Interim Jim Risks John Lannan's Arm for a Dumb Stat that Even BBWA Writers Don't Care About Anymore

Despite the fact that he plans to skip Tom Gorzelanny's turn in the rotation and therefore has a starting pitcher ready to use on full rest, Jim Riggleman sent John Lannan out to pitch the fifth inning today after an hour-long rain delay. Why? Apparently to qualify him for a win.

It's a dangerous move--fans might remember who Joe Girardi doomed Josh Johnson to Tommy John with a similar move a few years ago.

Will Lannan get hurt? Who knows. But it's an unnecessary risk, and the manager's whole job is to play the percentages to optimize the outcomes from the team he has. To expose a key piece of his already weak rotation to injury is reckless.

But Riggleman will tell anyone who asks that he knows nothing about pitcher mechanics. And when asked about Kerry Wood, who he notoriously overworked as a 20-year-old rookie, he insists that there's nothing to learn from any pitcher who gets hurt--pitcher injuries according to Jim are entirely random events that can never be prevented by workload management, long toss, or anything else.