Situational awareness is one of the most important skills for a baseball manager to possess and Team USA bench boss Mark DeRosa came up well short in that department on Tuesday.
Prior to his team’s game against Italy — a heavy underdog against the American powerhouse — DeRosa said in an interview that his team didn’t need to win to advance to the quarterfinals.
The thing is, that wasn’t true at all and now the U.S. needs some help to advance after losing 8-6 to Italy.
DeRosa made the comments during an appearance on MLB Network’s Hot Stove — where he serves as an analyst during the MLB season — on Tuesday morning.
“Ton of respect for Italy. It’s weird, we want to win this game even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals because Mexico plays Italy actually (Wednesday),” DeRosa said. “So, the way the schedule lines up this is an important game for us.”
To make matters worse, MLB Network reportedly took down the interview clip from their website and made the video private on YouTube.
Apparently, no one caught on to DeRosa’s mistake or warned him that his team did in fact need a win to ensure their spot in the WBC’s final eight.
Questionable managing moves
DeRosa managed the game like his squad had nothing to worry about, using depth players in what should’ve been a must-win situation.
He said in the interview that he wanted to get some guys “off their feet,” which resulted in Paul Goldschmidt starting over Bryce Harper at first base.
He also benched Cal Raleigh, Alex Bregman, Byron Buxton and Brice Turang to start the contest.
After having fallen behind 3-0, he also opted to use soft-tossing lefty Ryan Yarbrough instead of one of the team’s more formidable arms available. The decision backfired, with Italy extending its lead to 6-0 against Yarbrough.
The end result: An 8-6 upset at the hands of the Italians, a result that takes Team USA’s WBC fate out of their own hands.
To his credit, DeRosa attempted to clarify his remarks after Tuesday night’s loss, admitting that he was wrong.
“I misspoke,” he said. “I was on Hot Stove with a couple of buddies today and completely misread the calculations. We knew Mexico was going to play Italy and running all the numbers with if we lost tonight with the runs allowed and runs scored and outs. So, I just misspoke.”
What happens now?
Team USA will now have to watch and hope for a favourable result in Wednesday’s game between Mexico and Italy, with tiebreakers heavily involved.
The U.S. should be rooting hard for Italy, as a win by the Italians will put them through to the quarterfinals no matter the square.
However, if Mexico wins and scores fewer than five runs while doing so, then it will advance along with Italy, leaving the U.S. — heavy pre-tournament favourites to win it all – on the outside looking in.
After the game, Aaron Judge said that his team will now have to rely on some luck to make it through.
“It’s out of our control,” the reigning AL MVP said, per MLB.com. “Now we just need a little luck, and we’ll see what happens.”