The life of a manager

[bukie]

ESPN Article: The life of a manager can be a whirlwind

 

ESPN detailing the managers that are under fire one minute, and safe the next.

 

I did find this bit amusing:

 

Ned Yost

Nobody wanted Ned Yost to walk the plank when the 2007 Brewers won 24 of their first 34. But that was before a 7½-game lead in July disappeared by Labor Day. That was before the 2008 Brewers plummeted to 20-24, seven games back of the Cubs, a month and a half into the season.

 

And that was before the fire-Ned-Yost talk began to feel like more than typical talk-show blabbering.

 

It was all over baseball for a while there. Brewers players were telling their friends they thought the end might be near. Scouts were saying they'd heard it from their sources inside the club. Friends of owner Mark Attanasio were talking about the owner's feeling that this was a make-the-playoffs-or-else kind of season.

 

How true that was, how close Yost actually came to getting gonged, we may never know -- because a 12-out-of-16 streak made it all a moot discussion. Now GM Doug Melvin can honestly say his team's record after 64 games (33-31) was only one game worse than last year.

 

Interesting that the Brewers were a disappointing 7 games back 16 games ago, and then they ran off a 12-4 string that brought them to within...7 1/2 games. The Cubs are 13-3 in their last 16.

 

Also interesting, last year after 64 games the Brewers were 34-30 and had a 5.5 game lead in the division. This year after 64 games, the Brewers were 33-31 and trailed by 7.5 in the division. So, really, the Brewers season hasn't been a whole lot different. Everybody else just got a lot better.

[brinoch]

The Cubs have been a good team for the last two seasons (including '08 as one of the two). They performed horribly at the beginning of last season, but eventually they started catching up to their pythag and righted the ship. Soto, Fukudome, and the improved Theriot have made the Cubs better this season, though the starting pitching is still worrisome. The Brewers really haven't improved all that much, and the loss of Gallardo really hurt.

[rawaction]

The Cubs have been a good team for the last two seasons (including '08 as one of the two). They performed horribly at the beginning of last season, but eventually they started catching up to their pythag and righted the ship. Soto, Fukudome, and the improved Theriot have made the Cubs better this season, though the starting pitching is still worrisome. The Brewers really haven't improved all that much, and the loss of Gallardo really hurt.

 

While, I agree with you that the starting pitching could use improvement....the Cubs' ERA is only .04 away from having the NLs best rotation. They are tied for 5th in innings pitches.

[brinoch]

It's not the right now that I'm worried about. It's the next week/next month (or whenever they occur) dead arm/control struggles that Dempster and Gallagher will likely face as their cumulative innings pitched continues to grow. Short of an injury, Zambrano and Lilly are fine. I'm extremely happy with Demp and Gal, but Lou needs to be careful of their workload. Marquis is a disaster -- a train wreck, basically. Imagine how good the rotation would be by upgrading his spot.

[anabiono]

It's not the right now that I'm worried about. It's the next week/next month (or whenever they occur) dead arm/control struggles that Dempster and Gallagher will likely face as their cumulative innings pitched continues to grow. Short of an injury, Zambrano and Lilly are fine. I'm extremely happy with Demp and Gal, but Lou needs to be careful of their workload. Marquis is a disaster -- a train wreck, basically. Imagine how good the rotation would be by upgrading his spot.

 

imagine how good the rotation will be when we upgrade dempster/lilly's spot