The Dodgers said yesterday that, coming off of his last disastrous appearance (and perhaps Don Mattingly's epiphany on bullpen selections), Brandon League will only be used in low-leverage, low-stress situations:
Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and bullpen coach Chuck Crim watched video with League on Wednesday afternoon, trying to diagnose the source of the right-hander's troubles.
"Mechanically, they're showing him some things that he was able to do last year that is not the same this year," Mattingly said. "Hopefully, he can put some positive outings together and get some confidence back.""We're going to try to get him back and start piecing him back together," Mattingly said Wednesday. "We're going to put him in some situations that are a little less stressful. He was our closer at the beginning of the year. We know he's got the stuff."
I'm not hopeful League can get his head screwed on straight given low-stress performances; maybe a stint in the minors makes more sense? In any event, however, I'm glad Mattingly, who in May said he was sticking behind League, only to change his mind and say League is out as closer, only to bring him back Tuesday for another white-knuckle save situation. Donnie may change his mind again tomorrow, but at least for now, we're on the right path.
4 comments:
I think Mattingly is simply following Nomo's handy graph.
It's like, hell yeh we've won six in a row. But then it's like, but we're still six games under .500. Damn were we ever in a hole. Here's hoping my return doesn't break the streak.
Go back to Boston FOOL!
Sparky!
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