I wish they would hire Tony D. I thought he was great when he was here, both from a game management to a player development standpoint.

And what is this about Porter not embracing analytics. I definitely disagree with that. You're talking about the king of the infield shifts. My take on the situation is that Luhnow simply wants to meddle in game decisions at times, and that he can't at times see beyond the numbers. This is still a people game, and you have to deal with what your lying eyes are telling you sometimes.

I think back to the game late in June when Jerome Williams was brought in for a save situation. There was no reason WHAT-SO-EVER for Jerome Williams to be pitching in that game. When asked about it after the game, Porter said something to the effect that he could only use the guys that were available to him, and Qualls was not one of those. He had pitched two nights in a row, but one of those was 1/3 of an inning. This is the end of June, mid-season, with an off day the next day. Qualls could pitch. The result was a predictable loss, and Williams was waived the next day.

Now, he never went into why Qualls wasn't available. He only said that he could only use the guys that were available to him, and he did not seem happy about it. My take has always been, and the firing confirms this for me, that Luhnow and the stat boys figured that Qualls was not effective and that they needed to pitch Williams for whatever statistical match up reason they had. Ridiculous. That is meddling with game decisions, and I think Luhnow does that, and wants to do that, more and more. Look no farther than this half a game pitching concept in the minors. It's dumb. It turns every game into an exhibition, meaning the pitchers aren't ready for the Majors. He'd do it in the Majors, too, if he could get away with it. It's no wonder that Porter would chafe under that type of control.

I've criticized Porter's game management before, and I think it deserves some criticism. But I don't buy for a minute that Porter didn't embrace analytics. It's much more likely to my lying eyes that Luhnow is over-embracing analytics and interfering with the actual playing of the game. In the Chron today, Luhnow says the wins and losses the last two years are on him. Well, now most definitely that statement is true.