tntoriole

I hope not. Let the kid pitch a full season in the minors. This season is fruitless anyway. No reason to push.

No hate...just not wearing the Ryan colored love glasses. His skills have not magically become what they never were before. I will take Valencia any day.

Ummm..no. Talk to me in a month when he has had an 0 for 25 run.

Yes, and Ryan probably must know on some level that for Buck Showalter to be thinking enough about him to be talking about him in an interview and giving him some constructive criticism in person is not something that many other minor league players are getting and likely would be thankful just to be on Buck’s radar.

In that sense, Mountcastle is not yet a highly paid employee and a veteran that Buck has been to war with over many, many games. He is an indentured servant. And the key point is that Buck did not embarrass him. At all. He gave him something he will always be able to remember and to talk about with his friends and family...lol. If Buck talked about Chris Davis in that same fashion, it would have solely been embarrassing to him. Sometimes, pies in the face can be enriching and motivating. Sometimes, they can be a distraction and a pain in the butt...just depends on the context and the person involved.

Buck doesn't have to go through 162 games with Mountcastle. He does have to live with Chris Davis every day of this season. Plus Davis makes about 6 times as much as Buck does. In any business, lower paid employees disciplining high value, high pay employees is a tricky business. It is not good business to try to "motivate" your highly paid employee by embarrassing them in public, generally.

Absolutely they are in the sense of being taught a specific change in their game by Buck. Their improvement or lack thereof over the rest of their career will by and large be an internally driven process with little direct teaching by managers.

Accountable is an elusive term. Motivation and performance are more the goals in the midst of a season. The reality is Buck realizes "for better or worse, these are the guys that I have for this season. Yes, I wish they were better at X, but they are not better at X, they are better at Y and that is the way it is." Do I get on them and now they are not only no better at X AND now they are not as good at Y either or do I recognize that I need to do what I can to support their performances, not try to make them into something that they are not?. The accountable part I put almost completely on the GM and the owner that assembles the squad much more than the manager.

And he reinforced the message to Hays by letting the public know that Hays got the same message. Subtle, but effective. Buck is very good at recognizing what different people at different stages and different levels need. Like Crash Davis advice to the minor league manager..."they are just kids....scare them" which leads to the "lollygagging" tirade. Buck is tougher on rookies and minor leaguers because they need it (and there is still a whiff of the Billy Martin school that comes out when Buck is reacting to a minor leaguer....like "hey rookie, you are a rookie, you can follow this or you can laugh about it and stay on the bus in Norfolk for the rest of your life."

Old dogs, new tricks versus new dogs, old tricks. Hard to tell 30 year old big league veteran millionaires much. 21 year old that wants to make it...different audience, differently message. Buck would, on some level, enjoy being a minor league development person.

This was an excellent article about the Astros leadership...But building is easier than keeping it because the bucks start going up and the window of the core group starts to close. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/astros-world-series-win-may-be-remembered-as-the-moment-analytics-conquered-mlb-for-good/2017/11/02/ac62abaa-bfec-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_with_top_mostshared_1_na&utm_term=.36ad0eea714b

Thank God...now I don't have to root for the Yankees in the World Series....that is worse than eating liver.

Thanks...it would mean that unless he stays 2.5-3 months in minors next year that he could then see arbitration 4 times rather than 3? Right? Which if he is a big hit as a player could cost the old man millions more than if he only had three arbitration rounds?

Buck had better be playing him cause otherwise it is a loss for the organization overall to start his service time for no reason.

Is he a pitcher? lol. I would put blinders on him on the bench whenever Davis, Trumbo (maybe Jones too) are at the plate.

And are losing the second game too 6-1....a loss will bring us to 2.5 games back of them. Look out!

Time to move up...this level is too easy for Hunter.

I really liked Kim's calm at bats, his good humor despite his treatment by management, his confidence in his own ability by refusing to be shipped to Norfolk and his support of his teammates. I think Buck was perhaps flummoxed by the cultural issues involved in dealing with a translator during a long season and never felt any informal bond or connection with Kim.

Today was the worst loss since the NY implosion. Partly because the Nats loss came after we had already won 2, today's loss was to try to keep from being swept and we had it, then almost came all the way back. Very draining and demoralizing that then tends to bleed over into the next series.

Ellsbury gunned out at the plate from left in bottom of the ninth to preserve 3-2 win for Astros.

Ellsbury thrown out at home to keep Astros winners at 3-2 over the mfys.

You are Absolutely correct! I was way too exercised by the close call...whew! And no, not the Giants...although do I get the emotional fulfillment of all those recent World Series wins in the deal? Maybe? Nah...you and all of us here know we can only be Os fans....On to the land of McCovey... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I was actually referring to O'Day as the ominous part, but OK. I understand and do appreciate the excellence. Today just would have been a catastrophic loss. Catastrophic. And except for Schoop's knocking it down, with the walk, etc. it would have had a terrible impact. Just way, way, way too close to falling off a cliff to feel good about right away like dancing about. Plus I was only on Gameday, which, I swear to God, called the third out, and even went to the Wrap view, only then to reset back after the replay....I almost had a stroke...lol. But all is good, thanks for the reminders from all my fellow posters ...they keep me sane.... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The only positive about that game today was the W. Excruciating. Outplayed in the entire series by a team that is going nowhere but who were fired up and playing harder. Bullpen ranged from the terrible to the merely bad and Britton too today was not his usual excellent self. Kind of game that gives a team very little lift at all even with a W. Very ominous signs with the bullpen and having 1 game of every 5 that we have any offense at all will not get it done. I hope this changes something but we shall see. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just a little while ago we had the second best record in baseball, best in the AL and the home field advantage...now we are the sixth of six first place teams in baseball...we need to get a streak on. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk