlins’ manager Mike Redmond tried to do just that on Friday. That whole thing about the ends and the means: surely, you’ve heard it before. You’ll hear it again before this paragraph ends. Mike Redmond has already made some highly questionable decisions on this young season, particularly in this weekend’s interleague series against the Seattle Mariners. Redmond’s Marlins swept the Mariners, so the problems may be similarly swept under the rug and hidden for now, but as you may have guessed: the ends don’t justify the means.

 

The Marlins won Friday’s game thanks to a memorable ninth inning walk off grand slam from Giancarlo Stanton. That moment was one of the most memorable in recent Marlins history and certainly the most exciting of the 2014 season so far. That special moment almost didn’t have a chance to happen, however, thanks to a decision from manager Mike Redmond. The bottom of the ninth inning began with Reed Johnson pinch hitting for pitcher Steve Cishek. Johnson singled to right on Yoervis Medina’s first pitch of the inning. For the next at bat, Christian Yelich was asked to bunt. Yelich is one of the hottest hitters on the Marlins and in fact currently holds one of the longest current hitting streaks in baseball. Despite this, he was asked to give his at bat away by bunting. He did as asked, bunting Medina’s second pitch of the at bat to Mariners first baseman Justin Smoak. Smoak was unable to get anybody out, putting Marlins on first and second. Yelich was asked to give up an out. He did as asked, but managed to get on base himself, thereby not giving away his at bat. The next batter, Marcell Ozuna, was asked to do the same thing. With Johnson at second and Yelich at first, Ozuna was asked to give away his at bat and bunt the two runners over. In a vacuum, the move makes sense: while Johnson was already in scoring position, he would only be able to score on a fly ball if he were on third. However, Ozuna has also been hitting the ball well and has shown the power to change the game in just one swing. Much more importantly, an effective Ozuna bunt moves Johnson to third and Yelich to second, leaving first base open. The Marlins’ best hitter, Giancarlo Stanton, was due up after Ozuna. After him would come the Marlins’ worst hitter (maybe), Garrett Jones. By having Ozuna bunt, Mike Redmond was taking the bat out of the hands of two of the better Marlin hitters, Marcell Ozuna and Giancarlo Stanton. Redmond was basically saying that he would rather have the bases loaded and one out for Garrett Jones than runners on first and second with no one out for Marcell Ozuna, with Stanton right behind him. Luckily for the Marlins and for Mike Redmond, the bunt decision was aided by a rule that will certainly be reworked in the near future. The infamous “transfer rule” call, after a challenge and the ensuing replay, caused Johnson to be called safe at third and everyone else safe at their respective bases. What happened next? Giancarlo happened. Grand slam, 8-4 Marlins, everybody go home.

 

What could have happened though? Even an effective bunt by Ozuna, as mentioned above, takes the bat out of Stanton’s hands and makes it bases loaded, one out for Garrett Jones. Any Marlins fan could tell you what would have happened there: double play ground ball, inning over. Pure conjecture based on absolutely nothing, but it’s true. Trust me. What about what almost happened? Ozuna is ineffective with his bunt and the Mariners get the out at third. Now you still have runners on first and second, except now there is one out. Sure, if Ozuna swings away, he might hit into a double play of his own, but that could happen with a popped up bunt as well. There is always the risk of a rally killing double play when a batter swings away, but has Ozuna not earned that chance with his early season play? Ultimately, as we all know, it all worked out. Giancarlo ended the game with a huge home run, and Garrett Jones got to celebrate the fact that he didn’t have to kill the rally all by himself. The end was great, the end was awesome, and the end led to the momentum which allowed the Fish to sweep the M’s. The means, however? Not justified.

Author: David Marcillo

David has been a Marlins fan since 1993. ’97 and ’03 were nice. Best of times, worst of times, mediocre times in between.

You can follow David on Twitter: @DavidMarcillo77 or you can email: [email protected]

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