Michael Martinez is on a Major League Roster (Fireable Offense #725)

I don't blame Michael Martinez for making the final out in yesterday's game. He shouldn't be on the roster (Ruben Amaro Jr.), and he should never get an AB (Charlie Manuel). The result when these two preposterous scenarios happen?

 

Martinez, in the bottom of the 9th with runners on 1st & 2nd and 2 outs, doesn't deliver. Again, I don't blame him for this. How can you blame a career .188 hitter for not getting a hit?

So, how did we get to this moment in time?

First, for Martinez to be in this situation, he must be on the team, an honor most organizations make players earn.

In 2011, Mini-Mart played in 88 games (more than half), getting 234 plate appearances (sizable) and hit .196 (not good).  That performance obviously earned him a spot on the 2012 roster.

In 2012, Mini-Mart played in 45 games, getting 122 plate appearances, and hit .174 (that's somehow .022 worse than 2011). Conventional wisdom would say that .196 and .174 over two seasons in which the sample size is plenty high enough is a showing that would prevent a player from ever playing major league baseball again.

But, here we are. Mini-Mart is on the roster as chosen by GM Ruben Amaro Jr., which is enough of a reason for him to be fired. By having Martinez on the team, Ruben puts his manager in a tough spot - clearly not something we want to do to this manager.

Let's set the scene: it's the top of the 8th. The Phillies are down 4-2. Ryan Howard draws a leadoff walk, and Charlie Manuel pinch runs for Howard with Martinez. This is an obvious mistake - Howard's run is not the tying or go-ahead run (it's not that his run is meaningless - it's just not paramount to get that run across), and simple math tells you that it's likely Howard's spot would come up in a key situation. If of the next 8 batters, 5 or fewer make outs, Howard's up.

Sure enough, Howard's spot in the lineup does come back around with 2 outs, runners on 1st & 2nd, in the bottom of the 9th. The ultimate clutch situation in which you'd want your "best hitter" to be at the plate. Instead, he's out of the game, and Martinez is the goat.

It's costly errors like these that happen several times a week and turn the Phillies from a fringe contender to a 100% non-playoff team. And I haven't even mentioned the Mayberry insertion (he could've pinch hit for Martinez) or the Kendrick pick-off (could've been Martinez running, the only thing he isn't awful at), which were equally-horrendous managerial decisions.

Their jobs aren't easy, but these mistakes, especially Ruben's, are beyond comprehension. This isn't a '19 year-old gets black-out drunk' mistake. This is a 'we should jump off this third-story roof into that baby pool' mistake. This is a 'Michael Martinez is on a Major League roster' mistake.