Veteran Leadership: Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn’t
March 30, 2008For the acquisitions of Craig Counsell (2004, 2007) and Jeff Suppan (2007), the talking point from the Brewers front office on both of them was experience.
Suppan — and I don’t need to remind you — was the 2006 NLCS MVP. He owns the postseason. He also owns a restaurant, loves Jesus and hates science. Guys in any clubhouse adore the player who will stand up against the use of human embryos.
Counsell won the World Series in 2001 for Arizona. He was a dominant front end of the rotation, pitching Game 1 with his right arm, Game 2 with his left arm. As a lefty, he stood 6-foot-10. And who could forget his single off of Mariano Rivera in Game 7 to bring home the winning run?
These were two huge pickups for the Brewers. Maybe more importantly, it gave beat writers the chance to do the “Young players caught sight of their World Series rings in the clubhouse and creamed their jeans” routine. What they lacked in talent was made up for in ring flashiness.
Well, that matters no more.
Veteran leadership was that absent element. With the exception of a few playoff-calloused guys like Craig Counsell and Jeff Suppan, the Brewers did not have that ever-important component.
Yeah, just those two. We weren’t serious about them bringing anything to the squad. Here’s the new breed of veterans, as appointed by Anthony Witrado, with bulletproof playoff credentials provided by baseball-reference.com. (These numbers are so impressive, they cannot be contained by one column.)
Guillermo Mota
Year Round Tm Opp WLser G GS ERA W L SV CG IP H ER BB SO +——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+——+–+–+–+–+—–+—+—+—+—+ 2006 NLDS NYM LAD W 2 0 6.75 1 0 0 0 4 6 3 0 5 NLCS NYM STL L 5 0 4.15 0 0 0 0 4.1 4 2 2 2 Mike Cameron Year Round Tm Opp WLser G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS SH SF HBP +——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+—+–+—+—+—+ 2000 ALDS SEA CHW W 3 12 2 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 .250 .308 .250 1 0 1 0 1 ALCS SEA NYY L 6 18 3 2 0 0 0 1 2 7 .111 .200 .111 1 0 1 0 0 2001 ALDS SEA CLE W 5 18 2 4 3 0 1 3 2 7 .222 .333 .556 0 1 0 0 1 ALCS SEA NYY L 5 17 3 3 2 0 0 0 4 4 .176 .364 .294 0 0 0 0 1 2006 NLDS SDP STL L 4 14 1 2 1 0 0 1 3 7 .143 .294 .214 1 0 Eric Gagne Year Round Tm Opp WLser G GS ERA W L SV CG IP H ER BB SO +——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+——+–+–+–+–+—–+—+—+—+—+ 2004 NLDS LAD STL L 2 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 3 2007 ALDS BOS LAA W 1 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 ALCS BOS CLE W 3 0 7.71 0 1 0 0 2.1 3 2 2 4 WS BOS COL W 1 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Gabe Kapler Year Round Tm Opp WLser G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS SH SF HBP +——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+—+–+—+—+—+ 2003 ALDS BOS OAK W 4 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 ALCS BOS NYY L 3 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .125 .125 .125 0 1 0 0 0 2004 ALDS BOS ANA W 2 5 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200 .200 .200 0 0 0 0 0 ALCS BOS NYY W 2 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 0 0 0 0 0 WS BOS STL W 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 Jason Kendall Year Round Tm Opp WLser G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS SH SF HBP +——+—–+—+—+—–+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+—+—+—+—–+—–+—–+—+–+—+—+—+ 2006 ALDS OAK MIN W 3 14 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 4 .214 .214 .286 0 0 ALCS OAK DET L 4 17 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 .294 .368 .294 0 0 2007 NLDS CHC ARI L 1 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .250 .250 .250 0 0 0 0 0 |
And to think, of all the newcomers, the one who interested me most was David Riske.
Ten keys to the Brewers making the playoffs in 2008
March 30, 20081. The starting pitching staff has to stay healthy and be really good.
2. Jason Kendall has to stay healthy and be really good.
3. Prince Fielder has to stay healthy and be really good.
4. Rickie Weeks has to stay healthy and be really good.
5. Bill Hall has to stay healthy and be really good.
6. J.J. Hardy has to stay healthy and be really good.
7. Ryan Braun has to stay healthy and be really good.
8. Mike Cameron has to stay healthy and be really good.
9. Corey Hart has to stay healthy and be really good.
10. The bullpen has to stay healthy and be really good.
The Sausage Race, on the ski slopes
March 28, 2008From the looks of the geography, this was filmed in Wisconsin. (I would mute it.)
The ‘Yost leaving his post’ post
March 28, 2008Vegas Watch tonight posted the odds of MLB managers leaving their posts this season. It’s more fun to think of it as most likely to get fired, but I suppose they can’t have any gray area when Ozzie Guillen announces he’s “stepping down to spend more time with his family.”
So yeah, Guillen is No. 1. No surprise.
Ned Yost is No. 3 at 8-to-1. No surprise there, either. He has a team for which great expectations have been set. He has an owner constantly congratulating himself for spending money. He has several Web sites dedicated to his firing. He’s a pretty good candidate.
Here’s a surprise: Jim Leyland is tied for least likely to leave his post. He and Joe Torre are both 50-to-1. Torre I get, but … Leyland is 63 years old, looks like he’s 81 and smokes a pack and a half of cigarettes before the top of the third inning. No one would be surprised if he leaves his post for the afterlife sometime in late April.
Andrew Bogut’s fake fives
March 27, 2008The Badgers may linger in the headlines a little longer, but the Brewers shouldn’t have too much in-state competition after that. Andrew Bogut can’t even get the rest of the Bucks to notice him.
Melvin’s Claudio vision clears up
March 25, 2008I’m in love with Doug Melvin right now for choosing talent over depth, choosing to eat a partial contract over playing it out, choosing Villanueva over Vargas. It should mean that Carlos gets the fifth start for the Brewers this year. And it should mean that Claudio is walking the bases loaded for Pittsburgh by Monday.
To be clear, I never had a problem with depth. Eight was a lot of starting pitchers, but the Brewers injure a lot of starting pitchers. I’m proud of Doug for taking the whole spring, seeing who was left with an arm and picking the best five.
Now, before Gallardo comes back, something else will have to happen. An injury in the bullpen could probably save Villanueva from being sent to Triple-A; otherwise, he’s probably out. I wish he didn’t know that, too. I wish he could go out and pitch like a starter with a guaranteed job, rather than a guy who’s still trying to impress management.
Counsell takes new stance
March 24, 2008Looks like Craig Counsell has changed batting stances for this season. I hope to not get a look at this thing more than 20-30 times all year.
Runs battled within
March 24, 2008During the radio broadcast Sunday, Bob Uecker talked about running into J.J. Hardy before the game and wincing at the shortstop’s appearance. After missing a string of games with flu-like or parasite-like symptoms, Uecker said Hardy had lost 10 pounds, and noticeably.
Uecker stopped just short of the weight-loss details:
“He’s had some stomach problems … and by that, I think you know what we mean.”
Answering Prince
March 16, 2008Prince Fielder asked a question in the newspaper Saturday:
Prince Fielder socked his first homer of the spring Friday night and in the process probably calmed a few fears in Brewer Nation. Because Fielder had announced he had changed to a vegetarian diet before the start of camp, some wondered if it resulted in a loss of power.
“Were people getting panicky?” asked Fielder, who went 32 at-bats before going deep.
Answer: Unfortunately, it seems some people were, but two-thirds of those people are beat writers for the team. The other guy answered a leading question on their blog. Most people seem to understand that protein is easily replaced.
Weren’t we told at the beginning of camp that Fielder is working on things — like the ability to steer the ball through Gwynn’s 5.5 hole? That’s Spring Training. I’d be disappointed if he just went down there and Burnitzed the whole time.
The strikeout numbers that Weeks and Hart are posting concerned me a little, but then I remembered that it’s totally gay to put any meaning on 30 practice at-bats.
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Tags: Brewers, js, power loss panic, prince fielder, spring training numbers, vegetarians
Tags: Brewers, js, power loss panic, prince fielder, spring training numbers, vegetarians
A tale of two tales
March 10, 2008One tale, really, but with two different endings, appearing in the Journal Sentinel on back-to-back days.
The first version showed up as a blog post on Sunday from Anthony Witrado. To paraphrase: The Ned Yost we know and the Ned Yost who is his son look sort of alike. Eric Gagne only knew about one of them and mistook the other for his manager. The next day, the elder Ned tried to goof on it.
“What are you doing?” Yost asked Gagne the next day. “I got a report that you were yelling and screaming at some kid. You pulled down the window and (said), “Where’s this (darn) golf course?”
Gagne didn’t much fall for the joke, but did say the father and son don’t look too much alike.
The joke didn’t work, and the blog post didn’t offer up comparative pictures of the Yosts in question, so thanks for this.
On Monday, the print version of the nugget was prepared a little differently. Same story, juicier ending.
To play a prank on Gagne, the manager approached him the next day and said, “What are you doing? I got a report that you were yelling and screaming at some kid. You pulled down the window and (said), ‘Where’s this (darn) golf course?’ ”
A stunned Gagne was trying to explain himself when Yost laughed and broke the news that the other driver was his son.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha, Christ. Come on, editors. You know both versions are still available, right? You know that we don’t have to go to the public library and roll through miles of microfiche anymore to call you on this.
Here are the look-alikes. Might as well be brothers, am I right?
