UT: Mets give Nady chance he never got in San Diego
"It's true I wanted to see him play," Towers said. "But it's not my job to write out the lineup. I have all the confidence in the world in my manager. It's not my job to say, 'Hey, this guy plays.' We had a lot of conversations about (Nady) and his potential. But it was all about winning games and if (Bochy) felt someone else gave us a better opportunity, then I'd always support him in that."
As far as I'm concerned all the blame belongs to Bochy, but as a GM there must be a way to convince him to play Nady. If I was GM I'd trade anybody that Bochy put in Nady's place. You want to play games Bochy? You want to play games? We can play games!
There were reasons - some credible, some not - why Bochy never found a permanent place for Nady while managing those final few months to win a division. Nady's best position is the one he plays now in right field, but Brian Giles effectively held that. First base became Nady's spot once Phil Nevin was traded to Texas, but that eventually grew into a platoon situation with left-handed hitters Mark Sweeney and Robert Fick. Third base was not an option, given that you don't treat a pennant race as a tee-ball game and experiment. A faster Dave Roberts was in center and a more experienced (albeit struggling) Ryan Klesko in left.
In my mind there was absolutely no reason why Nady shouldn't have had first base all to himself after Nevin left. Why give the job to utility / bench players like Fick and Sweeney? They did nothing special out there. Bochy must have been the only person in San Diego that didn't see that Nady was one of his best players.
Oh also, I don't buy the whole "matchups" reason that Bochy gives for not playing Nady. There was something else, there had to be something else. You don't sit one of your best players for the entire year because of matchups when you run out Klesko out there day after day when he obviously sucks. I'd love to know the real reason, it's got to be some amazing story.
