Dale Sveum to Manage Cubs

[Guest]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

 

lol

 

You basically said demanding leadership leads to pressure that leads to poor performance. The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys say hello. Oh, so do the 85 Bears.

 

Man, nothing gets by you.

[Guest]

The 85 Bears would've gone 16-0 if Ditka weren't such a demanding prick.

[Hollandsworths mug]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

 

lol

 

You basically said demanding leadership leads to pressure that leads to poor performance. The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys say hello. Oh, so do the 85 Bears.

 

Man, nothing gets by you.

 

Na, it was just an easy comment to shoot down.

[CUBZ99]

What I find amazing is that posters here think they don't matter. Basic human nature tells us they do.

 

If the best, highest paid players on the team work their tails off and bring professionalism and intensity to the ballpark every day, that will trickle down to everyone else, and that team is likely to overachieve relative to their true talent level.

 

Conversely, if the top guys routinely cut corners and get away with not working as hard as they can, everyone else will notice, and it will become acceptable. Once it's acceptable, it'll soon be the norm. That team is going to underachieve.

 

We're talking about those subtle edges and fringe effects that add up over a 162 game schedule. Surely "culture" is just as important as something like defensive positioning. Probably way more important.

 

They can't quantify it or explain it based upon statistics or numbers. I agree with you, but I think it is valid to be skeptical about the value of team chemistry and atmosphere.

[Guest]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

Actually, there's a theory out there that says you hire a disciplinarian coach to get the team to a certain level, but if you want to win championships you then switch to a more relaxed guy to get them over the hump.

[Hollandsworths mug]

Belichick is not demanding. Neither was Larussa.

[Hollandsworths mug]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

Actually, there's a theory out there that says you hire a disciplinarian coach to get the team to a certain level, but if you want to win championships you then switch to a more relaxed guy to get them over the hump.

 

So that team was just the exception?

[Soul]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

Actually, there's a theory out there that says you hire a disciplinarian coach to get the team to a certain level, but if you want to win championships you then switch to a more relaxed guy to get them over the hump.

 

I think the theory that there's more than one way to get the job done is better.

[Guest]

You basically said demanding leadership leads to pressure that leads to poor performance. The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys say hello. Oh, so do the 85 Bears.

 

Man, nothing gets by you.

 

Na, it was just an easy comment to shoot down.

 

 

Or it was just a parody of davearm's post 2 or 3 posts before that a clubhouse with accountability and high expectations leads to more wins which gave no evidence as to why.

 

But you knew that, of course.

 

 

BTW, even if I had meant it literally, what I said can't be reversed to "demanding leadership leads to poor performance." Well, using faulty logic, maybe it can.

[Guest]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

Actually, there's a theory out there that says you hire a disciplinarian coach to get the team to a certain level, but if you want to win championships you then switch to a more relaxed guy to get them over the hump.

 

So that team was just the exception?

Are you sure there's only one right way to do things? Certainly not what was implied in my post.

[Guest]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

Actually, there's a theory out there that says you hire a disciplinarian coach to get the team to a certain level, but if you want to win championships you then switch to a more relaxed guy to get them over the hump.

 

So that team was just the exception?

 

 

Ever heard of Doug Collins and Phil Jackson?

[Hollandsworths mug]

A lax clubhouse leads to relaxed players who perform at their absolute peak, unhindered by the pressures brought on by demanding leadership. I know this. I don't know how many wins a relaxed atmosphere leads to, but I know it does. Why? Because I said so.

 

The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson say hello. What utter crapola that statement is.

Actually, there's a theory out there that says you hire a disciplinarian coach to get the team to a certain level, but if you want to win championships you then switch to a more relaxed guy to get them over the hump.

 

So that team was just the exception?

Are you sure there's only one right way to do things? Certainly not what was implied in my post.

 

Not at all, Tim. I was merely pointing out that Dave's post was not at all accurate.

[Guest]

David's post was meant as a mirror reflection of davearm's. It was an equivalent assertion with just as much backing it up. It was meant to highlight the lack of merit in making a statement like that, not an assertion David actually believed to be 100% accurate.

 

I hope that clears things up. :)

[Bull]

people felt free to laugh at and dismiss me, but no one paid any attention to that I was talking about working hard at the right things. Like watching tape. Like learning how to improve your approach. I think this is the point. Its less laziness and more machismo and hubris. And yes, ridiculously talented people can have a level of success with less that flu effort. Andruw Jones.

But again, that's not even the point. realizing you have something to learn and working hard to learn it. Remember, we're talking about an organization that placed so little emphasis on working (smart) on your approach that (industrious?) minor leaguers took matters into their own hands with cellphone videos.

 

and to wrap it up, I'm not saying hard work is >>>> than stats/performance, I'm saying hard (smart) work leads to stats/performance/realizing your ceiling. This is why I think SO MANY of our prospects fizzled.

[Hollandsworths mug]

Two of the greats in coaching and comments from the players. Fear and doing things right is absolutely a winning formula.

 

 

Fear of failure thus arises as one component of the whole. There are others. There is fear of a coach for a variety of reasons: respect, a desire to please and to avoid his censure. Hall of Fame talent Randy White admitted he was intimidated by Landry, just as 300-plus pound guard Kevin Gogan said he spent his years with the Cowboys terrified of Jimmy Johnson.

 

“Coach Landry used to coach with fear,” Waters recalled. “We did not want him to point us out or give us that look of his. He had us on our heels. No one ever bucked coach Landry. He could make you feel two inches tall. He would cut you down in front of your teammates, which was the worst thing you could get.”

 

"The more success you have, the harder you have to be on the players.

 

"They asked me in Dallas after we won the first Super Bowl, `Are you going to take it easy on the players?' I said no, I'm going to be harder on them, and I was. They asked me after the second Super Bowl if I would have backed off then. I said no, I would push them harder."

[Soul]

Sveum's going to be fine. Give a guy the right players and a lot of this stuff becomes semantics, largely.

 

Put Fielder up with the bases loaded. Dusty Baker looks like a great manager because Bonds just blows the ball out of the ballpark and wins the game.

 

 

 

Just get Theo & crew to feed Sveum the players. After 2-3 years Dale is the toast of Chicago, regardless of his style.

[Guest]

Two of the greats in coaching and comments from the players. Fear and doing things right is absolutely a winning formula.

 

 

Fear of failure thus arises as one component of the whole. There are others. There is fear of a coach for a variety of reasons: respect, a desire to please and to avoid his censure. Hall of Fame talent Randy White admitted he was intimidated by Landry, just as 300-plus pound guard Kevin Gogan said he spent his years with the Cowboys terrified of Jimmy Johnson.

 

“Coach Landry used to coach with fear,” Waters recalled. “We did not want him to point us out or give us that look of his. He had us on our heels. No one ever bucked coach Landry. He could make you feel two inches tall. He would cut you down in front of your teammates, which was the worst thing you could get.”

 

"The more success you have, the harder you have to be on the players.

 

"They asked me in Dallas after we won the first Super Bowl, `Are you going to take it easy on the players?' I said no, I'm going to be harder on them, and I was. They asked me after the second Super Bowl if I would have backed off then. I said no, I would push them harder."

How old are you, really? This isn't highschool and it isn't football. First, there are non-revokable contracts in baseball. Second, baseball is not football. Third, their is no one way to do things. Fourth there are many, many, counter examples to throw water on your "theory".

 

It's nonsense. Abuck made a great point earlier. I think you should read it. By and large professional baseball players don't need a guy up their ass telling them to run out ground balls and whatnot. Those that need that stuff don't last very long. It's All meathead [expletive], just like team chemistry. Charley Finley's 1970s A's team had a saying, "25 guys, 25 cabs". Reggie Jackson once stopped at third base so Sal Bando wouldn't pass him in RBI. Fist fights weren't common, but they weren't out of the ordinary. They play baseball and baseball is a discrete sport played by two people at a time while the other eight wait for the outcome.

[A New Era]

There is nothing wrong with setting a culture of the "Cubs Way" as "We expect you to play each game as if it's the 7th game of the World Series". I honestly don't want to read this whole thread because I feel it's probably full of people talking about stats and hating on Sveum for even talking about stuff like playing hard and so on. And posts about how they know exactly how clubhouses work even though they've never set a foot in one.

 

I just wanted to say, there is nothing wrong with the people at the top expecting full effort every day from their players, and being outspoken about it. However effective it is you can spend countless hours debating it with eachother for all I care. But you set the culture by actually saying what you expect that culture to be.

[Guest]

There is nothing wrong with setting a culture of the "Cubs Way" as "We expect you to play each game as if it's the 7th game of the World Series". I honestly don't want to read this whole thread because I feel it's probably full of people talking about stats and hating on Sveum for even talking about stuff like playing hard and so on. And posts about how they know exactly how clubhouses work even though they've never set a foot in one.

 

I just wanted to say, there is nothing wrong with the people at the top expecting full effort every day from their players, and being outspoken about it. However effective it is you can spend countless hours debating it with eachother for all I care. But you set the culture by actually saying what you expect that culture to be.

 

Wrong.

[Guest]

Sveum's, uh, honest, comments on Marmol...

 

 

Addressing his current roster, Sveum also said he doesn't plan on changing the role of closer Carlos Marmol, who struggled through inconsistencies in 2011.

 

"Right now, that's what we have, what we are," he said. "We don't have another closer. There are no other closers. People have to remember, not everybody is made to get those last three outs. … It's not that easy to find guys who can get those last three outs, no matter how ugly it's going to be."

 

Sveum mostly blamed Marmol's slider for his woes, saying it wasn't breaking as much as in past years.

 

"(And hitters) don't even have to worry about the fastball, because even if he throws it, it's a ball," Sveum said. "That said, he has to get back to some kind of fastball command."

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-1119-wood-cubs-chicago--20111119,0,2694823.story

 

 

Also, Castro...

 

As for Starlin Castro, Sveum said he rather would face Aramis Ramirez than the Cubs' shortstop when he was in the Brewers' dugout.

 

"There's no way to pitch Castro," he said. "He doesn't have a whole lot of holes."

 

But Sveum conceded Castro "needs a lot of polish" defensively and that the next infield instructor would be looking at how to fix him. Sveum mentioned Castro's footwork and positioning as two problem areas.

 

"Watching him in the 16 games we played them, his stuff is just a little bit off," he said. "It's not completely out of whack by any means."

[seanimal]

@Haudricourt Tom

Great story on how unassuming Sveum is: Had to stop at Men's Wearhouse to buy a sports coat for this press conference. Didn't bring one.

 

 

I don't know about unassuming, but that is pretty [expletive] funny and a little sad at the same time.

 

ehhh, i don't know about this. would this story be coming out if sveum were a white guy? i feel liken this just a "lol look at how the black man doesn't know what to do" sort of thing. very condescending.

 

HAHAHA i just got to this

[CUBZ99]

Two of the greats in coaching and comments from the players. Fear and doing things right is absolutely a winning formula.

 

 

Fear of failure thus arises as one component of the whole. There are others. There is fear of a coach for a variety of reasons: respect, a desire to please and to avoid his censure. Hall of Fame talent Randy White admitted he was intimidated by Landry, just as 300-plus pound guard Kevin Gogan said he spent his years with the Cowboys terrified of Jimmy Johnson.

 

“Coach Landry used to coach with fear,” Waters recalled. “We did not want him to point us out or give us that look of his. He had us on our heels. No one ever bucked coach Landry. He could make you feel two inches tall. He would cut you down in front of your teammates, which was the worst thing you could get.”

 

"The more success you have, the harder you have to be on the players.

 

"They asked me in Dallas after we won the first Super Bowl, `Are you going to take it easy on the players?' I said no, I'm going to be harder on them, and I was. They asked me after the second Super Bowl if I would have backed off then. I said no, I would push them harder."

How old are you, really? This isn't highschool and it isn't football. First, there are non-revokable contracts in baseball. Second, baseball is not football. Third, their is no one way to do things. Fourth there are many, many, counter examples to throw water on your "theory".

 

It's nonsense. Abuck made a great point earlier. I think you should read it. By and large professional baseball players don't need a guy up their ass telling them to run out ground balls and whatnot. Those that need that stuff don't last very long. It's All meathead [expletive], just like team chemistry. Charley Finley's 1970s A's team had a saying, "25 guys, 25 cabs". Reggie Jackson once stopped at third base so Sal Bando wouldn't pass him in RBI. Fist fights weren't common, but they weren't out of the ordinary. They play baseball and baseball is a discrete sport played by two people at a time while the other eight wait for the outcome.

 

I take it you hate the Sveum hiring and Theo and Jed's philosophy on baseball? You must have missed Sveum's statement about players wanting to and appreciating being called out when they messed up. Or that they wanted to be treated honestly rather than being let off the hook for lapses?

 

I agree that teamwork is less important than in baseball than some other sports, but to say that team chemistry is [expletive], is pretty ignorant. It may not be as important as some believe, but it most certainly a factor.

 

Also, equally ignorant is the belief that baseball is a sport played by two people at a time. You give no credit to defense, coaches, base runners etc?

[Pushfrog98]

Btw... Listening to ESPN St. Louis tonight. They were high on Sveum and said he's the guy to help Castro take it to the next level. Also, they pronounced his name "Shwaim.". And theo is Epstine, not epsteen to them.

[bukie]

Sveum on using saber stats:

 

"I do my due diligence and video work and prepare as much as anybody," Sveum said. "As far as the stats, those are what they are, and we can use them to our advantage. It's a big part of the game now. It's helping us win a lot of ballgames, the stats and the matchups. That's just part of the game now, and you use what you can. But a lot of that stuff, we do throw out, too."

[jersey cubs fan]

Hold on. Are people blindly agreeing with the nonsense about the cowboys having accountability?