The Trampoline and the Brick Wall

PRELUDE
FLASH BACK to June 13th. JULIAN TAVAREZ has given up a walk-off grand slam to JASON KUBEL, who will go on to homer in every single game in the Boston/Minnesota series.
Across RED SOX NATION, swear words become a popular dialect.
A man named ANDREW LIPSETT posts a game thread article. A “conversation” ensues between LIPSETT and EVAN BRUNELL. BRUNELL says that TAVAREZ should have been in the game. LIPSETT wants MANNY DELCARMEN. Quoth he:
MDC hasn’t proven he can because he hasn’t gotten the chance to. Tavarez hasn’t proven he can handle it because he’s been given many chances, and has shown himself to be grossly incompetent. In that scenario, you try the guy who hasn’t proven he can, rather than the one who’s rather spectacularly proven that he CAN’T.
Put it this way: You’re trying to get to the other side of a large brick wall. The method you’ve been trying involves running at it really fast and seeing if it breaks. Every time, you just wind up with a headache. Then someone hands you a trampoline; you don’t know that it’ll get the job done, but you also don’t know that it won’t. Would you rather keep running at the wall, or give jumping a try?
EARL of the GYS NETWORK opines that (the) “brick wall analogy only holds to the extent that you can confidently say there’s zero risk in using the trampoline now. Maybe people who spend much more time than we do thinking about trampoline development feel that the it would actually be best for the trampoline’s long-term propsects if it were held back in AAA (children’s parties and the like) for a while, before being sent out to help people over brick walls right away.”
TROTSKY extends it, saying that “perhaps you could bring it out, bounce on it cautiously until you feel confident that it’ll support your weight when you get higher and higher each time and then when you can see over the wall at last….. you start to go for it. My opinion is that that is where we are at with MDC.”
A nickname for MANNY DELCARMEN is born: The Trampoline.
Of course, DELCARMEN is not only a baseball player, but a businessman as well. Thus, a product is born.

END PRELUDE
All jokes aside, the above was a little recap for those who missed how MDC is hereby known as the Trampoline, or as Zach said yesterday, ‘the Tramp.’ It’s also a way to introduce the topic today.
Coming off a bitter three-game sweep against the accursed Twinkies, (consider me a Yodels fan now) the question is raised.
Do we lean on the trampoline that is cautiously being tested, just to check it out? Maybe it’ll get us over the brick wall, but maybe the development of the trampoline will be hindered, or we’re not sure if our weight will hold it yet.
I find it a bit amusing that Trampoline coughed up a grand slam two nights ago to further illustrate this. Would he have given up a grand slam if he had come in for Tavarez three nights ago?
Who knows. Probably not. But he could have potentially given up a double, a groundout moving him to third, a walk, a sac fly, and then a walk-off home run.
The point trying to be made is that he gave up one. Over these parts lately, Jermaine Van Buren and Trampoline have come to be considered infallible – part of the Greatest Rookie Relievers In The Entire History Of The Game Who Just So Happen To Be In Boston. We’ve got one – Jonathan Papelbon, so certainly Trampoline and JVB must be, too!
Papelbon is one of a kind. He’s mentally tough at this young age where many are not (prime example here is Zach Grienke, who was placed on the DL with psychological issues which many say stem from the Royals’ complete inepitude) but for some reason, we’re expecting Papelbon production out of Van Buren and Delcarmen.
They’re rookies, and unless they’re awe inspiring rookies who succeed right out of the gate like Jonathan Papelbon or a multitude of former Rookies of the Year, they need to be brought along slow. Kevin Youkilis was, and we all mutter about how we wished we had him in 2005 – but how much did 2005 contribute to his 2006 dominance? I don’t know, but I have a nagging feeling it had a lot of impact on how well he’s gotten off this year.
Using Trampoline and Van Buren in tight games with a lot on the line, I think is a recipe for disaster. Why do it when you have a “Proven Veteran” who HAS gotten the job done in the past and who is being paid to do this? I’m not saying money is the driving force as to how much a player plays, but I think you get my point.
statistics not including last night’s game
RUDY SEANEZ 2006: 26.2 IP, 4.39 ERA, 1.50 WHIP
JULIAN TAVAREZ 2006: 29.1 IP, 5.83 ERA, 1.60 WHIP
MANNY DELCARMEN 2006: 12.0 IP, 5.25 ERA, 1.75 WHIP
JERMAINE VAN BUREN 2006: 9.1 IP, 9.64 ERA, 1.93 WHIP
Someone remind me again why we want the latter two superseding the former two?
Look, I’m not trying to illustrate that Delcarmen and Van Buren are lousy. Truth be told, I am extremely high on both and believe they can anchor our bullpen for a long, long time. Even Francona said as much in the Globe yesterday, speaking of Manny Delcarmen – “Sometimes with youth you don’t see the same pitcher with the bases loaded as you do when there aren’t any men on base,” Francona said. “I love this kid [Delcarmen] to death. I think he’s going to be really good. That’s part of growing up as a major league player or pitcher, learning to throw your pitches in a tight spot as opposed to nobody on. He’s learning. He will.”
He’s learning. He’s learning. Tavarez HAS learned. That’s why it’s easy to get on him, because he shouldn’t be pulling this stuff.
We wouldn’t get on Delcarmen. We’d shrug and say, “oh well. He’s a rookie.”
Sorry. I don’t work like that. I’d much rather give the ball to the person who’s been doing this for a living for years and isn’t learning on the job. Just like I would rather turn this website over to Ben Kabak, a Yankees fan to cover the Red Sox rather than to a 10-year old kid, no matter the brilliance he’d have. I’d tutor the kid and turn the keyboard over to Kabak. Actually, this is kind of what happened on Fire Brand. When I brought Zach on, he was a little wet behind the ears, and Andrew and I took charge of the substance on Fire Brand until the doldrums of the offseason. I intentionally adjusted the schedule to have Zach writing three times a week through the doldrums of the offseason. I remember Zach questioning me, asking if I was sure I wanted to have him write this much when he wasn’t that great. (By the way, Zach, you ARE great, you’re too hard on yourself.) My answer was yes. And you can see a marked difference between Zach’s previous writings and his writings now. The kid’s around to stay. Zach has had his fair share of criticism in the comments – some gentle, constructive criticism, and some pretty biting comments. He took those comments, those experiences, and he learned. And more importantly: he learned without being pressured, without being thrown in the fire.
It’s all about teaching. About learning. About bringing people along. To just toss Delcarmen and Van Buren in the fire is foolish. I’m glad Francona recognizes that. I’m also glad that he recognizes the exceptions to the rule – the pure talent, the pure toughness that is Jonathan Papelbon.
Delcarmen and Van Buren are not exceptions to the rule, and this is not meant as an insult at all. Everyone’s different. Alex Rodriguez was thrown in the fire and produced right away. Mariano Rivera started ten games for the Yankees in 1995 and had a 5.51 ERA, then spent a season behind John Wetteland.
I’ve bought Manny’s Trampoline. I’m just not bouncing on it yet. But I will. We all will. In due time.