That could have gone better yesterday. And Warner Madrigal's major league debut could have gone a little bit better.
Evan Grant's game story talks about the bullpen situation, and Ron Washington's hands largely being tied yesterday. With Eddie Guardado, Frankie Francisco, and Josh Rupe all unavailable, and Luis Mendoza only going 4 2/3 innings, I don't think there was much choice but to go with Madrigal in the 7th. And given how Wright performed once he came into the game, trying to squeeze two or three innings out of him would have been a bad idea, as well.
Jim Reeves thinks Washington should have gone back to Francisco or Rupe, rather than Madrigal, but realistically, if you aren't going to use Madrigal in a situation like yesterday, given the workload Francisco and Rupe have had lately, he probably shouldn't be in the majors.
Grant also explains why, even though he feels Washington did a poor job deploying the pen last night, he doesn't think Washington is a poor manager. Grant thinks bringing Madrigal in in the 5th, instead of Benoit, was the better choice, but I don't know that you want to have Madrigal make his debut at Yankee Stadium down 2 with the bases loaded, particularly given Madrigal's command issues. I think you can legitimately question why Madrigal hadn't been used before yesterday, though, and gotten his feet wet in a more low pressure situation.
Jon Daniels says the Rangers were prepared to offer Michael Inoa significantly more than he ended up getting from the A's, but never got the chance to make an offer. And you know, I can't really blame Inoa for going to Oakland, given their track record...and I think it bodes well for his future that, as a 16 year old, he showed the maturity to take into account what was going to be best for his development, rather than just taking the biggest paycheck.
In other news, Scott Feldman is getting a couple of days extra rest, Chris Shelton cleared waivers and has until Saturday to decide whether to accept an outright assignment to AAA or become a free agent, and Ron Washington is hinting that David Murphy may sit more often against lefties.
And T.R. Sullivan offers his memories of Yankee Stadium...