Comments on: Proof that the Baseball Gods do exist

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:38:32 +0000

…and this guy is our new bench coach? Great. Hopefully Hillman won’t listen to him too much.

By: zahri

zahri — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:05:44 +0000

Intentional walk is the worst part of baseball. Abolish it. Where’s fairplay.

From somebody who is still trying to comprehend baseball and the insanity surrounding it.

By: Jeff E

Jeff E — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:18:57 +0000

Amen, Joe! I was watching that game and laughed out loud in disbelief when the last guy in the league that should receive an IBB had one ordered up. Bring the infield in, ’cause the next batter’s 3 times more likely to drive in someone.

By: G Young

G Young — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:46:18 +0000

Probably the discussion here is over, but I mentioned during the HOF debate that using IBB to discuss HOF candidates is a ridiculous metric, because the IBB would appear to be about 5000 times more prevalent in today’s game then at any other time in the history of baseball.

“Old baseball men” may be an easy way to pin somebody with excessive use of the IBB, but the truth is the IBB was never used as much in the past as it has been the last 10 to 15 years.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:19:21 +0000

1) I agree with Mikey, Giambi didn’t deserve the heat he got over not sliding. Jeter however, didn’t get the heat he deserved for being totally out of position to cover second.

2) #41, I dislike the intentional pass, but Acta is totally justified in your example. Geovany Soto might have been struggling at the time, but he’s got a career line of .316/.392/.535 who had an OPS over 1.000 in the minors in 2007. Ronny Cedeno on the other hand has a career line of .254/.283/.361. There is simply no reasonably way to crucify Manny Acta for preferring to face Cedeno over Soto with the game on the line. Acta, more than any other manager in the game, imo, has shown an understanding of trying to gain platoon split advantages, properly valuing outs, and in general being open to rational baseball moves. He’s not perfect, and he’ll make mistakes, but it’s because he’s human, not a bad manager.

By: Jeff P

Jeff P — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:48:19 +0000

THANK YOU for trashing an intentional walk. I didn’t see the game, but feel the same way about a stupid IBB once every two days or so. It is the dumbest strategy in baseball, has been for years, and Bill James needs to do research and find out how often it fails. I would guess 40 percent of the time.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:40:13 +0000

John Gibbons = Buddy Bell. Old baseball men think they are playing the percentages with the left-left matchup, but as someone noted above, DeJesus does quite a bit better against them than Pena. And if I had time to look it up, I’ll bet those numbers were affected by an abysmal rate against lefties when he played through a hurt shoulder a couple years ago.

Now back to the Buddy Bell comparison. I have to admit, I miss the guy. Two years ago the Royals were playing the Reds in Cincy, tie game in the 8th, Adam Dunn coming to the plate with a runner on and down by 1. Who does Bell bring in? Jimmy Gobble. Good call, right? Nope. As Gobble trots in, Dunn’s splits flash on the screen. He hits .100 higher against lefties with even more power. I predict to my buddy a dong, Todd Coffey close-out and Royals loss. Like clockwork, Dunn hit the first pitch from Gobble out on a line in under a second. Coffey closes it out, Royals lose another thanks entirely to Buddy. At least if a team is going to be bad, we should have the privilge of cyncially predicting boneheaded moves by the manager.

By: J

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:07:40 +0000

I saw the Nats do something similarly stupid and should have had Manny Acta fired in game. The Cubs reached a 2nd and 3rd, 1 out, down 3-2 in the 8th. Geo Soto was coming to the plate (0-3, 3 K), Ronny Cedeno on deck, and the pitcher’s spot third. Soto has been hitting OK this season, but is still a young catcher who hadn’t touched a ball all night. On deck is Ronny Cedeno, a tough guy to double up (who was also batting .800 with 11 RBI with the bases loaded THIS SEASON).

Naturally, Acta chose to walk Soto, who finished the series a staggering 0-8, 8 K and 1 IBB, and then for good measure, bring in a reliever to walk in the tying run.

The Nats deserved to lose another, but earned a reprieve, as Wil Nieves (30 yrs old, 0 HR since making his MLB debut in 2002) chose a good opportunity to pop his cherry.

Just another manager who has no grasp of the game, just does what he thinks everybody expects him too.

By: CharlesH

CharlesH — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:58:36 +0000

Mikey – bad word choice on the “obviously” on my part – better to have used “IMO” – which is that Posada swept at him, and had he slid, with a hook slide, he would have been under the tag.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:11:23 +0000

Watching the game Friday night, I had to go answer a phone just when Pena was at bat. I got back just in time to see ball four sail wide. I could only think it was some sort of bizarrely, blooper-reel-wide wild pitch. I still can’t make it settle into my brain that someone actually walked Tony Pena Jr. intentionally, three days later.