Whale

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This from the TNT:

Any lefty relievers in the Mariners’ camp can take this as a help-wanted posting: manager Lloyd McClendon would like to have three of you on his 25-player roster.

“I can’t say I’m going to have three,” McClendon cautioned. “In a perfect world, I’d like to have three. And we’ve got some viable candidates. Guys who have good arms.”

McClendon previously indicated Charlie Furbush as a virtual lock for a spot after compiling a 3.74 ERA last season in 71 games.

Other lefty candidates include Lucas Luetge, Joe Beimel, Randy Wolf and Bobby LaFromboise.

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Point A:  the obsession with LH-on-LH is, in SSI's view, neurotic.  

We can argue that another time.  My view (and that of Bill James) is that major league teams may very well need ZERO left hand relievers.  If you want one, fine.  But you can imagine my reaction to "I need THREE."

For those who just joined us:  get a good pitcher in there, and let him throw a little bit.  Don't half-bake it by shuffling lousy pitchers in and out every hitter.  It's an inferiority complex before you open the first series.

You think when Texas rolled Robbie Ross, Neal Cotts, and Joe Nathan out there to slam the game shut, they gave a rat's tail whether you had Kyle Seager and Kendrys Morales?  Texas liked their pitchers.  They came at you with them.  They didn't hide behind an abstract platoon concept.

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This is one of the greatest things I've ever heard in sports.   Courtesy of Field Gulls, natch.

You remember in the 49'er game, that the Seahawks were behind 17-13 early in the 4th quarter.  It was 4th and 7 from the enemy 35-yard line.

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New column!  Fortune 500 Forum :- )   :: crowd goes wild ::

:: buried in crumpled Dixie Cups ::

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Ahem.  :: taps microphone ::

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A Tale of Two Engines, Dept.

In the late 80's and early 90's, Boeing launched a critical new program, the one that produced the 777 jumbo jet.  Only two engines, but transatlantic.  Quality Assurance was critical, because the FAA wasn't going to sign off on two-engine ocean flights unless ... well, you get the idea.

With programs like this, there is just a leeeeetle bit more at stake than a 71-91 won-loss record.  It isn't like Boeing execs have less pressure on them than does Howard Lincoln.

They put a bright young 30-something executive in charge of their sparkly-new Quality Assurance department.  Think Keanu Reeves.

This bright young executive needed, in turn, an ideas man, somebody who could help him move QA into the next generation.  That ideas man happened to be ... guess who?  You got it.  'twas Your Humble Correspondent.

Keanu was not messing around, when he said he wanted to go next-generation.  Before Keanu hired Dr. D, he put Dr. D through a long series of interviews.  In these, Dr. D was required to demonstrate new ideas, respond to skeptical questions, and the like... one time Dr. D was asked to produce a list of 20 different process improvements to the QA system.  

Something which, by the way, had Dr. D wallowing in white boards and dry-erase markers.

This bright young executive wanted real improvement.  And so he wanted outside consultants, people who had NOT worked inside the system, people who could bring ...

 *** FRESH PERSPECTIVE. ***

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We Been Putting Planes In the Air for 40 Years, Dept.

There are good reasons to hire from within.  There are good reasons for groupthink.  There are times when the priority is to get everybody on the same sheet of music.   Sometimes you need to stop asking questions, and just get the final print into the can.

This, however, wasn't the time.

Spec says,

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Why I'm the K-Pax skeptic:

And when I say skeptic, I mean I think he's much more likely to have a Bedard career than a Kershaw career.  That's still something of value, of course.