Ned Yost is totally owned by the players
April 14, 2008Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun asked Yost if they could switch spots in the order, and he did it.
Proud of you, Ned. Though I notice you changed your tone a little. What you called a rash decision a few days ago is now …
“It’s not a major deal in the context of what we’re trying to do,” he said. “Failed experiment? I don’t buy it. It’s just a switch. They’re staying in the two premier hitting spots in the lineup.
Anyway, I’m sure it had a big effect. I’m sure those two started hitting immediately and didn’t go a combined 1-for-9 or anything.
If Ben Sheets weren’t the ace, there wouldn’t be one
April 13, 2008Tom Haudricourt went for the gotchy’all after Saturday’s performance by Ben Sheets, stating again that Sheets is the team’s ace, and eff you if you’ve ever e-mailed him otherwise.
I agree. Most everyone agrees. Chris Capuano wasn’t an ace when he was recording all those wins. Jeff Suppan was never any team’s ace. Gallardo and Parra: maybe someday, who knows.
Where I disagree is with Tom’s implied statement that the best pitcher on the team is the ace. Nope. I think it’s perfectly acceptable for a team to not have an ace (Pittsburgh). I think it’s OK for a team to have two aces (San Diego).
If Sheets didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be necessary to elevate the next-best guy.
Well, if Prince and Ryan ask …
April 12, 2008I guess I was wrong. I guess Tom Haudricourt was right. While I sure don’t care how Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun are positioned in the batting order, there are two people who do not work at the Journal Sentinel who do care: Fielder and Braun.
The Brewers’ site says the Nos. 3 and 4 hitters asked Ned Yost on Saturday if they could be flipped in the order for Sunday’s game.
The article recaps what Yost has been saying all along:
“It’s a placebo,” Yost said. “It’s the ebb and flow of a Major League season. You go up and you go down, you get hot and you get cold. It’s nothing to panic about. … You don’t start making rash decisions.”
Well, I wouldn’t call a decision like this rash, but otherwise, totally agree. There’s nothing about the move that should fix the two.
But.
If they asked … if it matters to them … just go ahead and do it already. It won’t make a difference, but if they think it makes a difference, it might make a difference.
Prediction: I believe Ned would have been much more likely to say yes if it weren’t already published that it was the players’ idea. Now he’s gotta represent. Players don’t tell managers what to do. He’s a 380-439 career manager, god dammit. I say Prince is still batting third and Braun fourth on Sunday.
J.J. Hardy looking out for J.J. Hardy
April 12, 2008This MLB article about J.J. Hardy gets around to some greedy quotes, but first, it sets the table with something we’re accepting too unquestioningly.
Yost is batting his pitchers in the No. 8 hole when catcher Jason Kendall is in the lineup, relying on extensive statistical data that says such an alignment will boost the Brewers’ run production over the long haul.
How many people are writing about this “extensive statistical data” without actually seeing it? I haven’t found any publication of the data or list of metrics that contributed to the data or any of the specific findings of the data. I’ve only been told that there is data, and that this data has already proved the doubters to be incorrect.
Look, Brewers, I don’t care one way or the other if you bat the pitcher eighth. Just don’t pretend like you know something I don’t, unless you’re going to tell me what you know that I don’t. (And don’t pretend it’s working just because Jason Kendall has been hitting a lot of doubles.)
Now, here’s J.J., not hiding very well that individual numbers matter to him.
“It’s not going to be the 80 RBIs, for sure, if it stays that way all year,” he said. “I don’t want it to sound like I am unhappy. If we’re going to score more runs with Jason as the second leadoff guy, OK. But at the same time, it’s going to take away opportunities for me to produce runs. It’s, ‘flip a coin.’”
Exactly, flip a coin. No Brewer fan cares who produces the runs. Only J.J. Hardy and rotisserie baseball players who drafted J.J. Hardy and the future Mrs. J.J. Hardy, who will be living off J.J. Hardy’s salary, care whether J.J. Hardy produces the runs. (Bear with me here. I’m pretending J. J. Hardy said his quote referring to himself in the third person and mocking him accordingly.) Who is hearing this argument and agreeing, “Yes, he’s right. We need J.J. Hardy to be the one producing runs. This does not work for me when other people produce as many or possibly more runs.”
He did have a pretty good quote in the Journal Sentinel, though. Something that should make him a few friends in the pitching staff.
“When you’re hitting .180 (.212 now), it’s kind of like a pitcher anyway. It’s like back-to-back pitchers.”
And when Kendall finds his stroke, it’ll be three in a row.
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Tags: Brewers, extensive statistical data, greed, jason kendall, jj hardy, money, rbi production
Tags: Brewers, extensive statistical data, greed, jason kendall, jj hardy, money, rbi production
Because Prince Fielder is left-handed, we must make every effort to protect him
April 12, 2008This is why we have beat reporters. To investigate the questions no one is asking.
Neither Prince Fielder nor Ryan Braun has prospered in his new spot in the batting order over the first 10 games but Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost said Friday that it was too soon to flip-flop them.
Fine. Nice tidbit for the bottom of your notebook. What else you got?
“I’m not apt to change this early,” Yost said before the Brewers lost, 4-2, to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. “I’ll give it its due course. I’ll look at it awhile longer.
Oh, we’re still proving that first one? It’s been 10 games. One-sixteen-point-twoth of a season. See you in June. If Fielder still has no home runs and is still eating those muscle-crippling soy burgers, we will revisit this.
Fielder batted fourth most of the season last year, with Braun ahead of him. Braun won the National League rookie of the year award and Fielder became the youngest player to slug 50 home runs in a season.
Two nice seasons from two players who seem to be developing into nice hitters. Point made.
Because Fielder is the only left-handed hitter in the Brewers’ regular lineup this season, Yost decided to protect him with Braun.
Pardon?
Because Fielder is the only left-handed hitter in the Brewers’ regular lineup this season, Yost decided to protect him with Braun.
The sentence construction here boils down to “Because _______, Yost decided ________.” So many things would fit in these blanks, because it is Ned Yost’s job to make all sorts of decisions. “Because Derrick Turnbow is fragile emotionally, Yost decided to only use him when it doesn’t matter.” “Because Gabe Gross threw an opposing team’s batted ball over the fence for a home run, Yost decided a better defensive player should start in center field for the remaining 151 games.” “Because he was friends with Dale Earnhardt and believes in magical spirits, Yost decided to wear his 3 t-shirt under his uniform for every game.”
Haudricourt’s statement doesn’t follow the same formula. There is no need in the first clause that is solved in the second. They’re two independent statements.
[1] Prince Fielder hits from the left side of the plate. Often, he is the only such player in the lineup. This is true. [2] Ryan Braun has been batting immediately after Fielder in the lineup. True again. (We’re conceding the point that this “protects” Fielder, who, as was stated above, hit 50 home runs in 2007 while finding his crucial protection from a variety of other sources.)
But why does the fact that Fielder is left-handed necessitate his being protected? The annual “Left-Handed Performance By A Team Award” was canceled in 1987 after it was awarded to Tony Gwynn, John Kruk and Tim Flannery, whose Padres finished sixth in the NL West, exposing the myth that a hitting statistic for a subset of a team equals success.
Back to the thing.
Yost said the key was for Braun to be selective at the plate without Fielder behind him for protection. Braun has not been selective, however, drawing no walks in 44 at-bats while hitting .227 with three homers and seven runs batted in. …
Braun was not alone in his impatience at the plate. The Brewers have drawn only 19 walks, the lowest total in the league. Their .302 on-base percentage ranked 12th among the 16 teams.
“That’s the only real negative aspect of our offense right now,” Yost said.
No big deal. It’s just that one aspect.
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Tags: Brewers, controversy that did not exist a minute ago, js, left-handed, lineup retooling, prince fielder, ryan braun, small sample sizes, tom haudricourt
Tags: Brewers, controversy that did not exist a minute ago, js, left-handed, lineup retooling, prince fielder, ryan braun, small sample sizes, tom haudricourt
There are better jobs for cool people
April 5, 2008Manny Parra made the Brewers roster out of Spring Training and he was named a member of the starting rotation in what will be his first full season in the majors.
He’s nervous. He admitted that to Trenni Kusnierek, who relayed the quote this way on the FSN pregame show:
Manny Parra said he’ll be nervous, he’ll have the jitters, but he says if you’re not a baseball player and you don’t get a little nervous before your first start … well, then you’re probably not in the right business.
What is the right business for someone who doesn’t get nervous? I was thinking baseball might be a good place for that person. But baseball, in fact, does not want these people. This is the right business for people who crap themselves and crumble emotionally when given an opportunity.
(We’re giving Trenni a pass on the “if you’re not a baseball player” part. This is, after all, her first season with the Brewers, too. We can’t expect her to not be a little nervous; it’s part of the business.)
((Update: On the postgame show, she just asked Ryan Braun what’s so different about this year’s team versus last year’s team that they’re now able to win the one-run games. … Last year, the Brewers won more one-run games than they lost (22-21). We may have to start keeping track of these.))
Hang your heads, Miller Park facilities staff
April 5, 2008Packer fans pee in sinks. So what.
Now Brewer fans pee in buckets. And barrels. And makeshift toilets. And pickup trucks. And stadium seats (unconfirmed). And in the secret sauce (unconfirmed).
And, of course, in their pants.
Brewer defense poised to pick up pitching staff
April 5, 2008He’s no graphic designer, but TCW at Four Blocks To Miller Park has some solid thoughts on the Brewer defense after four games.
Essentially, the pitching staff last season looked bad because of the defense and eventually was bad because it just wore down.
The Braun-Hall-Gwynn/Kapler shuffle makes them better already, and the addition of Mike Cameron will maintain it, while also likely adding offense. It was all part of Doug Melvin’s bullpen-defense upgrade plan.
Another Doug Melvin plan: snapping up all the players with stimulant and HGH backgrounds while other GMs are afraid of them. Just standard Moneyball operating procedure, right? Exploiting a weakness in the market?
Derrick Turnbow throws a wicked screwball
April 3, 2008Watching the game live now on MLB’s Gameday application. Derrick Turnbow is pitching to Felix Pie and … Oh my god, look at the movement on that thing! You know what it takes for a righty to throw that inside-out pitch?
Guy should be unhittable.
Michael Attanasio: You add nothing to this broadcast
April 2, 2008Really, I’m not even sure why Mark Attanasio is being interviewed. He’s the owner. He has nothing to do with the team on a game-to-game basis. The only questions for him are about payroll and … that’s it, I guess.
He sure shouldn’t get the chance to tell Craig Coshun about how the team is “doing all the little things to win.” That’s a cliche for a manager. And he shouldn’t get the chance to thank his wife for all the hard work she’s doing, preparing for his private opening day party. We are not impressed by this.
But he’s in charge. He owns the cameras, he owns Craig Coshun, and if he wants to be interviewed, I suppose he gets to be interviewed. And if he wants to use his airtime to introduce us to his other family members … well, that’s a little self righteous.
Game 1: Michael Attanasio appears next to his father, who talks about something. Davey Nelson puts his arm around Michael, who is not involved. The interview ends as Craig Coshun turns to the camera, leaving the Attanasio family with an awkward “Are we … yeah, it’s … should we just? … go away, right? … OK” stutter-step.
Game 2: Michael Attanasio gets his big chance. After another hug from Davey, he leans in to announce, “I miss you mom. Can’t wait to come home.”
Nice, Mike. Someday you’re going to take over this team from your father, Fox Sports Net is going to dig deep in the archive and pull out you saying, “I miss you mom. Can’t wait to come home.” You couldn’t have thought that through.