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Small snapshots of a trip through ESPN.com
DMZ · June 18, 2008 at 8:00 am · Filed Under Mariners
(thanks to Kevin for the email that wound up inspiring this)
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31 Responses to “Small snapshots of a trip through ESPN.com”
I think that McLaren’s policy of batting Vidro third is the most inexplicable thing I’ve ever seen a manager do.
Inexplicable, unless, that is, you accept the Strasburg Hypothesis.
terry on
June 18th, 2008 8:33 am
Ummm…how about batting Corey Patterson lead off?
DarkKnight1680 on
June 18th, 2008 8:34 am
Woohoo! Post inspiration! *dances insanely*
Worth noting as well: The Pirates bat Sanchez (aka Baseball’s Worst Hitter) in the 2-hole, providing protection for McLouth and setting the table for Bay. They may be tanking just as hard as we are.
terry on
June 18th, 2008 8:34 am
Oh, here’s a blast from the past….bringing in Mateo to induce a groundball.
Oy Vay! So, can we officially start calling Turbo our designated misser?
Jimmie
DarkKnight1680 on
June 18th, 2008 8:55 am
To be fair, looking at my comment #10, Sanchez was a very solid hitter the last 2 years. Not sure what has happened to the guy who hit .344 with 53 doubles in 06, but he still shouldn’t be in the 2 spot until he figures it out.
Wow. That post was equal parts awesome and horrible.
It’s truly mind-boggling how certain people can stare simple facts in the face, deny their existence, and then complain about being confused.
vb1138 on
June 18th, 2008 9:16 am
You should expand the box score, showing that Vidro went 0-5, the only regular to not get a hit last night besides Kenji, and at least he walked and scored. Bleh
bratman on
June 18th, 2008 9:16 am
This is worse to look at than ‘2 girls 1 cup’
cdowley on
June 18th, 2008 9:40 am
*vomit*
I haven’t liked having Vidro since the day we traded for him… this just gives me further justification… .257 OBP from your DH? Disgusting.
whiskeychainsaw on
June 18th, 2008 9:58 am
The guy that set up my company softball team made it co-ed.
We’ve since forfeited two games because we couldn’t field enough women from the company. In addition, all guys play 1/2 game each because there are too many of us. Including the guys that shouldn’t be allowed to sit in the dugout.
Excellent roster construction.
Excellent management of the roster.
So last game, with 5 girls only one of which who can hit, the guy puts a girl in the lead off. I tried to explain the merits of putting a guy then a girl in front of the best hitter on the team, who he then hit second.
He said, “She’ll get on. We need someone on in front of Moses.”
“But Matt, you are also speeding us out of the inning. First, if only one person is in front of Moses, the likelihood of a runner or two in front of him is lower than if he hits third. That’s why great teams play their best hitters at leadoff, third and cleanup.”
“But we need her in front, she always gets on.”
“Matt, she may or may not get on. And she is hitting like .300, which isn’t all that high in softball. But every other girl is an automatic out. By putting them up sooner instead of later, you are hastening that result.”
Matt failed to understand. And when I showed this post to a buddy on the team, he laughed and said, “It looks like Matt manages the Mariners.”
People have company softball teams that actually try to win? Who knew?
This is a beautiful post, Derek. It should be a handout on the first day of Baseball Management in the 21st Century class at business school.
MyOhMy on
June 18th, 2008 10:21 am
How about the M’s only having ONE hitter in the top 100 of MLB for OPS … and that’s Ibanez at #90. Suxson isn’t too far ahead of Turbo at #149.
Obviously Turbo & Suxson should’ve been DFA’d many moons ago, but how about the guy who is apparantly going to succeed them at DH/1B … Johjima. His OPS is (hold onto that bag covering your head) .564 which is .012 WORSE than Vidro!! Talk about disgusting! Not to mention that 3yr, $24MM extension.
lokiforever on
June 18th, 2008 10:28 am
I wonder if Lee Pelekoudas is even thinking about preventing Turbo from getting too many AB’s, so his option won’t vest? Which reminds me – at the current rate, when does he have to stop playing to avoid this scenario?
Well, Vidro has more RBI’s than Jason Bartlett or Freddy Sanchez. That’s what we were supposed to get from the post right? Right?
And fewer strikeouts. He makes things happen! His outs are productive!
G-Man on
June 18th, 2008 10:32 am
Wow – I knew Vidro was bad, but I had no idea that he was THAT bad.
If Jo is worse, is he not in the ESPN stats due to a lack of PA’s?
joser on
June 18th, 2008 10:39 am
Bartlett and Sanchez are both starting middle infielders. That means they have defensive value (I don’t know how much, my brain is still recovering from UZR Sudoku from the last time I looked up defensive metrics). While it’s true McLaren has played Vidro at 2B to “keep his bat in the lineup” during interleague games… wait, what were we saying about “the most inexplicable thing I’ve ever seen a manager do”?
edgar for mayor on
June 18th, 2008 10:42 am
My last name is Bartlett…
G-Man on
June 18th, 2008 11:03 am
22, Larry Stone reported that he needed a pretty high number of PA’s like 500 or 600. It was in a couple threads a few weeks ago.
I checked on Jojima, and he is indeed just below the number of PA’s needed to make the list of ignomy. At least he plays a position high on the defensive scale, at least, when starting pitchers are actually willing to throw to him.
Just a thought of what we might be able to do with our lineup… is the reason we are keeping Burke on the roster is because we’re going to trade Johjima and we don’t want to lose out on Burke by having someone claim him off waivers? That would be another move to rid the team of the mistakes made by the previous GM. Why else would we be carrying 3 Catchers, especially when we have said we don’t want to use Clement as a DH? Because who would trade for Burke? With Johjima at DH, it’s an upgrade over Vidro for sure, but it still doesn’t make much sense to me.
sick.
We get it, you hate Jason Bartlett. Just let it go….
Well, Vidro has more RBI’s than Jason Bartlett or Freddy Sanchez. That’s what we were supposed to get from the post right? Right?
He’s gotta have less than 2 weeks til he gets DFA’d, right? So we can DH Johjima?
…
*thumbs up*
Ouch! Ow! Stop! Please.
Every day I see his name in the 3rd hole, a little piece of me dies.
I think that McLaren’s policy of batting Vidro third is the most inexplicable thing I’ve ever seen a manager do.
Inexplicable, unless, that is, you accept the Strasburg Hypothesis.
Ummm…how about batting Corey Patterson lead off?
Woohoo! Post inspiration! *dances insanely*
Worth noting as well: The Pirates bat Sanchez (aka Baseball’s Worst Hitter) in the 2-hole, providing protection for McLouth and setting the table for Bay. They may be tanking just as hard as we are.
Oh, here’s a blast from the past….bringing in Mateo to induce a groundball.
Oy Vay! So, can we officially start calling Turbo our designated misser?
Jimmie
To be fair, looking at my comment #10, Sanchez was a very solid hitter the last 2 years. Not sure what has happened to the guy who hit .344 with 53 doubles in 06, but he still shouldn’t be in the 2 spot until he figures it out.
Selective memory must be the price of sanity.
Wow. That post was equal parts awesome and horrible.
It’s truly mind-boggling how certain people can stare simple facts in the face, deny their existence, and then complain about being confused.
You should expand the box score, showing that Vidro went 0-5, the only regular to not get a hit last night besides Kenji, and at least he walked and scored. Bleh
This is worse to look at than ‘2 girls 1 cup’
*vomit*
I haven’t liked having Vidro since the day we traded for him… this just gives me further justification… .257 OBP from your DH? Disgusting.
The guy that set up my company softball team made it co-ed.
We’ve since forfeited two games because we couldn’t field enough women from the company. In addition, all guys play 1/2 game each because there are too many of us. Including the guys that shouldn’t be allowed to sit in the dugout.
Excellent roster construction.
Excellent management of the roster.
So last game, with 5 girls only one of which who can hit, the guy puts a girl in the lead off. I tried to explain the merits of putting a guy then a girl in front of the best hitter on the team, who he then hit second.
He said, “She’ll get on. We need someone on in front of Moses.”
“But Matt, you are also speeding us out of the inning. First, if only one person is in front of Moses, the likelihood of a runner or two in front of him is lower than if he hits third. That’s why great teams play their best hitters at leadoff, third and cleanup.”
“But we need her in front, she always gets on.”
“Matt, she may or may not get on. And she is hitting like .300, which isn’t all that high in softball. But every other girl is an automatic out. By putting them up sooner instead of later, you are hastening that result.”
Matt failed to understand. And when I showed this post to a buddy on the team, he laughed and said, “It looks like Matt manages the Mariners.”
Wonderful.
People have company softball teams that actually try to win? Who knew?
This is a beautiful post, Derek. It should be a handout on the first day of Baseball Management in the 21st Century class at business school.
How about the M’s only having ONE hitter in the top 100 of MLB for OPS … and that’s Ibanez at #90. Suxson isn’t too far ahead of Turbo at #149.
Obviously Turbo & Suxson should’ve been DFA’d many moons ago, but how about the guy who is apparantly going to succeed them at DH/1B … Johjima. His OPS is (hold onto that bag covering your head) .564 which is .012 WORSE than Vidro!! Talk about disgusting! Not to mention that 3yr, $24MM extension.
I wonder if Lee Pelekoudas is even thinking about preventing Turbo from getting too many AB’s, so his option won’t vest? Which reminds me – at the current rate, when does he have to stop playing to avoid this scenario?
And fewer strikeouts. He makes things happen! His outs are productive!
Wow – I knew Vidro was bad, but I had no idea that he was THAT bad.
If Jo is worse, is he not in the ESPN stats due to a lack of PA’s?
Bartlett and Sanchez are both starting middle infielders. That means they have defensive value (I don’t know how much, my brain is still recovering from UZR Sudoku from the last time I looked up defensive metrics). While it’s true McLaren has played Vidro at 2B to “keep his bat in the lineup” during interleague games… wait, what were we saying about “the most inexplicable thing I’ve ever seen a manager do”?
My last name is Bartlett…
22, Larry Stone reported that he needed a pretty high number of PA’s like 500 or 600. It was in a couple threads a few weeks ago.
I checked on Jojima, and he is indeed just below the number of PA’s needed to make the list of ignomy. At least he plays a position high on the defensive scale, at least, when starting pitchers are actually willing to throw to him.
Just a thought of what we might be able to do with our lineup… is the reason we are keeping Burke on the roster is because we’re going to trade Johjima and we don’t want to lose out on Burke by having someone claim him off waivers? That would be another move to rid the team of the mistakes made by the previous GM. Why else would we be carrying 3 Catchers, especially when we have said we don’t want to use Clement as a DH? Because who would trade for Burke? With Johjima at DH, it’s an upgrade over Vidro for sure, but it still doesn’t make much sense to me.
I don’t think protecting Burke is a consideration.
No hit/good glove catchers are a dime a dozen.
Lowest OPS in AL the 2nd worst in baseball…hitting third…getting Ab’s…option vest…*dies*
Great post, you should use this format more often.