K.I.S.S.

BY KEVIN KERNAN

An interesting pendulum swing occurred on Friday in Major League Baseball, if you were paying attention.

Here at BallNine, we pay attention to big things – and little things – and don’t lose our focus amidst the information overload of the free agent market and trade propositions that are shoved down our throats at the GM meetings.

One of the most disappointing teams of the postseason, and I would even venture to say the most disappointing October team, made a huge baseball decision.

The Phillies named Donnie Baseball’s kid, Preston Mattingly, their GM.

Congrats Preston.

Mattingly is part of a royal baseball family, son of beloved Yankee legend Don Mattingly. Preston Mattingly is a baseball man. The biggest problem with baseball right now is the lack of baseball people in decision-making positions. Adding a baseball man as a general manager can make a huge difference in the organization and the Phillies needed a shakeup.

Dave Dombrowski is at the top of the Phillies chain of command, and they needed a change in the GM position. Sam Fuld, a former player who is analytically oriented, was in that position but will transition to the business end of front office. Good for Fuld. Good for the Phillies. For all of their talent, the Phillies could not make it out of the NLDS, losing to the Mets in four games.

As you know, the Yankees and Aaron Boone made the worst decision of the postseason, bringing in Nestor Cortes to pitch in the 10th-inning of Game 1 of the World Series after not pitching for 37 days – and he promptly surrendered a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman.

The Phillies and Rob Thomson, in my mind, made the second worst decision in the postseason. Ace Zack Wheeler was pitching a one-hit shutout in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park and was taken out by Thomson after seven innings.

This was not a Tuesday night game in July where you look long haul. This was a game where the Phillies had to win at home to beat the Mets to control the series.

Why in the world do teams even have aces anymore if they are not going to ride them to success in Game 1 of a short series? Make it make sense.

All the Nerds, front office, media and fans, will tell you that Wheeler was at 111 pitches, so it made sense to take him out and turn it over to the bullpen.

But that was the worst decision that could be made at that point and doomed the Phillies.

You had to push the envelope and get another inning out of Wheeler, at least give him the opportunity to go out there for the eighth. That’s why you are paying him the big money – and he was delivering with a shutout.

Baseball common sense has been thrown out the window with non-baseball people making season ending decisions, decisions that are based on the past in a totally different circumstance, not in the present, an October playoff showdown.

If you were following the Mets closely, and I was, you just knew they were destroying bullpens. The Mets were ecstatic when Jeff Hoffman, essentially a journeyman reliever, showed up to pitch the eighth. Are you kidding me, Phillies?

The Nerds play October games just like July games so in the Nerd mind, on the surface, the decision made sense; but in the real baseball world, the Phillies just handed Game 1 and the short best-of-five series to the Mets.

If you know anything about Zack Wheeler – and I know a lot about him, having covered him for years – and knowing his inner strength and calmness, he was made for that moment. Ride or die with Wheeler in that game, especially in front of the home crowd.

The ex-Met had the Mets’ number and could dig deeper, if given the opportunity. This was not a Tuesday night game in July where you look long haul. This was a game where the Phillies had to win at home to beat the Mets to control the series. Again, make it make sense.

But when you have an analytically driven GM these are the decisions you make in October, not a gut decision, a baseball decision like “Our ace is rolling and needs to stay in for at least the eighth inning, don’t give the Mets a chance. Keep ‘em down.’’

Thomson made the change, a change I’m sure was discussed earlier in the day (“Let’s get seven innings, about 110 pitches from Zack”) and the Mets put up a five spot in the eighth.

C-ya Phillies.

Game 1’s in any playoff series in this era are so huge because teams do not have the starting pitching depth they once had.

In the World Series the Yankees made a similar dumb decision when Gerrit Cole was “gassed’’ after 88 pitches. That cost the Yankees, who, despite having baseball people in the organization, are overly analytically driven under Brian Cashman.

How about Aaron Boone going out there to challenge Cole instead of just taking the ball from him and giving him the Kumbaya pat on the ass?

In the same way, the Phillies were analytically driven under GM Sam Fuld and it showed.

Welcome Preston Mattingly, a baseball man, who will make decisions based on baseball knowledge.

“Honestly, I just love baseball,’’ Mattingly said after being promoted from director of player development/assistant GM. “It means so much to me. It’s been my life since I was born. Any aspect of the game I’m interested in – whether it is minor league free agency or player development, R&D – everything’s always been interest to me.’’

Having spent so much time with Don Mattingly through the years, I can tell you the apple did not fall far from the tree.

Baseball needs more baseball people and fewer mathematicians; fewer job openings that proudly proclaim: “No baseball experience needed.’’

Baseball needs more baseball people and fewer metric readers. In my mind, this is a pendulum-swinging move – and let Fuld excel in the business end of the Phillies and maybe eventually take over for Dave Dombrowski, but to me a GM needs to be game oriented.

I talked with one of the smartest baseball people I know on Saturday, a man who has seen Preston Mattingly’s work up close in the minor leagues and he was excited about the move.

“Preston has done a nice job with their minor leagues,’’ the top talent evaluator said. “Their teams have been competitive, and their kids are getting better, not all of them but a lot of them are making some strides. Fuld was so analytically driven I think Dave wanted more of a baseball person, and Dombrowski inherited Fuld. The Phillies have been too analytic at times.’’

Don’t forget the Phillies lost the NLCS in 2023 in seven games to the underdog Diamondbacks and after winning the first two games, in a critical Game 3 loss, the Phillies made a similar decision with a starting pitcher, taking Ranger Suarez out after 5 1/3 innings while pitching a shutout, losing another 1-0 lead and over-exposing the bullpen as the Phillies went on to lose 2-1 and four of the last five games.

More baseball men the better, especially for a sport that has fallen head over heels for analytics.

This is still a game played by humans with a heartbeat.

That was evident in the Dodgers clinching Game 5 of the World Series when manager Dave Roberts went out to the mound to visit with reliever Blake Treinen in the eighth inning and decided to stick with the tiring Treinen.

Roberts did a masterful job in the World Series and seemed to rely on his baseball intuition more this year than in years past. After that game Roberts said of his Treinen visit, “I just wanted to feel his heartbeat and just kind of look him in the eye.’’

That is a baseball comment, and I have contended for years that in the World Series, the team that does more baseball things will win the World Series, and it seems to happen every year. The Yankees’ defense and base-running, baseball things, let them down.

What Roberts said to Treinen sounded like something Tommy Lasorda might have said to Orel Hershiser in 1988 when the Dodgers last won a real World Series. These are the little things that teams are doing to bring the game back from the overly data-based world baseball has become. Nerds have a role but keep them to that role.

Roberts had to use eight pitchers to navigate the 7-6 victory over the Yankees. Treinen was the seventh pitcher of the night, got the win to finish 2-0 in the World Series and worked 2 1-3 innings, throwing 42 pitches before giving way to Walker Buehler for the save. The Dodgers won despite giving up nine walks to the Yankees.

While Roberts was making that looking into the eyes of his pitcher decision – a human decision – the Yankees elected in Game 1 to go with a starting pitcher in a reliever’s role in Nestor Cortes when they had a capable lefty in Tim Hill in the bullpen.

I call it the Keep It Simple Stupid rule. Make decisions with what you see with your own eyes, don’t over-complicate it and don’t script it out because each and every postseason game has its own rhythm, its own life.

The Yankees were no match for the Dodgers on the field or in the decision-making.

The Phillies were no match for the Mets in the NLDS.

The Phillies have to get back to making sound baseball decisions because their window of opportunity is closing and if the Mets land Juan Soto, as I expect they will, the Mets will have the younger superstar in Soto over Bryce Harper.

In that NLDS you could see early that the Phillies were going to struggle offensively, the Mets had a good game plan against Philadelphia. That’s why the Phillies needed that skimpy 1-0 lead to hold up in Game 1. For the series, the Phillies hit .186 to the Mets .269 and were out-homered, 7-3.

By the way, Hoffman appeared in three games and finished with a 40.50 ERA. Fellow reliever Jose Alvarado finished with a 27.00 ERA in his one appearance and Matt Strahm pitched in three games to an 18.00 ERA.

Wheeler got only one shot – one and done – one game, that’s it, seven innings pitched, 0.00 ERA.

See what I mean by Keep it Simple, Stupid?