Managerial search
Dave · October 14, 2004 at 6:35 am · Filed Under Mariners
According to both Finnigan and Hickey, the Mariners are going to interview Don Baylor in the next day or two, and the short list includes Terry Collins, Joe Maddon, and Grady Little.
Yawn.
Comments
64 Responses to “Managerial search”
God, no… not Little. Not Baylor… no no no no!!!!
Little: idiot. Last year in playoffs he pinch ran for Ortiz from 3rd with 2 down. In the 6th inning! His playoff mistakes were consistent and he is, persecuted by Bostonians or not, the guy that I know is weaker strategically and the guy i’m excited to face if i’m the opponent. The Bean-towners have a term for him:
“Wicked-Retahded”
Why go with a re-tread if the name and quality doesn’t shine through as a “winner?” It’s like continuing a bad relationship because you’re afraid to try something new. Not that we as Americans would ever do that…
Give me the Angels bench guy or one of our own minor league guys. Or a HUGE name. A Lasorda or Weaver or some such. No mediocre retreads!!!
Oh… and on the God Bless America thing. I HATE IT!!! I completely understand the thoughts of those that dislike it, i.e. those who are athiest or, gasp! not american. (And No, I didn’t say “un-american.”)
I remember how much fun “take me out to the ballgame” was. Cheesy yes. But better than faked sincerity. God blessed us. Our city on the Hill. Manifest Destiny. eck!
This is after all, a game where many players (STARS!) come from other places. Yes, they live and work here, but that doesn’t mean YOUR God has blessed them, or you, or me. Keep it out of the park. If you want to remember 9/11, fine. Do so by having a sincere moment of silence. Park wide. In the 3rd. Or pre-game. Whenever. But the 7th? For X years (as long as I remember) that was the time of peanuts and cracker jacks.
Thoughts on God at the ballpark should be silent and personal.
Uhm, actually, let me amend that: they can be collective in rare cases: 1)all games vs. the yankees and 2)every game the 6th inning on, if we hire Grady or Baylor.
On the manager subject – I find myself leaning towards Maddon or Deirker(sp). Although CNNSI has in their Truth & Rumors section that Herzog’s name is being thrown around by the M’s.
On the God Bless America topic…well…if we’re going to be subjected to a schmaltzy forced patriotic song during the 7th inning stretch than give me the Ray Charles version of America the Beautiful. Personally I’d rather have Louie, Louie back.
Very relevant to choosing a manager is the lastest post in Managment by Baseball.
Let me try again:
“Risk-Avoiders (“Ravers”) and Opportunity-Seekers (“Seekers”)”
Management by Baseball
Coming back around to Beltre…
Yes, back to baseball!
I’m willing to concede that Beltre’s modest gains in patience and ginormous gains in power are for real. I’m just skeptical he’ll keep hitting .330.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pound out a couple of seasons around .280/.330/.560. I’m just not sure that’s worth Vlad Guerrero money, who at least was already a consistently good ballplayer by the time was a free agent. In many ways, Beltre’s age 26 breakthrough reminds me a lot of George Bell’s age 27 season:
Beltre .334/.388/.629, 87 K/53 BB
Bell .308/.352/.605, 75K/39 BB
Bell’s previous seasons had been building to that great performance, but afterwards he never approached it again. Beltre’s record, on the other hand, is all over the map. Does that mean he’s made real adjustments that he’s more likely to carry forward? Or does that mean he’s even more likely to regress? I don’t know. The offensively starved Dodgers, however, can’t afford to let him go. The Mariners might have better choices.
re: Collins– his reaction to what happened in Anaheim may be related to what happened previously in Houston. Just came across this by Larry Dierker, from his description of what turned out to be his first interview for the Astros job:
“What did you think of Terry’s performance last year?”
I paused.
Terry Collins, the manager of the astors, had grown unpopular with the players as most managers eventually do. I am not a big fan of his hyperkinetic style, but I regard him as a smart baseball man, an energetic worker and a keen competitor. I knew he was on the hot seat, but I had heard that the club would not eat the last yerar of his contract.
“What about the clubhouse”, I was asked, “Did you get any feedback from the players?”
“Well, I know they aren’t wild about him. But they liked him just fine and he seemed like a better manager in ’94,” I said. “We had a better team, and we were winning more then. It makes a big difference.”
Dierker mentions that Tal Smith felt Collins had lost Biggio & Bagwell, and they’d brought their weight to bear on Collins; FWIW, Dierker finishes the section, quoting himself:
“”Look, I’m tired of this Bagwell & Biggio shit,” I said. “Bagwell & Biggio will not be a problem, believe me.”
I now believe that this statement is the one that got me the job. It also proved to be false.”
Actually, Beltre’s 25–he won’t turn 26 until next April. Not a huge difference, but fairly significant. Do I expect him to hit .330 every year? No, but I expect him to hit .300 or close every year with plenty of power and a solid OBP. That’s not scientific, of course, and if anyone has better projections on him, feel free to bring them up; but of all the FA out there, I think Beltre, along with Beltran, is the best bet to justify his contract. (Remove health from the equation and Drew would be in there as well.)
If that is true about Biggio and Bagwell… no wonder the Astros have underperformed. Not because of the managers, but because they think they run the club.
Add 50 points of SLG, and Beltre’s 90 percentile PETCO projection more or less what I expect from him for the next couple of years: .281/.336/.512
What’s that worth? I don’t know, but anything more than Eric Chavez money seems to me a huge risk.
I’ve been a Cardinal fan all my life, and I’ve liked the Royals somewhat, so I’ve paid plenty of attention to Whitey Herzog. I still don’t believe he would go to an organization with Lincoln & Bavasi in it, but if he did (assuming he’s still compos mentos), with a couple of free agent signings the M’s would win 85 games next year and challenge for the pennant the next.
Better yet, fire Bavasi, hire Whitey as GM and let him choose the manager and the free agents.
What do you think about the post on the Marinomics website about Managerial candidates.
It sure makes Terry Collins look like a good choice.
I don’t know much about him, though. Does anybody have any words about his managerial style?
“It sure makes Terry Collins look like a good choice. I don’t know much about him, though. Does anybody have any words about his managerial style?”–Comment by Jordan — 10/15/2004 @ 7:45 am
‘Intense’ is the most commonly used word associated with him….
according to Dierker, when Collins was managing the Astors he was a screamer… Larry mentiones they both got frustrated with the club for similar things (they both wanted players who were self-starters, for example) but where Dierker would internalize, Collins would explode, sometimes from the dugout during the game…
From Paul White, when Dierker got fired: “It can be merely a clash of styles. In Dierker’s case, that clash was set up from the beginning. Remember that his predecessor was Terry Collins, who was wound tighter than a 21st century hardball. That was OK with some of the more intense Astros. But it wore thin when the team was losing. Dierker was a refreshing change to the more laid-back types. And Collins found a better fit for awhile with an intense club in Anaheim.”
and FWIW, I think he has tended to be hard on pitchers…
Also, the study (if I may call it that) on Marinomics makes Lee Elia, Jim Riggelman, and Art Howe look like good to decent candidates.
Does anybody know anything about these guys’ and Collins’ managerial styles (besides the player manager/fiery/laid-back type stuff)?
I am curious how they manage (strategically) and how they use their players.
It’d be interesting to see if this study has anything to it.
I read somewhere that Jim Lefebvre has actually had decent success everywhere he’s managed. Is he still around?
(That said, Mike Scoscia and Jim Tracy have both emerged recently. Maybe new managers are the way to go._