Joe Maddon, Troy Worstofall, and Sunk Cost

"This fellow last year had 26 saves for us," Maddon said. "We went to the World Series last year and a lot of it was on his back. I can understand being not pleased, but with regard to the history of this organization, this guy played a big part in us getting there for the first time, and I hope the fans would remember that, too."

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/may/22/sp-joker-comes-up-aces-again-with-rays-in-a-pinch/

Definition of sunk cost:

"Sunk costs are unrecoverable past expenditures. These should not normally be taken into account when determining whether to continue a project or abandon it, because they cannot be recovered either way. It is a common instinct to count them, however."

Ok, great. So Percival had 26 saves for us... LAST YEAR . He's getting paid a big dollar. SO WHAT!? Decisions this year should not be made because of something that was accomplished last year, especially when considering a 39 year-old pitcher like Troy Worstofall, er, Percival, and he should not be given the closer's role simply because he has a closer's salary and a closer's past.

Losing now is not acceptable because we won a bunch of games last season. Blowing a bunch of saves and being just flat out terrible this year is not cool because you were good last year. It's water under the bridge and we're trying to sail to a World Series championship. And personally, I don't want Percival captaining that ship (I'll take him as a deck hand though).