I'm not arguing against a 120 pitch count in itself. It seems even to me that it is close to the max for most pitchers. I'm arguing against managers pulling pitchers seemingly prematurely. If the guy looks tired or struggling, then fine, pull him. But if he's not, then why risk bringing in a reliever who may or may not have his stuff tonight. I also don't believe that all pitchers get tired after a certain point. I would guess that some get tired at 120, some at 100, some at maybe even 40. And from what I've read, Jazayerli and Woolner agree with me, but it seems like many baseball people do not. Some people hear something bad and then instantly go to the opposite extreme. Again, count the pitches, but don't pull the guy just because he's hit the # you've assigned to him. Similarly, don't leave a guy in there who is tired or struggling just because he's not even close to his magic #.
One last thing. It seems to me that many pitchers have gone on to long successful careers under Mazzone. If he's using his eyes rather than an abacus and has had great success with his system, do you really want to fire him in favour of a monkey with a counting device? Maybe there's just not enough people out there with the knowledge of Mazzone. And so I guess if you cannot find someone like that, then the next best thing is the monkey.
