DickAllen: What makes for winning baseball?

From the desk of DickAllen:

After so many innings of the World Series, it was pointed out somewhere that the infields of both teams have played together consistently for the past several years, even going so far to point out that the Asstros infield has surpassed the Yankees infield of the late 90s in playoff games together, though I believe that Yankees tandem included Posada. I can't be sure of that. No doubt one of you will set me straight on that score.

Of course, it got me to thinking about consistency and what makes for a championship team, an idea that seems to be lost on the Yankees alleged brain trust and analytics geniuses, none of whom are baseball people. I do not consider The Intern a baseball man. A bureaucrat, a second vice president in charge of sitting by the door; a wax figure of a man. A man who does not have baseball in his blood. Not that having baseball in your lineage will guarantee any real merit (see: Boooooone, Aaron).

What constitutes consistency in a team? Regular work together. Over a considerable period of time. For example, this year, the Asstros had Guirrel at 1B for 142 games, Altuve at 2B for 144, Correa for 148 at SS, and well, 3B was manned largely by Bregman for only 90 games (and he was one of four who played double digit games at that position).

The Braves, on the other hand, had Freeman at 1B for 159(!) games, Albies for 156 at 2B, Swanson at SS for 156, and Riley for 156 games. That is pretty astonishing, and they have largely been together for the past three seasons with one or two notable exceptions, mostly at 3B.

This year, the Braves infield combine for a cumulative 16.4 WAR while the Asstros garnered a total 17.4 WAR at the four infield positions. The Asstros have won their division four of the last five years and the Braves have won their division in each of the last five seasons.Both teams where a model of consistency.

Which brings me to your 2021 New York Yankees:

Who had SIX different players at first base, led by the incomparable swiss-army glove of DJ. I won't bother naming the other five. You know who they are.

Second base had FOUR different players man second base, led by the incomparable swiss-army glove of DJ. Again, the other three imposters are not worth naming.

Another FOUR different players played shortstop, and none of them, amazingly enough, was named DJ.

Third base was also manned by FOUR different players, DJ coming in second in games at the hot corner behind Gio.

So, think about this: while the two teams playing for the ring this year each had four guys playing together all year AT THE SAME POSITIONS, the Yankees had EIGHTEEN different players man the infield, led by the incomparable swiss-army glove of DJ who believe it or not, actually managed to get credit for playing in 177 games at different positions – a feat I didn't think was possible, but there you have it - you could look it up.

While I grant that there are any number of other factors go into making up a championship caliber team, having a steady presence at several key positions, particularly at short, second and first is a key ingredient to winning. Without that steady, productive presence, you might very fall short of getting to the World Series.

As an aside, I don't think catcher impacts the game as much as those three positions – the Braves have had a NEGATIVE 1.0 WAR behind the plate while the Astros had a positive 0.7 back there (for your information, the Yankees had a combined positive WAR of 1.1 at catcher, so complain all you want about what Gary is and is not, he has been productive). I personally don't want to hear any more nonsense about bringing back Romine or trading Gary. Neither one of them is Johnny Bench to be sure, but the Yankees have far more problems than catcher.

I'm inclined to spread some blame around for this terrible lack of consistency, a characteristic that makes for championship baseball in my opinion. Analytics seems to think that a professional baseball players should be capable of playing anywhere (which is only true if your name begins with the initials DJ), and it has filtered down to the dugout where our current Management Trainee dances to the tune of the front office, a group of men who devoutly rely on their collective inexperience. Think of it: the Yankees are owned by a man with no desire to win, run by an Intern who has had only on-the-job training, an analytics department run by MBAs, and a manager who had never managed before. It is no wonder they are running a clown car on the diamond.

You want to win baseball games at a high level? Draft (not buy) for position, play them together for an extended period, and don't move them around every week like chickens in a barnyard. Hit guys in the same order in the lineup every day. Baseball players are creatures of habit and notoriously superstitious. They see the field from a specific point of view and you can't just stick them anywhere on any given day. They just won't be as productive. A third baseman is not going to be a terrific left fielder; maybe some will, but I think most won't and until the Yankees can establish some model of consistency, they will continue to remain also-rans.

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