Why Larry Bowa Is a Bad Manager
I’ve made it pretty clear in various venues that I think Larry Bowa is a terrible manager and that he needs to be fired before the Phillies will have a reasonable chance at success. I’ve been asked more than a few times why I feel this is the case, but I’ve never really laid out my reasons extensively. This, then, is my attempt at explaining, at some length, why Bowa needs to go.
The way I see it, there are two broad areas in which a manager can affect his team: motivationally and tactically.
Consider the motivational side of things. Now, I’ll grant that this is hard to quantify in any meaningful way, but there’s a handful of managers out there—Dusty Baker and Bobby Cox come to mind—who seem to be able to get better-than-expected performances out of their players; I don’t know what it is about these guys that turns players into overachievers, but there’s clearly something.
Contrast this with Larry Bowa. The team clearly hates him. Watch the dugout during a game sometime, you’ll see the players all ignoring Bowa and lack of life that belies a cold atmosphere. Last September, Pat Burrell publicly snubbed Bowa after hitting a home run, choosing to enter the other end of the dugout. The next day the Phillies responded by releasing Tyler Houston, who was both a close friend of Burrell’s and a useful player off the bench. An ongoing war in the clubhouse isn’t going to lead to very many championships.
But it goes even deeper than this. Back in 2002, contract talks with Scott Rolen started to break down when Bowa started ratcheting up rhetoric about Rolen. The two never got along, and when Bowa blamed the slow start in 2002 on Rolen, that probably killed any chance at re-signing Rolen. Was Bowa solely responsible for losing Rolen? Certainly not—but he was unquestionably a factor.
So Bowa’s not a motivator; he’s not going to be popular with the troops. But how is he tactically? Sadly, the answer is “not good.”
He’s got a bizarre obsession with having his guys bunt. Bunting is fine, say, in the bottom of the 9th inning of a tie game. In the bottom of the first, though, in a high-run-scoring environment, throwing away outs is just about the last thing you want to do. There’s not much sense in playing one-run strategies when most of the games have scores like 8-4, 7-5, etc. You’re better to play for the big inning early and worry about one-run strategies later on. Bowa doesn’t seem to understand this.
His lineup construction leaves something to be desired, too. Larry insists on hitting Abreu and Thome back-to-back in the lineup. The problem with this, of course, is that the two of them are susceptible to left-handed pitching; dropping Pat Burrell—who destroys lefties—in between them would make opposing managers’ jobs a little tougher and force them to either pitch to Burrell with a lefty or one of the other two with a righty. Instead, he hits them third and fourth, allowing opposing managers to use situational pitchers and avoid big innings.
His pinch hitting choices leave a bit to be desired, also; Doug Glanville—“hitting” at a .212/.257/.253 rate as of July 21—keeps getting into games. Now, Doug has some use as a pinch runner and defensive replacement, but by no means should he have a bat in his hands unless there’s absolutely no other options. Meanwhile, the Phillies’ best bet at center field—Marlon Byrd—has been banished to Scranton.
So, you might think that Bowa’s stronger with managing the pitching staff; think again. Every fifth day he trots Paul Abbott out to the mound. Abbott, unfortunately for him, isn’t even adequate on the mound. Thus far he’s managed to walk more hitters than he’s struck out and is giving up a home run every 3 to 4 innings. You might excuse this behavior if there were no other options available; sadly, Ryan Madson, a starter in the minor leagues, is stuck in long relief despite having an ERA of less than 2.00.
The worst part is that Madson’s sub-2.00 ERA isn’t even being put to good use in the bullpen. Bowa consistently uses his two best relievers—Madson and Billy Wagner—to pitch in low leverage situations while letting Roberto Hernandez—ninth worst reliever in the major leagues—pitch when the game is on the line in the 7th and 8th innings and men on base.
Now, don’t get me wrong, most of these problems are only going to cost the Phillies a game or two over a season; still, if you add them all up we’re talking about five, six, even ten games thrown away over the year. In a tight pennant race, that’s going to make all the difference.
The Phillies will not win anything while Larry Bowa is in the dugout. But their best players, Thome and Abreu, are already on the wrong side of 30—the time to win is now. So Larry has to go. I’d say “it sure was nice knowin’ ya,” but it hasn’t been.
I want to like Bowa, I really do, he was an ‘80 Phillie, but his managerial skills are just plain awful.
— Tom G. 1538 days ago #
— Curt Hart 1522 days ago #
But this team has the talent to win, now. The problem is at the helm.
— Yuda 1522 days ago #
— eric 1514 days ago #
— Mike 1473 days ago #
— Tom 1178 days ago #
— fess 1094 days ago #
— Brian Cashman 1080 days ago #
— Andy S. 1079 days ago #