Diamondbacks coach fires back at New York Mets broadcasters: ‘They’re idiots’

NEW YORK — Diamondbacks pitching coach Brent Strom is defending an in-game decision by manager Torey Lovullo that had drawn criticism during the New York Mets' television broadcast.

In the ninth inning on Monday night, Lovullo opted to have first baseman Christian Walker play behind pinch-runner Tim Locastro, a move that allowed Locastro to steal second base uncontested and put the go-ahead run in scoring position with two out.

Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen called it “as bonehead a managerial decision as I’ve seen all year long” on Monday night, then continued to criticize the move during Tuesday night’s game.

Strom fired back on Wednesday afternoon.

“I think Torey made a very, very good choice of playing behind Locastro, despite what the really smart Cohen and (Keith) Hernandez group had to say, because I think they’re idiots for what they said," Strom said.

The Diamondbacks led, 4-3, in the ninth on Monday. The Mets had the tying run on third, the go-ahead run on first and the left-handed hitting Brandon Nimmo at the plate against Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald.

The Diamondbacks felt they had no chance of throwing out Locastro. Stealing bases is essentially a math equation, and the numbers did not favor the Diamondbacks. Sewald’s time to the plate plus the time it would have taken for catcher Jose Herrera’s throw was greater than how long Locastro needed to make it to second base.

More importantly, they wanted their defenders better positioned for Nimmo. Diamondbacks assistant General Manager Mike Fitzgerald said Nimmo has a “very, very high ground-ball density through the four-hole” as well as “a decent one to straight-up shortstop.”

“Both of those become possibly impacted by holding the runner on or having to cover the bag,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald also pushed back on what he thought were questionable numbers put forth on the broadcast on Tuesday night. Cohen argued that the Diamondbacks improved the Mets’ chances of winning by “200 percent” because Nimmo gets a hit 26 percent of the time compared to getting an extra-base hit at only a nine-percent clip.

Fitzgerald said historical data suggests the Diamondbacks’ win probability only went down from 81 percent to 79 percent by allowing Locastro to take second, which he thought was worth the tradeoff of being able to better defend against Nimmo, who eventually flew out to center to end the game.

Strom said he felt the same way, saying the Diamondbacks were better off going into their “prevent defense.”

“What if we’re holding him on and (Nimmo) hits a 22-hopper, a left-handed pull hitter with a right-handed pitcher, if the left-handed hitter hits a 22-hopper into right field?” Strom asked. “Now we have first and third again. It was just worth it to roll the dice with it.”

Cohen thought the Diamondbacks would have been better served to at least see if the Mets might make a mistake. That is, see if they could use one of their two pickoff attempts to nab Locastro or see if a pump fake from the catcher might get the runner on third, rookie Ronny Mauricio, to venture too far off the bag.

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“It boggles my mind that you would make it that much easier for the opposition to win the game without trying to make something happen,” Cohen said on Tuesday's broadcast.

For what it’s worth, Diamondbacks coach Dave McKay said he got a call from Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa after Monday night’s game. In La Russa’s opinion, Lovullo made the right call.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks defend Lovullo from Mets broadcasters: ‘They’re idiots’