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Editor's Choice, 7.10.14

Rock on, SSI denizens

IceX says,

Matt: Realized that the Shoutbox-by-Day is more reliable. I think the all shouts view is a code optimization issue... Feels like it's trying to drudge up every shout and then times out because there's a trillion shouts in history: the DB is screaming "wait... wait... wait... I'M TELLING YOU TO WAIT!!!" when the web server walks away...

Yep. I use the "Shoutbox Digest" (left sidebar) myself. There is way too much good stuff that you might miss if you don't.

Visualize, if you will, a staff of 3 to tend to a garden of 1,500 sites. If $9 per month for a satellite site (in addition to this free one) -- faster loads because 10% of the traffic -- sounds enticing, please chime in. So thanks for your patience -- the powers-that-be are hyper-aware of the load time / patience issue and working very hard to please. Cheap at twice the price.

The ShoutBox itself is very cool, isn't it? Have you ever seen this elsewhere, especially where one ShoutBox can serve multiple sites in real time?

Appreciate you guys so much. Would far rather read than write.

Tokyo Jeff says,

“But that's not the point. It's a minor irritant to Dr. D that American coaches -- as opposed to Japanese coaches -- think that less work equals more strength. :: shrug ::”

Thank you as always Doc for all the excellent commentary! It’s always enjoyable to hear someone challenge “common sense”.

As someone who has trained with a number of kendo teams in Japan however (corporate and collegiate, plus seen the training methods of the police teams), I do have to question the argument above to a degree. There are certainly strong college programs that follow a “less is more” viewpoint in Japan. One example is Keio University. Since it is an academically rigorous university, daily practices (when Keio was ranked in the Kanto best 4, and the women’s team was #2 in all Japan) were just 1.5 hours a day. I asked the coach at the time how did they compete with the Kokushikans and Tsukuba’s with such little practice time, and the answer was one of efficiency and intensity. If there was only a short window of time a day, you had to focus completely and dedicate yourself to every moment. Furthermore, there was a need to practice and fight strategically instead of mechanically/physically (although in Tsukuba’s defense, they do an amazing job blending both approaches). Since Keio left that approach in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s they have actually lost success.

One other counter example is actually powerlifting. If you read the work by Jim Wendler, Dave Tate, or Mark Rippentoe, all discuss “leaving a bit in the tank” after practice and not working until failure. In other words, taking “baby steps”. Wendler’s 5/3/1 is basically built entirely on this premise, and it helped him and others become champion lifters. They argue that otherwise the injuries build up over time. It’s a long-term health/gain vs. short-term gain viewpoint, where one might have greater short-term power gains, but lose out over the long haul due to injury or stalling. Elitefts is one great place to see this concept in action. I coach an informal group of college powerlifters in Yokohama (all just starting out from scratch), so this process of how to balance strength gains while preventing injury has been a question that has troubled me greatly.

Again, these are examples from kendo and powerlifting, and they may well NOT translate to baseball. However, I thought it might add to the conversation to diversify the image of Japanese sports training a bit.

Just my two cents. Hope they help!

....

Yes indeed. My comment on Paxton was superficial and cursory -- your comment is much more interesting and edifying. Thank you Jeff.

The issue of "what is best for a baseball pitcher" is extremely complex and defies a definitive answer. There is no way to isolate the variables and come up with confident answers. I was probably too disrespectful toward American coaches' consensus.

...

To pick one comment among many -- "kendo 1.5 hours a day" and the powerlifting -- (1) powerlifters continue to debate training methods. :- ) (2) As a P90X fanatic, I can testify that --- > provided your efforts are extreme, there is little long-term benefit to going beyond (say) 45-60 minutes per (typical) day. And as it pertains to Mike Zunino: once your tendons are getting sore, 1-2 days off are critical and sufficient, generally speaking.

But those are just offhand comments. I hope you'll follow up Jeff.

Merrille Davidson says, regarding Buck as bullpen coach,

That is exactly what I was thinking. He would be a perfect bullpen coach. He is loved by his teammates and the younger pitchers look up to and listen to what he tells them. I think the poor play the last 2 games has some connection to the way Buck was dumped. What a terrible thing to do to a guy on his birthday, and it came at them out of the blue. That is not the sole reason of course but I think played into it. -

Right. You wish you could find some way to keep him around, like they do Valle, Wilson, etc. But how many years might Buck have left to play? Don't backup catchers go sometimes until they're 39? Or maybe Buck's size and profile (bat first) rules that out?

Optimist sez, regarding Norman Rockwell's profundity,

Thanks Doc, for posting a picture and commentary that have had me staring at a Norman Rockwell painting (or JPEG thereof) for 45 minute while contemplating greatness. I really appreciate all you do here. Thanks, Corey -

Thank YOU for saying. I'm visualizing that 45 minutes. I return to Rockwell's masterpieces again and again.

If others don't object -- please chime in -- there are several more Rockwells that we'll probably parlay into baseball applications. Some are even better, to me, than "Breaking Home Ties."

Taijuan to AAA

Was nice to hear McClendon clarify the strategy, warn't it?

We saw some authoritative blog that said "(1) Taijuan Walker, (2) D.J. Peterson, (3) Nick Franklin, and (4) plenty MORE for David Price would be the M's dream" -- very nearly setting Dr. D off on another rant, arguing that this is nonsense -- whereas the below six bullet points, next section would be SSI's dream.

Oakland gave something more akin to [Taijuan, Erasmo, and a throwin] for [Price AND James Loney] than they gave anything like the above.

Bullpen

Lemme stuff this in randomly: man, it was sad to see Stephen Pryor last night. But Brandon Maurer's 5th appearance was, in the main, another case-in-point for him.

How deep does your bullpen have to be, though, to use it for 6 innings on Wednesday and then PLAN on using it for 9 innings the very next day?!

Tom Wilhelmsen Tonight

Spectator opines that McClendon may also see this as a quasi-audition for Tom Wilhelmsen. At SSI it feels like testing your own GM skills, since we would be so keen to trade for Wilhelmsen as a short-list move.

But! Nobody is, or isn't, a starter based on one game. Brandon Maurer wasn't a star setup man based on his first outing -- and still isn't, after five outings.

That said, we hope that Wilhelmsen comes out and looks like Josh Beckett.

....

In an absolutely ideal world, Chris Young would be the next to move to the bullpen (as #6 starter / swing man) after Roenis Elias does. (Elias: tomorrow's news today, babe. But the below bullet points would be "fantasy hallucinations on the evening news today.")