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Sammy Sofa

By Sammy Sofa,
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TruffleShuffle Cooperstown

TruffleShuffle

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So glad I'm a casual Royals fan. If the Cubs were in the position the Royals are in and they blew a 3-0 lead, and then let the go-ahead run score because 1. the 1B couldn't field what should have been a double play and 2. the LF lazily went back on a fly ball that sailed on him, I would have broken this hotel room TV. Also, later in the inning the 2B inexplicably dropped the ball as he was about to make a routine throw to first.

 

I know all fan bases complain about the way their managers manage the bullpen (and the Royals have the lowest ERA by a bullpen since 1990), but Ned Yost really does some idiotic stuff. His decision to pitch Guthrie in the 8th on Sunday was just horrific. This is a long read, but it is right on.

 

http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2013/09/yosted-again.html

 

ned yost has always been abysmal at managing the bullpen. i remember just before he was canned, he made one of the stupidest moves i've ever seen a manager make. baseball prospectus did a nice job ridiculing it:

 

 

Yost has to take a big part of the blame as well, after making some of the worst tactical decisions you'll see. In the eighth inning of yesterday's first game, the Brewers were tied 3-3. Guillermo Mota allowed a leadoff single to Jayson Werth, and was lifted for Brian Shouse so that Shouse could face Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. (Charlie Manuel's refusal to always put a right-handed batter between those two is a big reason why the Phillies will have trouble winning a short series.) Utley sacrificed Werth to second, setting up Shouse versus Howard.

 

Yost elected to walk Howard to face Pat Burrell. This was... well, it strains my vocabulary to find the right word for it. Howard cannot hit left-handers, and would be a platoon player if performance mattered anywhere near as much as reputation does. Or if he had a competent manager. Howard is at .228/.313/.458 against lefties in his career, .212/.287/.410 this year. Howard. Can't. Hit. Lefties. Shouse, on the other hand, is in the major leagues for exactly one reason: lefties can't hit him, to the tune of .175/.192/.289 this year, and .211/.263/.325 for his career, which includes a bunch of years when he was barely a major leaguer. Manuel sending Howard up against Shouse was a continuation of a theme for the Phillies: not hitting for Howard when he has little chance of doing something good. He was giving Yost an out, and Yost gave it right back.

 

That set up Shouse versus Pat Burrell, which cried out for a right-handed reliever. After all, Shouse is a pure specialist (.307/.390/.455 vs. RHB career; .293/.371/.446 this year). The only way walking Howard even might make sense is if Yost were to bring in a righty to try and get a double play out of Burrell. Burrell doesn't have the big platoon splits he showed earlier in his career-he's a dangerous hitter against both kinds of hurlers-but leaving Shouse in to face him was asking for trouble.

 

Think about this for a second. Yost had a 481 OPS pitcher facing a 697 OPS hitter. He elected to issue an intentional walk in that situation to allow an 817 OPS pitcher to face a 905 OPS hitter with an additional runner on base. That's when you start looking around the roof of the stadium for snipers, because gunpoint is the only place where that kind of decision makes sense.

 

So it was no surprise that four pitches later, the Phillies were up 7-3. Burrell singled in one run, and Shane Victorino cleared the bases with a three-run homer to left.

 

If you're not going to let your left-handed specialist face Howard in that situation, when exactly should you be pitching to Howard? Moreover, if you'd rather have Shouse pitching to two good right-handed batters instead of bringing in one of your righty relievers, why not just release them all, because they're obviously not doing you any good. Eric Gagne, Seth McClung... none of these guys are very good, but all would have been better ideas than letting Shouse face Burrell. Heck, Todd Coffey is made for this situation, getting a right-handed batter out. For that matter, Salomon Torres could have been on the mound, but for the ridiculous idea of saving him for a save situation. Torres, the best righty the Brewers have, hasn't pitched since Wednesday, while Brian Shouse was facing righties with the game on the line.

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Sammys Boombox ACL Cubs

Sammys Boombox

Verified Member
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So glad I'm a casual Royals fan. If the Cubs were in the position the Royals are in and they blew a 3-0 lead, and then let the go-ahead run score because 1. the 1B couldn't field what should have been a double play and 2. the LF lazily went back on a fly ball that sailed on him, I would have broken this hotel room TV. Also, later in the inning the 2B inexplicably dropped the ball as he was about to make a routine throw to first.

 

I know all fan bases complain about the way their managers manage the bullpen (and the Royals have the lowest ERA by a bullpen since 1990), but Ned Yost really does some idiotic stuff. His decision to pitch Guthrie in the 8th on Sunday was just horrific. This is a long read, but it is right on.

 

http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2013/09/yosted-again.html

 

ned yost has always been abysmal at managing the bullpen. i remember just before he was canned, he made one of the stupidest moves i've ever seen a manager make. baseball prospectus did a nice job ridiculing it:

 

 

Yost has to take a big part of the blame as well, after making some of the worst tactical decisions you'll see. In the eighth inning of yesterday's first game, the Brewers were tied 3-3. Guillermo Mota allowed a leadoff single to Jayson Werth, and was lifted for Brian Shouse so that Shouse could face Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. (Charlie Manuel's refusal to always put a right-handed batter between those two is a big reason why the Phillies will have trouble winning a short series.) Utley sacrificed Werth to second, setting up Shouse versus Howard.

 

Yost elected to walk Howard to face Pat Burrell. This was... well, it strains my vocabulary to find the right word for it. Howard cannot hit left-handers, and would be a platoon player if performance mattered anywhere near as much as reputation does. Or if he had a competent manager. Howard is at .228/.313/.458 against lefties in his career, .212/.287/.410 this year. Howard. Can't. Hit. Lefties. Shouse, on the other hand, is in the major leagues for exactly one reason: lefties can't hit him, to the tune of .175/.192/.289 this year, and .211/.263/.325 for his career, which includes a bunch of years when he was barely a major leaguer. Manuel sending Howard up against Shouse was a continuation of a theme for the Phillies: not hitting for Howard when he has little chance of doing something good. He was giving Yost an out, and Yost gave it right back.

 

That set up Shouse versus Pat Burrell, which cried out for a right-handed reliever. After all, Shouse is a pure specialist (.307/.390/.455 vs. RHB career; .293/.371/.446 this year). The only way walking Howard even might make sense is if Yost were to bring in a righty to try and get a double play out of Burrell. Burrell doesn't have the big platoon splits he showed earlier in his career-he's a dangerous hitter against both kinds of hurlers-but leaving Shouse in to face him was asking for trouble.

 

Think about this for a second. Yost had a 481 OPS pitcher facing a 697 OPS hitter. He elected to issue an intentional walk in that situation to allow an 817 OPS pitcher to face a 905 OPS hitter with an additional runner on base. That's when you start looking around the roof of the stadium for snipers, because gunpoint is the only place where that kind of decision makes sense.

 

So it was no surprise that four pitches later, the Phillies were up 7-3. Burrell singled in one run, and Shane Victorino cleared the bases with a three-run homer to left.

 

If you're not going to let your left-handed specialist face Howard in that situation, when exactly should you be pitching to Howard? Moreover, if you'd rather have Shouse pitching to two good right-handed batters instead of bringing in one of your righty relievers, why not just release them all, because they're obviously not doing you any good. Eric Gagne, Seth McClung... none of these guys are very good, but all would have been better ideas than letting Shouse face Burrell. Heck, Todd Coffey is made for this situation, getting a right-handed batter out. For that matter, Salomon Torres could have been on the mound, but for the ridiculous idea of saving him for a save situation. Torres, the best righty the Brewers have, hasn't pitched since Wednesday, while Brian Shouse was facing righties with the game on the line.

 

The thing is he actually does a pretty good job (with the bullpen) most of the time, but every now and then he does something that is just so obviously horrible that you really cannot figure out how this guy has had multiple managing jobs. His explanations make it even worse:

 

“The way he had pitched,” Yost said, “I just felt real strongly that he could get us to the ninth, turn it over to the pen in a tie game and give him a chance to win the game.”

 

Give HIM a chance to win the game. Not the Royals. Jeremy Guthrie. Because pitcher wins – which are nothing more than an accounting trick – matter more than team wins.

 

Reading that quote, I suddenly feel like Brian Kenny isn’t being forceful enough in his crusade to #KillTheWin. Kill the win? Ned Yost risked losing a game in order to give his starting pitcher a chance to get the “win” on his ledger instead of another pitcher on his own team. Waterboard the win. Napalm the win. Nuke the win.

 

Also, the amount of sacrifice bunts he calls for is just disgusting. He literally sets up his lineup to have his "bunters" between his "OBP guys" and his "RBI guys".

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Guests
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Following Rany on Twitter almost makes me thankful I'm a Cubs fan.
Guest

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Guests
Posted
Posted
List of two-time 10 fWAR position players: Bonds, Mays, Ruth, Hornsby, Mantle, Williams, Gehrig… Trout.
Guest

Guest

Guests
Posted
Posted
List of two-time 10 fWAR position players: Bonds, Mays, Ruth, Hornsby, Mantle, Williams, Gehrig… Trout.

how many did that in their age 20 and 21 seasons?

Guest

Guest

Guests
Posted
Posted
List of two-time 10 fWAR position players: Bonds, Mays, Ruth, Hornsby, Mantle, Williams, Gehrig… Trout.

how many did that in their age 20 and 21 seasons?

 

That part was kind of implied in the amazingness of it.

Clem Fandango All-Star

Clem Fandango

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted (edited)

Is this actually a thing that Ranger fans are doing?

 

http://i.imgur.com/IAfjrVi.png

 

He's got a 2.76 ERA and 84 K's in 62 IP since the beginning of August and makes one appearance every 5 days. Who in the [expletive] is blaming this man for the Rangers' slide in the playoff race? These are the only two quotes I could get before the paywall...

 

Yu Darvish "doesn't fight," wrote one Dallas-area media member earlier this week as the painful September slide of the Texas Rangers continued. "He's crumbling under the pressure" and "not mentally tough," added multiple fans commenting on the site of the Dallas Morning News.

 

There's no shortage of places to put that blame, but the bulk of the frustration seems to be landing on Darvish, mainly because the Texas ace hasn't pitched the Rangers to a win in any of his past six starts dating back to early August -- including two painful losses against Oakland. So Darvish, as the narrative goes, doesn't have "the will to win" and isn't living up to his ace billing, right? Well, not quite.

 

OMFG

Edited by The Logan
Clem Fandango All-Star

Clem Fandango

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
The Rangers are 1-5 in games where Darvish has given up 1 run.

 

ETA: 4 1-0 losses

 

He's clearly broken. We should send them Castro for him so they can have another talented SS they can neglect.

Sammy Sofa GOAT

Sammy Sofa

Old-Timey Member
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Is this actually a thing that Ranger fans are doing?

 

http://i.imgur.com/IAfjrVi.png

 

He's got a 2.76 ERA and 84 K's in 62 IP since the beginning of August and makes one appearance every 5 days. Who in the [expletive] is blaming this man for the Rangers' slide in the playoff race? These are the only two quotes I could get before the paywall...

 

Yu Darvish "doesn't fight," wrote one Dallas-area media member earlier this week as the painful September slide of the Texas Rangers continued. "He's crumbling under the pressure" and "not mentally tough," added multiple fans commenting on the site of the Dallas Morning News.

 

There's no shortage of places to put that blame, but the bulk of the frustration seems to be landing on Darvish, mainly because the Texas ace hasn't pitched the Rangers to a win in any of his past six starts dating back to early August -- including two painful losses against Oakland. So Darvish, as the narrative goes, doesn't have "the will to win" and isn't living up to his ace billing, right? Well, not quite.

 

OMFG

 

WHAT THE [expletive] [expletive] this sport is [expletive] killing meeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Cubswin11 All-Star

Cubswin11

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
He's pitched into the 7th inning or past every start since Aug 1st in all but one start. He's given up 3 ER or less in every start or less since then as well. In his last 6 starts (Tex lost all 6 games), he's given up 15ER while Tex has scored 11 total runs. They haven't scored in either of his last two starts. Also his ERA is .60 points lower post ASB than pre. [expletive] Texas.
Andy GOAT

Andy

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
The Rangers are 1-5 in games where Darvish has given up 1 run.

 

ETA: 4 1-0 losses

 

He's clearly broken. We should send them Castro for him so they can have another talented SS they can neglect.

Well done.

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Guests
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Lol, someone needed to whisper "you're Willie Bloomquist" to him before he finished that rant.
Cubswin11 All-Star

Cubswin11

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

Another great article placing blame on a pitcher for a teams woes. This guy wants to put Verlander in the bullpen for the playoffs. I get if it's an argument for him not to be the #1 come playoffs but this is just dumb.

 

The Tigers are now 3-9 in games started by Verlander since the All-Star break. If they want to make a deep postseason run, it's time the team considers making a change.

 

This line is just gold

 

Verlander has struggle for much of the year, earning a rough 13-12 record with a 3.66 ERA. Though he has 195 strikeouts, the 30-year-old has yet to find an out-pitch, five months into the season.

 

Verlander has a 4.5 fWAR, is striking out 8.5 per 9 innings and his 3.66 is good for a 114 era+. I think he has a [expletive] out pitch.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/detroit-tigers-send-justin-verlander-bullpen-230600002--mlb.html

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