Avoiding Appeal To Authority Regarding Girardi
[image title="14xphf4" size="full" id="21355" align="center" linkto="full" ]
Over the last few days, the Yankee fanbase has been embroiled in debate over the decision-making of Joe Girardi. His handling of the bullpen has been the primary subject of discussion, as Joe has been resting relievers based upon a particular usage framework that he and his coaches have devised. Finding myself defending Joe during these debates, I constantly noted that we do not have all of the information needed to judge the Yankee skipper in this instance, as he is significantly more familiar with the health and durability of each pitcher on his staff. As such, it seems reckless to attack him for moves that are based directly upon the very information that we do not have. While I still believe in this argument, I do think it skirts close to one fallacy that needs to be avoided, and that is the appeal to authority mistake.
The appeal to authority fallacy occurs when something is claimed to be true or correct not due to inherent objective correctness, but due to the expertise of an authority who claims it to be true. Put simply, it is the claim that something is right because Expert A says it is right. While Expert A’s opinion is valuable and certainly lends credibility to the taken position, it does not necessarily mean that the position is correct. A debate about a question or process that has an objectively correct answer should never end with “because so-and-so said so.”
This fallacy comes up all the time in the context of baseball and managerial decisions. Often, when someone like me criticizes managerial decisions, someone will pipe up with some variant of, “He is an MLB manager with years of experience, while you are just some dude with a computer. I think he knows what he is doing.” The problem with this appeal to authority is that it assumes that all managers are perfect decision-makers who always know the right thing to do. As we have seen on many occasions, even the best managers make plenty of mistakes, as I am sure most of them would admit. While I think it is fair to look closely at each decision and question our own assumptions due to the relative expertise of the managers, it is a mistake to assume that the manager is always, or even usually, correct simply by dint of his having spent a lot of time in the sport.
Returning to the Girardi issue, I think it is important to distinguish between a lack of information and an appeal to authority. When we do not have information that is vital to the decision-maker, it is not an appeal to authority to suggest that we are not qualified to judge the choices made. However, to state that Joe knows how much rest his pitchers need and therefore must be right in how he is apportioning bullpen time is no different than saying he was right to bunt with Curtis Granderson in the 9th inning on Monday because he is the manager and the manager knows best. Just because Joe has the necessary information to make a decision does not mean that he made the correct choices.
So what can we say with any confidence? We can conclude that our lack of information puts us at a disadvantage in judging the bullpen moves based on usage limits that Joe has made in recent days. This does not mean that he was right to be careful with Joba and Robertson on Monday while allowing Wood and Logan to pitch again last night, just that as outsiders we cannot make an informed judgment on the issue. We are left to choose whether or not we trust Joe to do what is best for his guys based on the information that he has. Being that he has done fantastic work with his bullpens over the last 3 seasons, I believe in his ability to balance team need and player health and trust him to make the best moves for the long-term strength of the team. Your opinion may vary.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
21 Responses to Avoiding Appeal To Authority Regarding Girardi
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
LIKE TYA ON FACEBOOK
TIQ IQ
Recent Activity
Recent Posts
- TYA To Merge With It’s About The Money, Stupid
- What about Kevin Youkilis?
- Teix Now Front And Center On The “Needs To Produce” Radar
- Cashman: Heathcott A Dark Horse Candidate
- A Dog Chasing Cars
- Outfield Trade Targets
- The Problem With Brett Gardner
- A Look At Relief Prospect Branden Pinder
- The Yankees Should Be Realistic, Put Team on Short Leash in 2013
- Briefly discussing the internal options to replace Curtis Granderson
Recent Comments
- Brand bc on Briefly discussing the internal options to replace Curtis Granderson
- http://2804lasela.wordpress.com/ on TYA Predictions: Bold predictions for 2012
- the tao of badass pdf on What about Austin Romine?
- Joey Parkhill on Dante Bichette Jr’s Swing
- lululemon factory outlet on Contact Us
- Cary on Will R.A. Dickey’s Knuckleball Succeed In A Domed Stadium?
- Brenna on Links: Prospects, Support for A-Rod, Mariano is Love and Who’s in Center?
- Louis Vuitton Outlet Sale Singapore on The Monthly Prospector: April Edition
- Authentic Louis Vuitton Outlet Store on The Monthly Prospector: June Edition
- Louis Vuitton Outlet San Diego on Banuelos to Undergo Tommy John Surgery, Yankees Prospectors to Undergo Grief Counseling
Authors
Twitter
* TYA Twitter - @YankeeAnalysts
* EJ Fagan - @ejfagan
* Matt Imbrogno -@mimbro1
* William J. -@WilliamNYY23
* Larry Koestler-@Larry_Koestler
* Moshe Mandel -@MosheTYA
* Sean P. -@Sean_MP
* Eric Schultz - @Eric_J_S
* Matt Warden - @Matt_Warden
- Most poker sites open to US players also provide online casinos accepting USA players. A good example of this is BetOnline.com, where you can play 3D casino games, bet on sports or play poker from anywhere in the United States.
Other Links
Blogroll
Blogs
- An A-Blog for A-Rod
- Beat of the Bronx
- Bronx Banter
- Bronx Baseball Daily
- Bronx Brains
- Don't Bring in the Lefty
- Fack Youk
- It's About The Money
- iYankees
- Lady Loves Pinstripes
- Lenny's Yankees
- New Stadium Insider
- No Maas
- Pinstripe Alley
- Pinstripe Mystique
- Pinstriped Bible
- River Ave. Blues
- RLYW
- Second Place Is Not An Option
- Steven Goldman
- The Captain's Blog
- The Girl Who Loved Andy Pettitte
- The Greedy Pinstripes
- This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes
- Value Over Replacement Grit
- WasWatching
- Yankee Source
- Yankeeist
- Yankees Blog | ESPN New York
- Yankees Fans Unite
- YFSF
- You Can't Predict Baseball
- Zell's Pinstripe Blog
Resources
- Baseball Analysts
- Baseball Musings
- Baseball Prospectus
- Baseball Think Factory
- Baseball-Intellect
- Baseball-Reference
- BBTF Baseball Primer
- Beyond the Box Score
- Brooks Baseball
- Cot's Baseball Contracts
- ESPN's MLB Stats & Info Blog
- ESPN's SweetSpot Blog
- FanGraphs
- Joe Lefkowitz's PitchFX Tool
- Minor League Ball
- MLB Trade Rumors
- NYMag.com's Sports Section
- TexasLeaguers.com
- The Biz of Baseball
- THE BOOK
- The Hardball Times
- The Official Site of The New York Yankees
- The Wall Street Journal's Daily Fix Sports Blog
- YESNetwork.com
Site Organization
Categories
Tags
A.J. Burnett Alex Rodriguez Andy Pettitte Austin Romine Baltimore Orioles Bartolo Colon Boston Red Sox Brett Gardner Brian Cashman Bullpen CC Sabathia Chien-Ming Wang Cliff Lee Curtis Granderson David Robertson Dellin Betances Derek Jeter Francisco Cervelli Freddy Garcia Game Recap Hiroki Kuroda Ivan Nova Javier Vazquez Jesus Montero Joba Chamberlain Joe Girardi Johnny Damon Jorge Posada Manny Banuelos Mariano Rivera Mark Teixeira Melky Cabrera Michael Pineda New York New York Yankees Nick Johnson Nick Swisher Phil Hughes Prospects Rafael Soriano Red Sox Robinson Cano Russell Martin Tampa Bay Rays YankeesSite Stats
girardi’s dun.. can’t win it all this year,, ,, gotta say besides rivera who hasnt he misuused this yeqar in the pen??? … goin to chi next year to coach the cubs neways guarenteed, so who cares.. yanks got their ring last year and now they kiss him goodbye… i think 13 mil a year oughtta bring back tom kelly, don’t u??? ,mm, .. best moves yanks dont make this yer def cliff lee and girardi .. gotta roll with the young talent
He hasn’t misused anyone in the pen. Logan, Robertson, Wood, Joba are all peaking at exactly the right time. If he leaves, you are just going to complain about whoever replaces him next season.
Yeah, I just realized that this is probably parody. Hmm. My bad.
torre got 7mil per ,and refused 8mil if they won the world series before he left..and he makes 5mil now..why would you be sarcastic about offering 5mil for kelly? or you just don’t have a valid response?
Hm, something about that first comment sounds like parody.
The “he’s a 10 year managing vet; you’re a worthless blogger” argument you attack here is something that drives me crazy. Girardi’s unique access to and knowledge of his players doesn’t make Granderson’s bunt a good idea; any blogger or fan is perfectly competent to criticize that move. The argument reminds me of Craig Carton ripping Calcaterra on the radio for criticizing Yankee fans without polling the YS3 attendees the particular day they booed Vazquez off the mound. “What newspaper did you say you work for? You write a BLOG???” But where the manager’s access and knowledge actually does provide him unique perspective, he deserves some deference.
I think Joe is doing a fine job. It’s more important to have this team ready for October then to win these games right now. That trade off is understandably frustrating to the fans but I’d rather lose to the Rays now then lose to them in October because Kerry Wood has a dead arm.
Yankee fans seem to criticize Girardi daily but I can’t imagine to many managers I would want to replace him and I can’t think of any available that I would want to replace him with next year, I think everyone just needs to sit back and realize we lost 4 really heartbreaking games in a row to 2 playoffs teams we may have to face but we should have won every game but the Lee game and we just didn’t get the breaks this time around. If people want to blame the loses on anything it’s the absurd number of base runner stranded over the last week that has been the problem and Girardi can’t swing a bat for anyone. All in all it was just our first 4 game losing streak of the year, that’s pretty damn good.
Very well said. I agree with all of it.
do you also agree with leaving hughes in to pitch to johnson again? while joe stands hugging himself in the dugout? we had this game stolen..maybe he felt guilty taking the win..a good sould he is..or maybe he is playing for the wild card the last 10 days..
I was fine leaving Hughes in. Johnson is a .200 hitter and Hughes was pitching well.
phil was at 100 pitches,he just gave up a hit, a guy who in his last at bat hit the cover off the ball,you don’t go for a fresh arm,left on left? so maddon hits aybar maybe, go get another arm if he does not like that match up,that is managing..that kid stepping in again vs phil had a hugh edge, we need another lefty,any lefty..just for match ups..it worked great for us last year..
how about this, can anyone explain how he keeps kearns in big at bat after big at bat ,just watching him strike out every time..day after day…twice tonight…miranda ,why is he on the squad ,just send him home.
Miranda is bad v righties, but I agree, Thames should have hit for Kearns or Curtis, notBerkman.
if girardi hits for kearns in the sixth with miranda, maddon brings a lefty, now if you feel he hits lefties better, leave him in..if not get thames..make maddon keep going to the pen ,early.. kearns is lost..how does he pencil him in everyday…the kid that made that great throw,deserved to start tonight…golson..i was hopeful joe would give him a reward and maybe the kid would be real loose and give us momentum ..do we keep seeing kearns?
how many lefties do the rays have in the pen? why lose berkman for one lefty
Austin Kearns isn’t great, but he’s been a better player in the majors this year than Golson has been in the minors.
his last nine at bats he looked lost, striking out seven times with about a dozen guys on base…golson could not have done worse, and one of the times he didn’t strike out he hit into a DP with no outs..he is not good let alone great..defense kearns can not hold his jock
But still your point is that Golson is a better bet. Not sure how you project Golson to be better than Kearns in a game that hasn’t been played yet. Golson is not great, not good, not a major league ball player.
Damian….Let me try and clear this up…I didn’t say golson is the answer, i said he should have been rewarded with a start for making a super clutch throw..maybe he closed his eyes and got lucky…i rather have a guy who is either lucky or better by far on defense than kearns..the guy has been brutal..you can’t be any worse than he has been in hugh situations the last ten days ,, if he was an A player or a jeter you ride it out..he is average at best…right now he is lost and killing every scoring opportunity with less than two out..and girardi pinch hits for everyone around this guy..i think you just like to disagree with all my opinions..there is no way you can make a sound argument on this bums behalf.
Girardi stinks! The sooner he goes west the better the Yankees will be!
i will drive him to chicago..he probably will make a great manager any place else , i really believe that.he is a great guy…i was afraid that once sept. rolled around and we did not have a 5, 6 game lead this guy would get brain freeze and lock up…which he has done..i do not want to see this guy fall,i was his biggest supporter to be hired as a yank.three years now, still the same panic moves .look in the guys face in a close game..he stands with his arms hugging himself as if he want to go into the fetal position.. .