Friday Quick Hits

by JD Arney on Sep 7, 2007 3:44 PM EDT in News

Batter's Box has an interesting article up talking about GM's making horrible trades, and it reminded me of the trade Jocketty made with the A's (Haren and Barton for Mulder). Every GM makes some bad deals, but that really gives you pause when you think about Jocketty potentially coming to the Reds some day.
It would be really tough to have hope as an Orioles fan as long as Peter Angelos is still their owner.
If you click one thing on these quick hits, make it this blog entry from minor leaguer Dirk Hayhurst. Guy has a future as a writer if the whole baseball thing doesn't work out. His archives are worth a read as well.
The Braves might be the Braves of old pretty soon. Things aren't looking so hot for them anymore.
Carlos Zambrano ripped into Cubs fans recently. Maybe I'm crazy but it seems like Cubs fans have been a topic of conversation more than once this season.
Baseball Reference now has minor league stats. I am not even kidding when I say that life wouldn't be as good without that website. Sean Forman doesn an amazing job over there. It's a good time looking at Jay Bruce's numbers.
Baseball Analysts recently had a look at this year's free agent pitchers which kind of reaffirms what we've all been saying, that there's not a whole lot out there.
A-Rod is going to make a ridiculous amount of money this offseason. I could see him signing for $30 million per.
This is such a bizarre story, about a guy who passed himself off as former Reds reliever Bill Henry. He recently died and it was discovered that the real Henry is alive and well in Texas.
Some of the more statistically inclined of you might be able to have some fun with this.
Really quite amazing that Dave Littlefield lasted this long as GM of the Pittsburgh Pirates. I obviously don't really want to see the Pirates improve, but their fans deserve real effort from that front office and maybe they'll get it now.
Baseball Prospectus has a nice article on Pete Mackanin today. I have a tough time caring if they keep Mackanin around or not, because I really don't think most managers make that much of a difference. He seems to handle his bullpen more intelligently than Narron did, and that is probably enough for me to feel ok about him sticking around. I am not sure bringing in a big name manager is going to make any kind of difference. The only thing that is going to help the Reds is better pitching.

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Dunn on Jim Rome today?

At lunch I heard Rome touting Adam Dunn as a guest in his 3rd hour. Did anyone hear the interview (and can summarize here)?

2-0 count: one pitch, one zone

by rojosoto on Sep 7, 2007 3:55 PM EDT reply actions

He wasn't on...

Rome had 4 Cleveland Indians on in the second hour and it ran over until almost the end of the show.

I would assume that he was going to ask about the Cunningham incident because that is just about the only reason to have him on.

by xjjeep90 on Sep 7, 2007 7:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Minor League stats at BR?

So long Baseball Cube and thanks for all the fish.

"Two Dunn's enter, but only one Dunn will leave...unless neither do because they decide to play cards, drink beer, golf, and fish."--SlydeFrog

by Man Mountain on Sep 7, 2007 4:18 PM EDT reply actions

I agree

about the manager making little difference, as long as it's not Bob Boone or Dusty Baker.

Where have you gone Alex Trevino?

by Pops Daniels on Sep 7, 2007 4:25 PM EDT reply actions

Managers and all that....

I guess that the idea of having a good boss or a bad boss doesn't have any affect on the quality of your work or the amount of effort that you are willing to put out mean anything here?

I realize that pro athletes make huge sums of money, and that should motivate them. But afterall, they are just flesh and blood, and can certainly be de-motivated by bad, stupid management and mis-use of players.

A manager and GM that keeps running Stanton and Coffey out there, keeps Chad Moeller, etc.
What if they played Juan Castro ahead of Edwin because of EE's 'former' throwing problems?

I agree that a manager can't make the team 'better', but a bad manager can certainly suck the life out of a team and cause them to underperform, just by mis-using personnel and wrecking morale.

My karma just ran over your dogma

by Lonesome George on Sep 7, 2007 4:54 PM EDT reply actions

I think JD would agree with that

Bad managers definitely hurt more than good managers help. I think that's his point.

Sparky Anderson's best attribute was probably that he didn't play a lot of little games. He put the boys out there and let them play. And he knew how to manage a bullpen. And he maintained a positive attitude. Other than that, there isn't a whole lot that a manger needs to do.

I'm a numbers freak, numbers freak. I'm numbers freaky, ow.

by Slyde on Sep 7, 2007 4:57 PM EDT up reply actions

sparky and earl weaver

were the shit

Marty may have a shirt on, but Billy Beane just ripped his off and is squeezing his nipples. - Brendan's ukkah

by boobs on Sep 7, 2007 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Teams are not auto pilots

When it comes to someone making mistakes (on lineup choices, bullpen, handling pitching staffs, etc.) it certainly matters who your field manager is. Sometimes we need to be reminded that this is not a real science. We have not arrived at anything resembling AU=Gold here. Externalities are abound, and those externalities shape and manipulate the numbers. Managers can potentially influence this, although usually in a negative fashion. How many managers are competent or good at handling pitchers and bullpens? I'd estimate less than half. And for those of you old enough to remember, there was a time when managers (such as Chuck Tanner) commonly (for more than two straight seasons) used out machines like Omar Moreno or Rafael Ramirez to bat leadoff, simply because they had some speed.

Too often in the quantitative world, and I see this in the social sciences on almost a daily basis, people live the illusion that measurability equals control, and that unquantifiable convergent variables are necessarily trivial myths. It is this mindset that produces the performance, or the lack thereof, of the Oakland A's in postseason play (you only need to look at how Art Howe did after he left). There's a reason why most bad managers or those who have no clue on how to run a pitching staff (unless they're managing the New York Yankees) rarely manage championship teams. And let's face it, for the time being there's not much margin for error in running the Cincinnati Reds.

by tonywf on Sep 8, 2007 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Jay Bruce

is really going to be a good player.

by Corndog on Sep 7, 2007 5:06 PM EDT reply actions

I agree completely

But, the vast majority of Reds' fans are going to be pissed when they find out how much he strikes out.

"Karma - there it was. The meaning of life, straight from Carson Daly's lips to my morphine-laced ears." -Earl Hickey

by BLee2525 on Sep 7, 2007 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Dirk Hayhurst

Great stuff. I love hearing about things like that. The rules of claiming seats on on a minor league bus trip, how you never put your hand in another player's glove, etc. Probably the closest I'll ever get to knowing what it's like to be a pro baseball player.

Bubba kept a "prospect blog" for year or so when he was in A-ball. He made life as a pro baseball player sound blandly collegiate. Of course, he was relatively much earlier in his career then than Dirk is now, so maybe he hadn't figured out the rules of riding the bus yet. ;-)

All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?

by BubbaFan on Sep 7, 2007 5:48 PM EDT reply actions

Hayhurst

pretty good stuff, although I hope he never forgets the young man with cancer when others approach him. I'm sure it is a pain being in the spotlight and it doesn't make sense that people want you to sign stuff but the fact remains that, to a child and even to some degree an adult, their is something magical about sports figures to the average Joe.

Hope Springs Eternal! Go Reds

by Caleb on Sep 9, 2007 10:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

It's part of their jobs. The customer is always right, and for baseball players, the fans are the customers. If not for us, their jobs would not exist.

But I can see his side of it, too. You can't sign for all the fans, all the time. You have to draw the line somewhere.

All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?

by BubbaFan on Sep 9, 2007 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

JD I 100% agree with you about managers!

Killer Tucans all the way!!!

by Zach K on Sep 8, 2007 9:06 AM EDT reply actions

Pete Mackanin?

More like Pete McCraken! AMIRITE? LOL!

"Players have two things to do. Play and keep their mouths shut." -Sparky Anderson

by boohiss on Sep 8, 2007 10:28 AM EDT reply actions

Requiem for a Littlefield

Friends, Buccos fans, Countrymen, I have come to praise Little Field, not to bury him.

You made bizarre moves that kept us all glued to our chairs to see if you could top them with your next act.

You made a 30 year old marginal first baseman coming off of a career year the centerpiece of your team, gave him 25 million dollars, and watched his career swirl down the toilet.

You signed a marginal third baseman for a second tour of duty after he was clearly washed up. You almost doubled his salary, gave him 89 games to redeem himself, and then wondered why he gave you a .388 slugging percentage.

Perhaps most disturbingly, you traded away a sickly talented 24 year old left handed starting pitcher as a throw in on a deal for an average outfielder, and now get to watch him cut his ERA in half in a foreign uniform.

The worst part of it that you didn't trade him to the Reds.

The evil that men do live after them. The good is oft interred with the bones.

So let it be with Little Field. The noble Maclendon, Hath told you Tracy was ambitious...

Littlefield, O Littlefield. We hardly knew ye.

"I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball" - Pete Rose

by Officer Dibble on Sep 8, 2007 11:39 AM EDT reply actions