It was a tough day Friday as it was the first day of the White Sox offseason following their game three elimination loss to the Oakland A’s on Thursday. In a 6-4 loss, many of the White Sox fans and media argued as to who was to blame. Manager Rick Renteria has been the main topic of debate for who is to blame for the team’s loss, and in the postgame, he showed his biggest mistake of managing the game.
When speaking with reporters following the game, Renteria stated that rookie pitcher Garrett Crochet’s forearm injury, in the second inning, changed the initial plans on how they were going to use the bullpen for the game. Crochet left after recording two outs with both out being strikeouts. He relieved pitcher Dane Dunning, who started the game and taken out after 15 pitches.
“Quite a bit” said Renteria about how the Crochet injury altered their plans.
They were planning on two more innings from Crochet after he closed out the first inning, and while Crochet said he was fine, the way the velocity dipped gave them plenty of reason to be concerned
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) October 2, 2020
There are several issues with Renteria’s plan involving Crochet being the key pitcher in his plan for game three. The most prominent issue is that the White Sox manager seemed to have put all his faith in a rookie pitcher who was a first-round draft selection three months ago. Renteria expected the rookie to help get his team through an elimination game. Although Crochet has been impressive in his five appearances this season, allowing no runs and recording a WHIP of 0.50. It’s hard to understand how Renteria trusted a rookie pitcher over anyone else in the bullpen.
Rick Renteria is completely overmanaging this game. Not bringing a third starter for this series and relying on this bullpen by committee where he's yanking pitchers after any mistake may cost the White Sox this series
— Joseph Misulonas (@jmisulonas) October 1, 2020
The next glaring issue with Renteria not having a game plan following Crochet’s injury is that he did not seem to have a plan for if his rookie struggled. Chicago’s manager was quick to pull any White Sox pitcher once they were in trouble as Dunning, Aaron Bummer, Codi Heuer, and Carlos Rodon were all replaced once they allowed multiple runners to reach. If Crochet had stayed healthy and faced the same predicament as the other White Sox relievers, would Renteria pulled him and or had a backup plan?
There is also an underlying issue of trust Renteria displayed by going to Crochet so early on in the game. The move to bring the rookie fireballer in with two outs in the first inning showed that there was no trust in Dunning to get out of the inning or for the White Sox lineup to overcome an early deficit. Although it was a high leverage situation in the first inning, Renteria treated the moment as if had any run scored, it would have been a deathblow to the White Sox with 24 outs to go.
Frank Thomas on @NBCSChicago “We wasted all our top relievers the first four innings. How we gonna win?”
— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) October 1, 2020
This issue intensified when Bummer came in following Crochet’s departure. Instead of going to one of the team’s middle relievers in Jace Fry, Matt Foster, or Heuer, Renteria chose to go with the team’s best left-handed reliever in the second-inning rather than save Bummer for an even larger moment later in the game. Although it was the players that failed, giving up eight walks, the fear that their manager displayed in not wanting to allow runs could have weighed on the team’s mentally.
"First two innings, we gave it away" –@TheBigHurt_35
White Sox Postgame Live on NBC Sports Chicago now pic.twitter.com/WWHv5QiM2p
— NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) October 1, 2020
Chicago’s season came to an end as they tied a playoff record for most pitchers used in a game with nine. The issue that the team used its entire bullpen because the manager did not have a plan for his rookie pitcher getting hurt is borderline inexcusable. A majority of the White Sox relief pitchers demonstrated that they could work in high leverage situations all season. Renteria’s lack of faith in his relievers was shown by him putting all of the team’s stock in Crochet.
