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Sez Bill,
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The Phillies announcers are saying that when Howie Kendrick (33) comes back, it will cause a problem in finding playing time for Tommy Joseph (25) who is in a bit of a slump and Aaron Alther (26) who is hot. At what point do teams decide to play the young guys even if the older guys are hitting better? I mean, I get that if Kendrick is hitting that helps you win now, but surely if you think Joseph might develop (though he's not THAT young, surely) then Kendrick needs to watch while you let Joseph and Alther play?
Asked by: MikeChary
Answered: 5/3/2017
It is a problem in a lot of organizations. Well. . .you have to treat players fairly despite their age. It does create a problem on your team if players perceive that some players are "chosen", and others don't get a fair shot. But also, there is a problem sometimes of managers or others not caring anything about what happens two years down the road; they're fighting to survive.
Herk Robinson once told me that one of the biggest mistakes he made with the Royals was a small thing. Somebody in the organization wanted to invite Vince Coleman to spring training in '94, so he said "Sure; let's bring him in." Coleman was in his 30s by then and coming off two or three subpar seasons. Robinson THOUGHT that he had an understanding that Coleman was coming in to fight for a job as a fifth outfielder, pinch runner, but once he got to camp, he was in the lineup every day, pushing out young guys who needed the development time. Hal McRae--who was a very good manager--was more comfortable with the marginal veteran than with a marginal rookie. Once he is on the roster there is not much that the GM can do about his playing time.
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That seemed like a pithy statement of the "entitlement" problemo to me, so maybe it's useful to some of you amigos also.
Meanwhile, Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais manifest a rather different relationship than the one that Bill Bavasi had with Mike Hargrove that cost us Shin-Soo Choo among many other things. They have a different relationship than Jack Zduriencik had with Don Wakematsu, that cost us our organizational self-respect when 142-lb Chone Figgins fired his own manager. A moment of gratitude, please, for the fact that we now live in a Major League City.
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Two more roster moves before Sunday's game. That's how Goldschmidt intro'ed the graphic: "two more moves today." I'm pretty sure they are at 1.97 moves PER DAY or very close to that. Dipoto is just wallowing in his job, isn't he? Old Joe Garagiola story about Branch Rickey: "You're in my plans, kid, you're in my plans." Next day you're in Columbus, traded for Dooley Womack.
Amigo axs our opinion of Chase de Jong. He reminded me sort of a righty John Halama: supernaturally calm and wise, with very short stuff. In this particular game he indeed did throw a flurry of King Felix(TM) Ultra Pitch Sequences, spotting the 88-89 at the fringes of the zone time after time to pitch ahead in the count. He mixed a serviceable change and curve and EARNED his nice box score.
Take the under.
As the original Worst Wager post clearly stated on Yovani Gallardo, none of this applies if he suddenly starts performing way better than he used to. That "if he suddenly gets much better" proposition would be true if we picked up Jeff Cirillo, too, not that I want to bet on Cirillo this summer. And Dr. D doesn't want to put any cash on Chase de Jong, with the obvious asterisk: unless de Jong really decides he'll keep locating as if he were Bob Tewksbury.
Hey, no sour grapes here about Mariners who suddenly start performing way better than they used to. Any who do, including those in Tacoma, are going to find themselves in Safeco very quickly. It's not like the 1974 George Steinbrenner is making the assessments as to which one is swinging like Taylor Motter.
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All we need is a couple turns' worth of okay pitching, before getting back K-Pax and the King. And our 6-7-8 guys are doing it at the moment, thanks to the quadruple-speed Cheney Carousel casting losers into the park bushes as it whirs frantically in circles. As a fan, I'm glad to know that Leonys Martin's posse (may his career enjoy mellow greetings and instill joy-joy feelings in his managers) does not run the roster.
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Be Afraid,
Dr D
