Postseason Managerial Report Card: Will Venable

Each October, FanGraphs grades each playoff. We focus on game plans because a lot of the key parts of the job — things like keeping players ready to go and making sure relievers understand their role so they know when they can be deployed — aren’t always apparent to us from the outside looking in. There is much that managers never get to see in the public eye, so these report cards are a key place in the rest of their judgments, which come into play when they shine.

We try to evaluate those decisions in the process, not the outcome. A pitching change is not necessarily a bad thing because the reliever who comes into the shell gets it, or the good thing that comes out of the jam. That’s not to say it’s a bad decision – if you’re bringing in the closer eight, or your worst pitching face to Yordan Alvarez when you draw the line, you’ve made the wrong call. But before us, it is important to know what we can expect when the manager makes a change or calls for a pinch. It’s not good to completely ignore the results, but it’s also bad to fixate on them, and it’s my hope that our report cards balance out.

Earlier this month, Jon Becker wrote about four recruits who lost in the Wild Card round. This week we’re adding the Losing Division Series into the mix. Jon and I have already covered Craig Stammen and Aaron Boone. Then: Venable and the White Sox.