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Colorado Rockies’ Manager Walt Weiss’ Late-Inning Reasoning Questionable On Monday

By Bobby DeMuro

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Jun 12, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; Colorado Rockies manager W. Weiss before a game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies had a chance to make things interesting in the ninth inning on Monday in Houston, but manager Walt Weiss’ interesting bench decisions may have hurt the club.

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I’ve defended Walt Weiss on this site before, arguing the Colorado Rockies’ manager deserves to be kept on board at least throughout the season to give him a full year under new front office management as he makes his case as on-field decision maker. Judging by our poll question, you guys agreed.

This won’t be a departure from that argument, and I’m not going to call for Weiss’ head after Monday night’s loss to the Astros. But there is something to be said for his comments to the Denver Post on Tuesday regarding his decision to stick with Rafael Ynoa in the ninth inning with two runners on, rather than pinch hit for him with Carlos Gonzalez.

Weiss told reporters, when asked if he considered using CarGo for Ynoa in the ninth:

"“I thought about it. ‘Raffy’ is a tough out and I was trying to extend the inning there. I thought about using CarGo in a couple of different spots that last inning. I decided against it. In retrospect I would have done a lot of different things over the course of the year. That’s kind of how it works. It was certainly a viable option to use CarGo.”"

Yes, yes it was — CarGo is healthy, and was available to play Monday night in Houston.

Look, hindsight is 20/20, and it’s likely CarGo could’ve hit into a double play just like Ynoa did to end the game. But it’s a really, really bad decision for Weiss to not bring up one of his best hitters when he had the chance to tie the game, or get close to it, in the ninth inning.

After Bud Black‘s firing in San Diego, perhaps fans around the league are itchy to pull the trigger on their own managers in bad situations. That’s understandable, though also premature. This alone isn’t a fire-able offense, so the pitchforks should probably be put away, if there’s anybody out there calling for his head over this one move.

But as Weiss’ career is evaluated by general manager Jeff Bridich and the front office during and/or after this season, this is one of those flat-out incorrect on-field decisions that must play a part in the process. And knowing what we know now about his health and availability, it is indefensible that CarGo did not hit for Ynoa in the ninth inning.

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