Articles on Wedge's ... talent evaluation ... leadership ... career arc ... Grimtooth smile ... etc., forthcoming.  This is on one of six major facets of Wedge's 'game.'

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Q.  How torqued is SSI that Bobby Valentine wanted to come here, but wasn't allowed to?

A.  Baseball is for fun.  Life is work.  I refuse to participate in the Mariners' attempts to spoil my leisure time.  Let's talk about what's enjoyable to talk about.

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Q.  I see, from my Magic 8 Ball, that this bullpen series isn't going to make Dr. D any more popular on Royal Brougham.  Do you hate Wedge?

A.  I like Eric Wedge.  Always have.  Have followed him since he was in college.

When fans tell you that a Manager Smith doesn't know his ear from a hole in the ground, I know with 98% confidence that the fans are just hacked off that they watched a bunch of losses.

All managers are fired, except Earl Weaver and Bobby Cox.  All managers are fired ---- > after they lose games.  All managers who lose games ---- > are stupid in the fans' eyes.

You're never going to find any manager or coach, who just had a tough year, who gets an endorsement from the fans or media.  We're impressionable and we're unfair.

So when fans tell me that Eric Wedge can't change pitchers to save his life, my operating assumption is that they're mistaken.

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Q.  So, Eric Wedge gets accused of lousy bullpen switches.  Where does that rank on SSI's Mange-O-Meter?

A.  As a rule, not very high.  

Stuff that's important:

1. Do the players stay in the fight?  Do they tend to have good years, by their own standards, under this manager?
2. Can the manager tell an Asdrubal Cabrera from a Brandon Phillips?
3. Do the pitchers stay healthy under said manager?
4. Can the manager coach technically in the short term - can he tell Jason Vargas to lose the curve ball?
5. Do young talents flower under this manager?  (Some are repressed psychologically.)

Only after those 162-game strategic concerns, does Dr. D ask whether a given manager is good with the in-game switches.

What difference does it make, whether a guy pinch-hits 100 times vs 110, if Carlos Guillen OPS's 90 under him rather than 150? 

The devil, for a manager, is most certainly not in the details.  The single choice between a 23-year-old Jhonny Peralta and a 38-year-old Omar Vizquel is worth 9,000 hit-and-runs (which won't gain you .01 runs either way, anyhow).

The ability to keep a Milton Bradley happy, and OPS'ing 145, that ability usually dwarfs a year's worth of decisions whether to use Reliever A or Reliever B -- because usually the choice between relievers is a choice between two reasonable alternatives.

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Part 2

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