Should Kevin Cash Be Fired?

Yeah, I know that outside the long suffering Rays fans in the I4 corridor and Southwest Florida nobody would give a damn. But I like to post an occasional article that is outside the field of politics and besides politics nothing starts an argument like baseball. 

Considers these facts:

• The Rays rank fifth in the major leagues in home runs yet close to the bottom in runs scored. 

• Evan Longoria is having a career year, yet was not an all-star because the Rays are ranked dead last in the AL East with a record (as of this writing) of 46-69.

• The vaunted star pitching rotation disappeared this year with a team ERA of 4.19.

What has led to this awful performance? In a word, cash. Kevin Cash to be exact. 

The first factoid indicates that Cash can’t put together a lineup. He has the requisite number of power hitters to average 5 runs a game.

The second factoid indicates a tremendous waste of Longoria’s talents and is related to the first factoid.  Cash can’t seem to put a batter in front of Longoria who can a) get on base and/or b) stop hitting into double plays.  Too often Longoria is the lead-off batter or is up with the bases empty so any extra-base hit he gets is of limited value. 

Cash also eschews the bunt, hit and run, and/or any small-ball plays the get runners on base. Electing instead to play conservative station to station baseball.  It’s almost like he’s the anti-Madden. This is not a particularly good idea when you play half your game in cavernous (and I mean literally cavernous) Tropicana Field.

Finally, that brings us to the third factoid, Cash cannot handle a pitching staff.  His decisions have been arbitrary and illogical. His philosophy seems to be to get the strike-out every time instead of pitching to contact. (Again at the Trop Fly Balls go to die.) This elevates a starter’s pitch count, which in turn shortens his outing, which in turn stresses the bullpen, which in turn – well you know the rest. 

This one can’t be blamed on the front office folks. Cash got the tools he needed to field a comparative team, and like last year he failed miserably. Cash could be forgiven for his rookie year as a manager but he hasn’t learned a damn thing.
With September call ups just around the corner, the rest of the Rays season is about the future. Do we really want Kevin Cash handling that future? I vote no.