Sunday, October 15, 2017

Try To Pay Attention, Aaron..........



The Yankees, it is rumored, have a batting coach.  Or is it called, " hitting " coach?  I know it isn't called " strikeout-in-volume " coach.  Maybe it should be.  In my view, the record shows that Judge would contribute more to this team if his hitting guru simply told him, "never to swing."  At least 30% of his strike outs occur on " ball four."

But this failure of a coach gets paid, at minimum, $200,000 per annum.  Perhaps he ( not a she, yet, right?) even has a multi-year contract that totals in the millions.

Whatever he is saying to Aaron is not working.  So, again, we have a senior executive unblemished by failure.  Accountable to no one for his lack of results.  No gain no pain.  A golden parachute awaits for this maestro of golden sombreros.

 If Aaron only hits home runs, and strikes out in world class, record-making style when it matters most, what is truth?

We do recall ( thanks to an attentive reader ) when Judge hit everything, to all fields ( including singles and doubles ) in the first half of the season.  It was clear that we had a superstar in the making.    Power and bat control.  And suddenly, like the wicked witch of the west,  Dave Kingman arrived.  Honestly, Dave never performed ( or" bombed," if I may use the word given the North Korea deliberations ) as woefully as Aaron Judge.

No one in the world of baseball has ever just swatted at air like Aaron. His strike outs are virtually automatic, as long as the opposing pitcher has a curve, slider or change-up.  That is to say,
" if he can pitch at all."

So I hired the above teacher to replace the Yankee's, over-paid, seed-spitting genius batting coach,  who shall remain nameless.

"Aaron please pay attention," our true teacher says, pointing to the physics of, " hitting the ball where it is thrown, and experiencing success."

Why doesn't Aaron get it?  His university didn't just wash him through their academic system did they?  Can't he once, once, ever, once, shift his body  ( and the bat will follow ) toward right field when he sees that low, outside, in-the-dirt spin on those " strike-out " pitches?  Are there no tapes of Derek Jeter to watch? Is attempting to pull every pitch his version of never bunting against a shift, even when a base hit beckons?

How is it possible that Aaron Judge doesn't do this?  I could do it for cripes sake.  I might not hit the ball, but at least the world would know I had a clue.

Seriously, if Girardi is a manager trying to win, he should play Gardy, Jacoby and Aaron Hicks in the outfield.  If he wishes to continue our fine tradition of having no production from our DH, let Aaron Judge do that.  He can strike out as well as Holliday.  And that keeps us out of double plays, if we ever get a baserunner.

I just can't believe we see no adjustment of any kind.  That's why the " automatic " strike out waiver should apply to Judge.  It is a waste of time ( and emotion ) to watch him fail and fail and fail with that bat in his hands.  Just let the opposing manager "call it," and have Aaron sit down with a strike out recorded in the box score.  He just goes from the on-deck circle to the bench.

We'll give the opposing coach three challenges per game, and come out ahead.

"If we cannot learn, we are doomed to repeat our failures" - ( Voltaire or Yogi Berra)


22 comments:

  1. I cannot fault anything you say here, Alphonso. Not a thing. Sigh.

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  2. Unbelievably that Tito didn’t walk Gardy

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  3. I am reproducing here an extended comment I posted under el duque's most recent attempt at baseball commentary--it is equally relevant here. Who is not amused by this torrent of hitting advice from people who can barely muster the hand-eye coordination needed to reach for their computer mouse or to heft another shot glass of rotgut in the intervals of belching hot gas on this blog? Here's the re-post on Judge:

    How wearying it is to come to this blog looking for valuable insights and finding only recycled sweat and panic and stubborn cliches, pounded into the same weary pablum, post after post. So el duque is ready to heave Judge into the dumpster, and give up on Sanches to boot? This is simply a repetition of his mid-season panic over Judge, which he recanted in September only to take it out for another spin around the blog in October. Sorry, duque--but this is grossly ignorant BS--a waste of your time and your reader's bandwidth.

    First point to remember. JUDGE IS A ROOKIE. He has had an epic season for a rookie, A RECORD-BREAKING SEASON. We all know--or should know--that it takes several years for young players to tap the full potential of their talent. Here's a telling example: look at the first four years of Barry Bonds's major league career--in none of those campaigns did he even sniff at what Judge has accomplished in 2017:

    1986
    .223/.330/.416

    Look at that rookie slash line for Bonds--.223 BA, .330 OBP, and .416 slugging. 16 homeruns and 48 RBIs. el duque not only would have banished him to the minors or traded him for Ken Phelps--he probably would have taken a contract out on him to boot.

    Then look at Bonds's next three seasons--steady progress, but still below average, albeit promising. It was not until Bonds's FIFTH SEASON in the majors--1990--that he began to put up the kinds of numbers that we associate with Barry Bonds--what turned out to be Hall of Fame numbers, notwithstanding his late-career PED binge. And even his 1990 numbers fell short of Judge's 2017 numbers in most respects.

    There are countless such stories in MLB lore--baseball is a very hard sport, and it usually takes years to master its intricacies and rise to one's full potential. Judge's first season has been so staggeringly good--so far beyond what many Hall of Famers achieved in their first year, or first several years--that Yankee fans should be popping champagne corks in celebration, not burbling in despair.

    Anyone else tired of the daily lava flows of arrant baseball ignorance on this blog? We appreciate your wit, el duque, but every time you venture into baseball analysis and prognostication, you embarrass yourself and discredit your blog (and make that a double for his tag-team partner Alphonso).

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  4. That was a very long way of saying, they're kids. Give them a little time, fer chrissakes.

    Look at all the work you could've saved.

    But I do agree. The only concern is that the coaching staff has had a bit of history that could make you worry.

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  5. "Anyone else tired of the daily lava flows of arrant baseball ignorance on this blog?"

    Uh... no. It's part of the appeal. We care. We try to analyze. We make jokes. We have fun.

    However, I can think of something that I'm tired of...

    Doug K.

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  6. Doug K. is tired of the truth. He can handle only slop and prejudice and fantasy. Fuck him.

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  7. John M.--allow me to introduce you to the concept of supporting your assertions with facts and evidence. I guess you were absent from seventh-grade composition class on the day that topic was covered.

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  8. OK then answer these two questions and then we're done.

    1) Why can't you express your opinion without insulting our hosts? (Or any one else for that matter.) We don't always agree here but you seem to have an issue in this regard.

    and 2) Why do you come here at all? You don't like what's written, or us so what is your reason for being here? Seriously. I'm curious.

    Doug K.

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  9. Luckily, insults feed us.

    They are our sustenance.

    They make us strong and weak.

    We are never simply rational.

    What would be the point of that?

    That's why they have shows with A-Rod, The Big Hurt, Keith Fernandez and Big Pappy, dressed in suits, dressing those baseball fans who want serious drivel.

    Watch them.

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  10. pedo anon is just a racist townie asshole RS fan (but I repeat myself).

    The rest of us are just baseball fans. That doesn't compute in his warped world.

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. This article discusses the hitting coaches...

    https://www.pinstripealley.com/2017/8/12/16125772/yankees-offense-editorials-hitting-coaches-aaron-judge-gary-sanchez-houston-astros-cleveland

    Yes I think a change is needed...

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  13. HEY SABR DOUCHEBAG anonymous.....

    TAKE YOUR "LAVA FLOWS" AND SHOVE THEM UP YOUR ASS.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen. Get the fuck out. I am always amazed at people who need to be in a specific form so that they can complain about it. Go up to Boston and have fun. We don’t need you and we don’t want you. We don’t like you and we don’t believe you. Don’t mess with Duque and Alphonso, you Swiss-cheese brained dotard.

      Delete
  14. All the assholes assume that only a Red Sox loyalist knows anything about advanced baseball analysis. Is that why the Red Sox have been doing so much better than the Yankees for the past thirteen years? Think about it, dumbasses. . . .

    By the way--today in an interview with Chris Russo, I heard Cashman use the word "exasperate" when he meant to say "exacerbate." The perfect imbecile GM for a team with an imbecilic fan base. . . .

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  15. I insult our hosts? Our hosts insult us with their lazy-ass regurgitation of every brain-dead baseball cliche and superstition from the past hundred years.

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  16. Our "hosts"? What is this--afternoon high tea or a discussion forum? Our "hosts" routinely insult Sterling, Waldman, Cashman, Judge, Sanchez, and the Yankees grounds crew, no doubt, if they could go out and sample the infield dirt and find it not to their liking. So I'm sure they don't mind getting back an inning or two of their own daily outpouring of abuse.

    Facile cleverness and alcoholic rants only take you so far--and then you begin to face the dead end of intellectual sloth.

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  17. As it has been well and truly said, he who is weary of "IT IS HIGH...", Evil Anonymous Buck, is weary of life. Pray, relief thyself of thy waspish fatigue, and get thee hither to one of those many other blogs where you can FIP and BABIP to thy heart's content.

    But I will concede that EAB makes one salient point: Judge is a rookie.

    That said, his learning curve is alarmingly slow at times—and that is even considering the fact that the umps are selling him out and the swanning, teary-eyed Girardi is not supporting him (or anyone on the team, it appears).

    I do remember Sandy Koufax saying that Alfonso Soriano had the fastest hands he had ever seen...and then watching Soriano never become the superstar he could have been, after letting one pitcher get him out in high Judgian fashion in the 2003 playoffs.

    I dread the same fate for Judge.

    But your initial post is also very much on point, Alphonso: where are the coaches? Where is the manager?

    While I can't say I ever knew a blessed thing about Soriano's personality or baseball intelligence, there did seem to be a certain insouciance about him at times. Judge, on the other hand, seems like the ever-diligent pupil, always reminding himself to try harder.

    Yet both seem stuck in these deadly patterns. This speaks to an organization that, since the departure of Chris Chambliss and Don Zimmer, seems to have the damnedest time hiring good help.

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    ReplyDelete
  19. "Anonymous Anonymous said...
    All the assholes assume that only a Red Sox loyalist knows anything about advanced baseball analysis. Is that why the Red Sox have been doing so much better than the Yankees for the past thirteen years? Think about it, dumbasses. . . .

    By the way--today in an interview with Chris Russo, I heard Cashman use the word "exasperate" when he meant to say "exacerbate." The perfect imbecile GM for a team with an imbecilic fan base. . ."

    RS loyalist = racist townie asshole.

    Pedo anon exacerbates frequently while staring at the ortiz poster on his bedroom wall.

    ReplyDelete

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