Comments on: Re-Examining One Particular Thing About Dusty Baker

By: Joel

Joel — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:54:58 +0000

I don’t quite get the Cormac McCarthy reference, but I love that you made it. A really enjoyable piece.

By: jOj

jOj — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 16:55:28 +0000

If he wanted to play Neifi, fine. But leading him off, consistently, was asinine. That’s what got me.

By: JoePepitone

JoePepitone — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 05:34:29 +0000

I’m still marveling over the great Cormac McCarthy reference near the top of the piece.

By: Ken Schultz

Ken Schultz — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:26:11 +0000

I can agree with that–and Dusty deserves criticism for choosing to make Neifi & Macias the guys he wanted to have around (With a share for Hendry too for acquiring so much roster deadweight).

The philosophy behind playing Neifi makes sense to me. It’s using it to play the actual Neifi that made things painful.

By: Ken Schultz

Ken Schultz — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:22:25 +0000

Absolved.

I was just as frustrated in ’06. But that was one of the very worst years of our baseball lives. As evidenced by the fact that we were both actually pining for Ryan Theriot to save us.

By: dtpollitt

dtpollitt — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:13:47 +0000

The main difference, of course, being that the guys Maddon trots out there are good players, whereas Baker beat a dead horse with crap players.

Baker’s guys like Macias and Perez combined for career negative value. Maddon’s guys like Russell or Zobrist or Coghlan or Baez all bring good production and/or defense to the table. You can say that’s due to the GM’s roster construction, but I’d say a good manager doesn’t play crappy players.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:54:54 +0000

And please forgive the mobile typos…

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:54:17 +0000

Ugh Neifi Perez. Probably my least favorite baseball player ever if not for his game-winning homer against the Giants on the last day of ’98 to force the one-game playoff.

Your points are well-taken regarding competitive seasons; I did not think about Neifi actual value in this light. I just found his usage of Neifi incredibly frustrating in ’06, when there was nothing to playoff and prospect-at-the-time Ryan Theriot slashed .328/.412/.522 and barely could find playing time.

At least being mad about Neifi in ’06 kept things interesting though…

By: Ken Schultz

Ken Schultz — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 16:10:40 +0000

Thank you, Jared! I appreciate the kind words and you making me feel welcome as part of the group here!

By: Jared Wyllys

Jared Wyllys — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:45:00 +0000

Ken, this is just excellent. Such a great blend of being humorous and insightful at the same time. That’s not easy to do. Nice work.