I like to add to my blog pretty consistently, but lately
there’s been more of the same old. Not
too much I haven’t covered already and/or anything I thought required 1,000 of
my words. Basically, we’ve been watching
the Yankees deteriorate in large part because of their manager’s complete
inability to discern important situations from the unimportant, and to choose
his pitcher(s) accordingly.
Like I said, nothing I haven’t covered before.
But I do like to contribute consistently, so here are some
thoughts of less depth, in no particular order:
Al Leiter
I need to remind myself, as I implore you to, that Al Leiter could throw a baseball 95 miles per hour 30 something years
ago. It is this trait – and this trait
only – that allows him to speak into a microphone, to an audience in 2017. Knowledge - about anything – has nothing to do
with his current position. I don’t mean
to pick on him, he’s hardly alone in that regard. But I think I’d rather stick pencils in my
eyeballs than listen to him defend the “win” stat by saying he’d like to see pitchers “gut out a win”. Implication being,
the pitcher who took the “loss” didn’t have enough guts. This, in addition to numerous other
departures from what would be considered logical thought.
Rizzo
Anthony Rizzo should have been suspended. What he did is exactly what the rule is
designed to prevent.
Gardner
Without much notice, Brett Gardner is slumping pretty
badly. On May 19th his on
base percentage was .381. Today it’s .340, which is below his career
average. Given his history of slow
second halves and the fact the Aaron’s have never played a full major league
season, I wouldn’t mind seeing Dustin Fowler get some time to give these guys a
breath.
Torres
The slide on which Gleyber Torres injured himself was not a
head first slide. Everyone can stop
talking about it. That is all.
I think Aaron Judge is more fun to watch than any player in
my lifetime. I write “I think” because
I’m not sure, I may be forgetting somebody.
Dwight Gooden in ’85 comes to mind as the only one close. I’m thinking Guidry in ’78, Reggie, Winfield,
Mattingly, Rickey and Jeter were all something to see – but this kid is a
SHOW.
All Star game
Despite Judge, along with a handful of other players who
have emerged as stars who I don’t get to see too often (Arenado, Blackmon,
Bellinger, Jansen, among others) who I’d like to, I still can’t get into the game
and the bro-fest it’s become. Gone are
the days when Ted Williams won an all-star game in the 9th inning
with a home run. Or when Mike Schmidt, who couldn’t throw or hit because of an
injured thumb was available anyway in case Tommy Lasorda needed him to pinch
run or stand in the on deck circle as a decoy.
Ever since players needed to be incentivized to you know, compete - I tuned out.
(Yes, I’m aware, that’s no longer a “thing”.)
Girardi #3
Recently, Joe Sheehan, a writer I follow, listed who he felt
were the best mangers in baseball, #1-#30.
This led the MLB network to do a similar list. Sheehan had Joe Girardi at #4, the MLB
network had him at #3, ahead of Joe Maddon.
What’s scarier:
A) The possibility that these “experts” don’t actually watch
Joe Girardi manage, and have zero clue about which they speak. Or…
B) They’re correct, and by definition, there are 20 something
managers in baseball worse than Girardi.
I think it’s “B” which is disconcerting.
Two caveats: One, I don’t think this is possible to do. In order to grade managers, you’d have to watch
literally every game, every day.
Secondly, they were only factoring in game strategy, not the ability to
manage humans and keep their shit together over 162 games. This makes the list more ridiculous, as Girardi
is great at the latter, amateurish at the former.
Thanks for reading and thanks as usual to baseball reference
for the stats.
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