Chris Capuano Will Start For Ben Sheets

The NL Central has already seen two of its six teams can their managers this year with two more (Jim Tracy, who's working for a new GM and Tony La Russa, who seems sick of St. Louis) likely to go at season's end. And apparently, Ned Yost would like to join them.

Facing a 2.5 deficit in the Central with little more than a week remaining, Yost was forced to choose a starter today when it became clear that Ben Sheets would be unable to go today with his gimpy hamstring. His choices? Claudio Vargas or Chris Capuano. True, Vargas has been shaky this year, but he pitched well in his last outing when Sheets went down. He's also not Chris Capuano. The Brewers have lost the last 20 games that Capuano has appeared in! He's lost his last 12 decisions. He's got an ERA of over 6.00 since mid-May. Let me say this, with emphasis: YOU ARE IN A GD PENNANT RACE! YOU ARE 2.5 GAMES BACK WITH TEN GAMES LEFT! YOU CANNOT MAKE CHOICES THAT WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY LOSE YOU A GAME AT THIS POINT IN THE YEAR!

I used to think that managers had a big final impact on whether a team was a winning team or a losing team. After a couple of years of really looking at it, it's become more and more clear to me that all managers really have to do is not screw things up. Maybe Capuano will go out and throw a gem against the Braves today, but as of right now there's no reason to think that he will, and that's what makes this an awful, awful move.