Ah, that we could play in the Aviary forever!
But I digress. Interesting little booth discussion when Wildling came up for the first time, and Michael Kay mentioned that Boone had decided to play him because righties had more success against Hess, the right-handed Baltimore starter, than lefties.
To which Ken Singleton dared to ask, "How about a start just to say, 'Nice job winning the game last night?' "
Whereupon Kay, speaking of the Yankees' beanstrust (not to be confused with a brainstrust), informed him, "They don't believe in hot."
Let's put aside for a moment the age-old question of whether or not hot does exist. Most fans and pretty much anyone who's ever played the game will tell you that it does. The Sabermetricians insist that it does not.
But never mind. The interesting part came when Singleton told Kay: "How are you going to build everyday players then?"
It's a good point.
In fairness to the Sabermetricians, there have been plenty of managers who have had success with platooning players. The most notable example is Casey Stengel, who was also the greatest Yankees manager, and maybe the greatest manager what ever was.
Casey platooned all the time, thereby utilizing the Yankees' greatest advantage—depth—in an era when their starting lineup and starting rotation was not that much far ahead of the other good teams' in the league. He went to war with the team he had—and won.
But that's not the team Aaron Boone has today.
Casey's Yankees rarely carried more than 9 or 10 pitchers at time. Since there was no DH at the time, either, that meant that he usually had 7 or even 8 guys he could bring off the bench. And many of those played multiple positions.
With the Yankees' insistence on carrying 13 pitchers—and with the DH—that means Boone usually has all of 3 subs on the bench. Take away the back-up catcher, and he really has only 2.
What does this mean?
It means that Ken Singleton is right, and the Yankees have to concentrate on building everyday players.
You don't accomplish that by sitting a promising young outfielder just when he's getting hot.
Correct. We have too many pitchers in the pen...it's absurd. It speaks to overmanaging and underconfidence in starters. Now, with our starters that may seem like a good idea, but it's not. If a reliever hasn't been used in a week, we don't need him. Scranton. And playing the hot hand may be statistically unsupported, but in real life it tends to work. Not forever, but it works.
ReplyDeleteSingleton also mentioned on the broadcast about the 1971 Orioles who had 4 20-Game Winners on their roster, and a total of 9 pitchers, total, on their staff. That left 16 position players. Boy has the game changed since then.
ReplyDeleteJM, are you trying to say that Stephen Tarpley (I think that's his name) and Luis Cessa don't deserve spots on the roster? Because I for one would agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI can be be thick.....as they say....
ReplyDeleteI read this blog every day and it is the best. THE BEST. BUT I dont get who Wildling is......only 2 lefty hitters..
I LIKE WHAT JM IS SELLING...
ReplyDeleteRIGHT ON.
.... AND I HAVE ALWAYS FELT IT IS INSANE NOT TO PLAY THE HOT HAND.
JOEY BINDERS WAS DRIVING ME CRAZY WITH HIS PENCHANT TO BENCH THE HOT HAND. (OR WAS IT COOP)?....WELL, WHOEVER IT IS , IT IS NUTS.
SOMEONE WOULD GET 2 HITS, (INCLUDING A HOMER).
BENCH THE NEXT DAY.
3 HITS?...BENCHED.
THANK GOD, SOMEBODY HAD SOME SENSE IN TODAY'S GAME BY PLAYING FRAZIER.
2 HITS AND A GAME WINNING HOMER YESTERDAY.
4 HITS WITH 2 HOMERS TODAY.
MAKES SENSE DOESN'T IT?
IT'S SIMPLE.
YOU PLAY HIM TILL HE COOLS OFF.
IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND!
Thanks, Wezil. And I thought somebody said that "Wilding" was what Frazier liked to be called now, no?
ReplyDeleteI also think that, even today, you shouldn't need more than 11 pitchers on a roster. Guys have to be taught how to pitch longer. Among other things, the trend toward making the pitcher anonymous is taking out the most heroic figure, the center of the action on the field, and in the long run it will kill the popularity of the sport.
But the thing is this: if you DO feel you have to have 13 pitchers, then you'd better make damned sure you have 9 everyday players.
This is the thing that annoys me more than anything about Coops and the Yanks' front office: they never want to consider the consequences of their actions.
You want 13 pitchers? You can't run platoon systems. You want to platoon, and mix-and-match players according to your precious algorithms? You can't have 13 pitchers.
Commit, one way or the other. DON'T MESS WITH MR. IN-BETWEEN!
Yeah, I remember that Orioles team: McNally, Cuellar, Palmer, Dobson. It was McNally's 4th straight year winning at least 20 games, Cuellar's third straight, Palmer's second straight, and Dobson's first.
ReplyDeleteAnd the other guys on the staff were, I think, Dave Leonhard, Dick Hall, Eddie Watt, Pete Richert, and...did they still have Stu Miller? Jim Hardin? Tom Phoebus? I think Mo Drabowsky was already gone...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Baltimore_Orioles_season#Roster
ReplyDeleteGood memory there....
Tell Mantle, Maris, Ruth, Ted Williams and, lest we forget, Joe DiMaggio that being "hot" doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteNothing against the idea of stats per se, but if you base everything on them, you end up thumbing your nose at the JuJu gods.
It it were that successful a method, WHY HAVE WE NOT WON A FUCKING THING IN OVER A DECADE?
FUCK YOU, BRIAN.
UNRESTRICTED STAT-DRIVEN BASEBALL IS THE EMPEROOR'S NEW JOCKSTRAP.
ReplyDeleteYou need some crusty, gut-driven baseball experience in there, as well as a little luck. Men are not machines.
If it worked the way they wanted it to work, the game would suck.
I live for statistical aberrations.
Fuck you, Brian.
Don't worry. Clint will be sitting tonight.Gotta get Stauchman his at bats. In a perfect Binder world, they'd sit Sanchez as well.
ReplyDeleteNo such thing as rhythm for hitters!
Or confidence. Or messing with the heads of hot hitters.
Old Daddy Yankee Roger
As the poet said:
ReplyDelete"I'm too hot (hot damn)
Called a police and a fireman
I'm too hot (hot damn)
Make a dragon wanna retire man
I'm too hot (hot damn)
Say my name you know who I am
I'm too hot (hot damn)
Don't believe me just watch
Uh"
Eh, I don't know about such a good memory, ranger. That team was on television ALL THE TIME when I was growing up.
ReplyDeleteTo this day, I can tell you their batting order:
Buford, RF
Blair, CF
F. Robby, LF
Powell, 1B
B. Robby, 3B
Hendricks/Etchebarren, C
Johnson, 2B
Belanger, SS
I couldn't even work up a proper hatred for them, they were just so good and efficient. End of 1970 AND 1971, they won the last 11 games of the regular season, then swept the ALCS, and won the first two games of the World Series.
16-game winning streaks, back-to-back. If not for Clemente and the Miracle Mets, they would've taken 3 rings in a row.
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