Joe DeCamara called Rob Thomson's decision not to use Bryce Harper or J.T. Realmuto as pinch hitters in the ninth inning of yesterday's game "embarrassing."
"I'm OK with [giving them a day off]," DeCamara said on Monday's 94WIP Morning Show with Jon Ritchie. "I totally accept that. But to not feel that they can grab a bat in the ninth inning, warm up a little bit...instead of Cal freakin' Stevenson or Garrett Stubbs. Jon, it's embarrassing! It's an embarrassing line of thought by Rob Thomson.
"And by the way, while you've got this seven game lead over the Braves. You've got a half a game lead over the Dodgers for home field advantage. You also have, and this has also gotten really close, you've got a one game lead on the Milwaukee Brewers. If you go behind the Dodgers and behind the Brewers you are now in the wildcard round of the postseason. That is suboptimal!"
Thomson, once again, decided not to use his star players during their off day—this time Harper and Realmuto—yesterday in the ninth inning of a an eventual 6-4 loss to the Nationals, allowing both Cal Stevenson and Garrett Stubbs to bat.
"This is not a one off, I mean we've seen this before from Rob Thomson," DeCamara continued. "And I love the guy as a guy, I respect him a ton as a guy, I respect him as a manager—he's done a lot of good things, his years in baseball. But he's got an adherence, a stuborness to doing things his way that I can only sum up this way...'I do what I do, because that's what I do.' It's unacceptable.'"
After the game, Thomson explained that he wanted to give Harper and Realmuto the full day off, as he is thinking about the long-term health of the club.