I Can Do This On Offdays Too
I know what you're saying to yourself. This guy must have some sort of hatred for Dusty Baker to write about why he should not have a job daily. Well, you're right. In fact, I would say that if I had a bunch of kittens (which I don't). Scratch that. Let's say I had a bunch of meerkat pups. They're only 3 inches tall! I digress. So I have these meerkat pups, and then one day, someone comes over to my apartment, and kills all of the meerkat pups right in my face, while I can do nothing. Then they taunt me about it. Then they say something along the lines of 'some days you just have to tip your cap to the other team'. Well, I would only hate the meerkat pup killer slightly less than Dusty Baker.
So my reason on the offday is Matt Murton's performance. As I was reading Paul Sullivan's science fiction article about what the Cubs should do next year (as if Jim Hendry would ever do something other than the easiest possible option), I glanced at the Who's Hot Who's Not on the right side of the page. Who is hot? Ryan Theriot, a .404 OBP in 28 games. And most of those games he's only been a pinch hitter, thanks to Dusty's great 'I never saw a mediocre veteran I couldn't play and get nothing out of' coaching tactics.
Anyways, Murton is suddenly not hot, having gone 4-19 on the 6 game road trip. Hmm, 6 games, roughly 4 ab's per game, comes out to 24 ab's. Add into that the last two games went into the 11th inning and that should be 26 ab's. (Just for perspective, Michael Barrett went 4-25 on the road trip, and he had to have at least 1 day off (by all baseball logic at least, which I know Dusty doesn't use, so I can't be sure and I'm too lazy to look)) So, the Big Murt (love the nickname), who has torn the baseball a new seamhole (trying to not be cliche with the great hitting term, so I made one up) since July, doesn't get ab's. He doesn't deserve them obviously, he was hitting well. You can't leave a kid in there hitting well or he'll go into a slump. He needs many needless days off. Ask Dusty, or Don Baylor, they'll both tell you, since they're almost the exact same manager. Yet even Baylor had some sort of rules, so I think that puts him a step above. But I digress, which apparently is out of control today. Big weekend planned.
Back to the subject. You can't expect someone to stay ridiculously hot if they don't play regularly. Young players are even more prone to it. Also you can't put them on the bench to 'protect' them from falling into a slump. It's gonna happen, and they need to learn to battle through it, to forge ahead. If not, then they'll always be mediocre. Then let's see them gain confidence when they're only played 1 out of every 3 days while some old dude hitting 30 points lower plays in their position. They get maybe one pinch hit ab in their days off, and surprise, they have trouble hitting. And surprise, they struggle on the days they start because they haven't seen live pitching for 3 days.
I just can't comprehend how Dusty can rationalize the way he, and my quotations won't give enough emphasis to this, so I'm going to have to way overstate this, """"""""""""""""develops"""""""""""""""""" young players. The way I see it is that he does nothing but set them up for failure basically. Even someone who has always been disciplined at the plate throughout his career (Murton) isn't immune to Dusty's shitty coaching rubbing off. I'm just amazed that Murton was able to battle through it once before, and hopefully he can finish strong, playing most days because Nevin is gone.
Also, why are we so excited to get Jacque Jones and Juan Pierre back next year (should we re-sign Pierre)? They didn't start hitting until June!
So my reason on the offday is Matt Murton's performance. As I was reading Paul Sullivan's science fiction article about what the Cubs should do next year (as if Jim Hendry would ever do something other than the easiest possible option), I glanced at the Who's Hot Who's Not on the right side of the page. Who is hot? Ryan Theriot, a .404 OBP in 28 games. And most of those games he's only been a pinch hitter, thanks to Dusty's great 'I never saw a mediocre veteran I couldn't play and get nothing out of' coaching tactics.
Anyways, Murton is suddenly not hot, having gone 4-19 on the 6 game road trip. Hmm, 6 games, roughly 4 ab's per game, comes out to 24 ab's. Add into that the last two games went into the 11th inning and that should be 26 ab's. (Just for perspective, Michael Barrett went 4-25 on the road trip, and he had to have at least 1 day off (by all baseball logic at least, which I know Dusty doesn't use, so I can't be sure and I'm too lazy to look)) So, the Big Murt (love the nickname), who has torn the baseball a new seamhole (trying to not be cliche with the great hitting term, so I made one up) since July, doesn't get ab's. He doesn't deserve them obviously, he was hitting well. You can't leave a kid in there hitting well or he'll go into a slump. He needs many needless days off. Ask Dusty, or Don Baylor, they'll both tell you, since they're almost the exact same manager. Yet even Baylor had some sort of rules, so I think that puts him a step above. But I digress, which apparently is out of control today. Big weekend planned.
Back to the subject. You can't expect someone to stay ridiculously hot if they don't play regularly. Young players are even more prone to it. Also you can't put them on the bench to 'protect' them from falling into a slump. It's gonna happen, and they need to learn to battle through it, to forge ahead. If not, then they'll always be mediocre. Then let's see them gain confidence when they're only played 1 out of every 3 days while some old dude hitting 30 points lower plays in their position. They get maybe one pinch hit ab in their days off, and surprise, they have trouble hitting. And surprise, they struggle on the days they start because they haven't seen live pitching for 3 days.
I just can't comprehend how Dusty can rationalize the way he, and my quotations won't give enough emphasis to this, so I'm going to have to way overstate this, """"""""""""""""develops"""""""""""""""""" young players. The way I see it is that he does nothing but set them up for failure basically. Even someone who has always been disciplined at the plate throughout his career (Murton) isn't immune to Dusty's shitty coaching rubbing off. I'm just amazed that Murton was able to battle through it once before, and hopefully he can finish strong, playing most days because Nevin is gone.
Also, why are we so excited to get Jacque Jones and Juan Pierre back next year (should we re-sign Pierre)? They didn't start hitting until June!
posted by Jtrouble at 8:12 AM
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