Angered Manuel says Contreras was not overused
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Angered Manuel says Contreras was not overused
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
PHOENIX -- Standing in the manager's office at Petco Park on Sunday, Ruben Amaro Jr. briefed reporters on Jose Contreras' strained elbow that forced him to the disabled list.
"He had been pitching quite a bit," Amaro said of the 39-year-old Contreras.
The GM continued: "I think it was just the work that he’s done. He didn’t indicate it was one pitch, just over time, especially after his outing on Thursday."
Amaro did not say Contreras was overused. He did imply it.
On Monday, Amaro was asked to clarify what he thought of the situation. He said he did not think Contreras had been overused.
"Charlie has done a great job with our guys," Amaro said. "I don't have any issue at all with how Charlie is using our guys."
Contreras threw 81 pitches in a seven-day span, appearing in games five times. He is on the disabled list with a strained flexor pronator tendon in his right elbow. An MRI will be performed Tuesday in Philadelphia.
On Monday, Charlie Manuel went on a long-winded rant against his critics. He did not name his boss, Amaro, specifically. Included below are the questions asked to Manuel for context.
Q: Did you feel like you had the personnel to be able to stay away from Contreras?
A: Do I feel like I had the personnel? I feel like, first of all, that there's no way in hell we overused Contreras. That's how I feel. There's no way. What did he pitch? The most games was three. Then he had a day off. He pitched five times in seven days. We weren't trying to stay away from him. He was closing games for us. That's how I look at it.
Q: Ruben has said he was used a lot.
A: I don't think he had been used a lot. Really. What's today? April 25? It's April 25 and I already hear our guys need days off. Guys need this. Guys need that. I've been listening to that for about four or five years now. The object of it is, like I tell our guys in the meetings, the brass, the object is for us to win the game. Every day we come to the ballpark, that's the object, to win the game. Now do you want to win or do you want to lose? To me, I want to win so I'll put the best team I possibly can on the field that day. I'll give you days off when I think so. That's part of my job too. If I'm going to be accountable for my job then you let me do the whole thing. You basically let me do my whole job. I don't need nobody to tell me what to do and how to do it. It's up to me to do it. That's how I look at it. If you want to talk about it and say something about it, that's fine too.
Q: Is anyone saying anything to you?
A: That's none of your business.
A few minutes later, the rant continued.
"We still have to play the game the right way," Manuel said. "Over the years I get tired of hearing people say we want him healthy in October. October is a long ways off. It’s April 25. A lot of time, hell, there’s a lot of people that aren’t going to make October.
Q: Is that stuff coming from the inside or outside?
It's coming from me today, all right? That’s where it’s coming from. I hear it all the time. I hear it from [the media]. From everybody. From everybody around the ballpark."
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How cool is Charlie! Get lost Ruben.. Jose you are a pu**y! and that doesn't say puppy.— dontruna- This is the problem when you have one reliable reliever (Madson) in the bullpen. Contreras is old, Lidge is injury-prone and slump-prone, Bastardo is talented but unproven, and the rest are filler. With Durbin they at least had another semi-reliable arm that could work the 7th or even the 8th, in a pinch. Now they're going to have to hope that night in and night out, the starters can go 8.— Mike P
- Such nonsense. We keep hearing how today's players are bigger, stronger, faster.
Yet they can't approach the pitch counts of guys from 40 years ago.— Alpheratz - Great journalism. Baiting him, then calling it a rant.— agamemnon
- LEAVE THE GUY ALONE AND LET HIM MANAGE...HE'S WON THE WORLD SERIES AND IMHO IS ENTITLED TO THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. WHAT HAS RAJ WON BESIDES THE TRADE DEADLINE BATTLE? A CY YOUNG? OOPS, SOME GUY NAMED ROY ACTUALLY WON THE AWARD BUT REUBEN WILL GLOAT ABOUT IT BECAUSE HE'S THE GUY WHO "MADE IT HAPPEN". AND I KNOW WE ALL SHOULD GENUFLECT AT RAJ'S FEET BECAUSE HE BROUGHT CLIFF LEE BACK-WHEN HE DIDN'T NEED TO LEAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE....PLEASE... BETTER YET, RAJ STOP WHINING ABOUT THE PAYROLL AND GET SOME BULLPEN HELP THAT DOESN'T COME DOWN THE NE EXTENSION FROM LEHIGH AND MAYBE UNDER AGE 37?— KimThL
- Charlie is overusing the pitchers. I don't think he knows how to manage them right. He's letting the starters pitch too long. Charlie is old school and back in the day a lot of players got hurt trying to be macho instead of smart. Contreras is old and Charlie should be smart and not overuse the old mule...is all.— greenflyer
- Leave Cholly alone. He won the benefit of the doubt when he won the ring. Cholly's telling you to make shut up. My suggestion, kick back, enjoy the ride and make shut up.— Voytas
- There are not many 39 or for all we know 49 yo closers out there....we really don't know how old Contreras is....and this is only his second year as a reliever...there is no doubt his arm is not conditioned to doing his current job...not after 25 years of being a starting pitcher. His tissues will fatigue more with his age and new tasks. He is an injury waiting to happen. It's not so much the number of innings he's thrown, it's the number of times he's thrown, all the warmups in games he didn't get into, and all the warmup prior to getting the call to come into the game. That's where the overuse comes in. Not closing, he did way less throwing. This was bound to happen and is probably worse than a flexor tendon issue. TRhat is a cover you arse heading to mean more damage to come. We gotta get younger on this team or we are headed down this road with many of our players over the next 2-3 years.— Mark1npt
Truck broke down before May? Wasn't gonna make it anyway. Let Cholly be Cholly and shut up.- ExiledinFla nailed it. This is a non story.— esesjay
- Score a few runs and we don't need to use him so often. The hitting absolutely blows.— krammar
- You tell him, Charlie. don't take no crud from nobody. don't let them tell you how to do your job. just win baby.— JohnnySak
- Oh no...don't use up the starters it's still early. Don't use up the bullpen, it's still early. Don't use the closer too much, it's still early. One thing is certain...if you play like you might get hurt, you'll get hurt and if you play hard like you're suppose to play, you'll get hurt sooner or later. If the players aren't crying, let them play.— WBFO
- I agree 100% with Charley— bill19666
not chuck's fault the closer is 39+ years old— MPatt24
