Red Reposter - 7/13/09

i think he hit the nail on the head.

But he’s still a tool!

He picked Bubba Crosby as The Worst Person In the World. Putz.

and he wouldn’t leave Ken Burns alone. His post on Manny and Gehrig was silly (as is any post with a bunch of moralizing over PEDs). I was willing to go with it, because MLB now has a policy and people not following it are cheating and I’m not a fan of cheating. But, then he had to bring in ARod and McGwire and all sorts of silly other stuff, allowing for a self-righteous rant against people who weren’t even breaking those rules.

From looking over his posts, he love of the game is obvious and his knowledge is fun. I did like the 40 minutes I spent reading there

I doubt they’ll rush him back. Plus, I’m glad to hear that there is no ligament or tendon injury. It seems to me that that’s often what lingers on wrist stuff.

Just trying to be optimistic.

that they will rush him back so that he can rehab before the minor league season is over, though I imagine they have some sort of extended minor league program where he can work out in August and September.

I am having baseball withdrawl right now. Not just because one day is off, but because I know there will be none tomorrow!

since these guys basically play every day, unlike football, which is once a week, or basketball which is a few times a week.

It seems like a fair trade – arbitration clock time for fulltime MLB experience.

Melky Cabrera was called up from AAA by the Yankees and wasn’t ready. He screwed up spectacularly, and it affected him so badly that he crashed all way back to AA.

And that burned option came back to bite the Yankees. They’d have liked to send him to AAA this year, but couldn’t, because he’s out of options.

Dusty does the 90% of managing that counts

That’s problem number one.

Management signed Taveras and assured Dusty he could hit. Dusty believes he is slumping. He ain’t working himself out of a slump by sitting.

Dusty made it clear last year that he wasn’t managing “his guys”. One can only assume that bringing in Taveras was largely endorsed by Dusty. Also, believing that Taveras is “just slumping” doesn’t make me too confident in Dusty.

Meanwhile, he has a terrible, miserable offense (27th in runs scored)

His offense is terrible, yet he refuses to do anything about it and play the players that would be more productive.

None of his players, except Dickerson and Votto, have exceeded expectations.

I think Weathers, Rhodes, Hannigan, Cordero, and Owings would have something to say about that.

His weird line ups exacerbate the problem, but there isn’t a solution on the team. They are the 15th/16th offense in the NL and that’s not Dusty’s fault nor is completely Taveras’s

It isn’t completely their faults, but it doesn’t help that Dusty puts no emphasis on OBP, and continues to bat players with ridiculously low OBP’s at the top of the order.

The one thing that is true is that firing Dusty helps nothing. It won’t make the team win and it might actually hurt.

What could it hurt?

Additionally, bringing up Heisey or Stubbs means creating room on the 40 man roster, which means they lose a player or place someone on the 60 day DL, which they don’t want to do to Jay, because they want him back

Easy fix…DFA Taveras, Gonzales, and/or Lincoln.

Those guys need extra time and development in the minors. It’s not a good comparison to look at Joey and someone like Drew Stubbs, who came from a big collegiate program and was a more polished amateur when drafted.

Also: He ain’t working himself out of a slump by sitting.
What if he needs a mental break? Or isn’t completely healthy?

Players really do like to play for Dusty, which is a definite strength though hard to quantify. While he does single out players in the media, I think it’s consistently from a fundamentals perspective – expecting MLB players to not to make basic lapses while assuming in good faith that everyone’s doing their best. There’s certainly value to that philosophy.

But you can’t deny he’s failed to maximize his resources. Everyone knows this offense is terrible, but there’s no excuse to put a cumulative sub-.300 OBP in front of Votto in the lineup. Joey’s been consistently hitting behind the likes of Taveras, Gonzalez, Hairston, Rosales and the pitcher’s spot. That’s been his biggest blunder in my perspective. If you’ve been saddled with inferior talent, you have to be flexible. Put players in a position to succeed. Taveras “ain’t working himself out of a slump by sitting” and he isn’t doing it by playing either. The major leagues are not a venue for players figuring shit out. Look at Taveras’ career numbers, think about his bad hamstring, look at his numbers this year and there’s no way you can rationally conclude he should be a regular starting lead-off man in CF.

I didn’t run the numbers, but I’m sure firing Dusty is a wash – or even a loss – in terms of wins gained with a replacement manager vs. salary owed to him under contract. I take solace that his bedside manner has probably helped morale and kept things interesting in the first half. This doesn’t mean I can’t be upset with the myriad lineup, matchup and tactical miscues he continues to make. I agree that the anger is probably better-directed at the architect of the team and the players actually have boots on the ground.