Add new comment

When I worked for a nursing home, my workload was ridiculous. Thirty patients assigned to me, and the average eight hour work day took more like twelve hours to complete with paperwork. But, I BELIEVED in what I was doing because the entire team agreed (between the usual grumbling) that patient care was first on our list of priorities.
Then a funny thing happened. Our director began implementing a system-wide, top-down 'avoid all mistakes' mentality with policy updates. We were nearing the threshold for license review, and management became less focused on care and more focused on administrative/paperwork obligations.
Net result? Patient care began to deteriorate. I honestly couldn't point to specific changes at ground level, but attitude changed across the board. I found myself contemplating procedure, rather than patient well-being. WhenI left that place and went to work at a hospital, I found the union culture there was even more focused on procedure than the nursing home! The difference was patient load: 4-6 instead of 30. We just outmuscled the problem.
The M's have company-wide peccadillos and irrational preferences, and don't overcome those obstacle by outmuscling the problem (bigger payroll and smarter allocationof resources). If they said, "We WILL NOT employ pitchers who throw inside, because it might offend Suzy Soccer Mom," that is not necessarily a doomed position. BUT, they MUST then deploy their resources in securing the services of pitchers who have already proven capable of doing so.
Could Randy Johnson have succeeded AT ALL if he were required to abide by a memo instructing him to pitch only to the outer half? No, of course not, and he's maybe he greatest pitcher of our generation. What about telling Edgar he absolutely CANNOT hit the ball in the air the other way? Felix that he must throw 85% 4seamers? Anyone here remember the coaches complaining about how little Jeremy Reed pulled the ball? What about Choo's defense? Anyone notice Cincy just put him in CF?!
The M's, to my eye, QUITE CLEARLY have a disconnect between their minor league system and their big league system. The philosophy in the minors doesn't look to affect prospect trajectory much, if at all. The talented guys perform as I expect them to.
But when they get to The Show, it's a whole different story. Someone is doing something unusual, in the strictest sense of the word, within the M's organization when young players arrive. There is pressure to change them and focus on their weaknesses, rather than work with them on maximizing their strengths.