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Will Mora Be This Season's OH Tejada?


Old#5fan

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Stats have done wonders with figuring a better way to arrange teams to function as assembly line run producing machnes in a long marathon season. But as Billy Beane has said himself "My **** doesnt work in the playoffs". I wonder if Billy was using observations or statistics when he said this? Could be he was just using a small sample size? LOL.

My educated guess would be that he meant the following:

His system is built around being successful over the long haul. That is, if you have guys that walk walk walk, then they will tend to score more runs over the course of a season then an otherwise equal team that doesn't In other words, a team that scores more runs wins more games (stop the presses!!!).

HOWEVER, in the playoffs anything can happen over the course of a 5-7 game series. Therefore, his goal of playing for the long haul is neutralized. That is not to say that his teams cannot win in the playoffs, it's just that they (as with any other team) are not guaranteed to.

So yes, it does have to do with sample size, just not in the way that you guessed.

-m

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I do think this observation of his skills is rather accurate. I dont see him making much errors on hard smashed balls. He also doesnt appear to make that many throwing errors. I honestly do think most of his errors seem to come on softer hit balls and thinking about throwing before he catches the ball. Lots of little dribblers that he muffs because he is thinking to much.

So over the course of a long season his defence might be fine. If we ever got into a playoff game where the winning run was on third and they laid down a bunt I would want some other guy out there. Since we are years away from the playoffs I dont have much problem with Mora playing third. Except that I would rather see a young kid out there. I understand letting him play now, especially if it boost his value and he will waive the no trade.

I agree with playing him under the scenario of increasing his trade value, but if I was Trembley I would make him stay after hours for fielding practice and hit him dribbler after dribbler down the third base line until he makes that play 99/100 times. If he cannot or is unwilling to do that then consider moving him to the outfield and inserting Moore. I would put the onus on him. As far as baserunning blunders I think after committing one that loses or costs a game I would send a message by benching him for the next three games to send a message.

Does anyone here who watched Earl Weaver manage think he would have put up with these boneheaded baserunning or other mental blunders year after year? Mr. Mora would be getting quite a few benchings until this problem was corrected.

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How about his second at bat yesterday. He was first pitch swinging on a pitch clearly not a strike and BRob would have stolen the base but Mora fouled off the ball. Who goes up to the plate looking to swing at a first pitch breaking ball that is dancing to the outside of the plate? That is stupid by itself but that he cost Roberts an easy stolen base and a chance to have a runner in scoring position with no outs just compounds the stupidness.

Brian Roberts essentially has the green light on the base paths, free to steal at-will. It's a hard enough job to hit with no one on base. To imply that Mora did something wrong by swinging at a pitch (that he ultimately fouled off) on which Roberts could have easily stolen a base even though Mora had no way of knowing Roberts was planning to break for second is...silly.

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I agree with playing him under the scenario of increasing his trade value, but if I was Trembley I would make him stay after hours for fielding practice and hit him dribbler after dribbler down the third base line until he makes that play 99/100 times. If he cannot or is unwilling to do that then consider moving him to the outfield and inserting Moore. I would put the onus on him.

I dont know. I think Trembly would rather another player be playing third but we are stuck with some bad contracts. Until they expire we will be forced to do things we dont like. Unlike Gibbons Mora isnt completely useless now. He just isnt who we want. That is why MacPhail is stressing that this season may be painful he is also stressing that who we see now playing to start the season isnt likely to be who we see ending it. He needs time to arrange the chess pieces on the board.

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I dont know. I think Trembly would rather another player be playing third but we are stuck with some bad contracts. Until they expire we will be forced to do things we dont like. Unlike Gibbons Mora isnt completely useless now. He just isnt who we want. That is why MacPhail is stressing that this season may be painful he is also stressing that who we see now playing to start the season isnt likely to be who we see ending it. He needs time to arrange the chess pieces on the board.

Point well made.

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The swinging bunt slow roller is perhaps the toughest play a 3B has to make. It is in no way routine unless you are Brooks. Even Cal wasn't as good at it as he was. For most 3B I'd say it is barely 50-50; less when Crawford is running and you might have a play at the plate.

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Is this being brought up because of Crawford yesterday?

Had Mora fielded that cleanly, he still may not have gotten him.

Any third baseman in baseball rushes that play because of who was running.

Now, i happen to agree that on balls where Mora has to come in on them that he struggles....That is just how it is but bringing it up because of yesterday is silly.

Hopefully he will be gone soon enough anyway.

He needs to be gone.

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Brian Roberts essentially has the green light on the base paths, free to steal at-will. It's a hard enough job to hit with no one on base. To imply that Mora did something wrong by swinging at a pitch (that he ultimately fouled off) on which Roberts could have easily stolen a base even though Mora had no way of knowing Roberts was planning to break for second is...silly.

Now I'm confused.

It used to be that hitters would get props for swinging at a pitch just to help the guy steal (makes it harder for the C, etc.).

But now, people are saying it's somehow a bad idea.

When did this change?

Or did it not change, and some people just don't know what the hell they're talking about?

Or is it about something else?

(???)

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Do we need a better/younger 3Bman? Sure. And we'll have one, just not right now. In the meantime, Mora's still a lot better than some folks seem to think.

The rest of this is silly. I agree he occasionally makes a bone-headed play. Usually, it's because he's trying too hard, trying to turn a game around when he should just do the standard thing instead of trying to be a hero. Once in a great while, you wonder what he was thinking. But folks are making it sound like that's an everyday thing, and that's just not true. It's a very once-in-a-while thing.

I can't believe people are making a federal case out of OD.

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But as Billy Beane has said himself "My **** doesnt work in the playoffs". I wonder if Billy was using observations or statistics when he said this? Could be he was just using a small sample size? LOL.

He clearly meant that any team can beat any other team in a short series. If the Orioles played the Yankees or Mets or Red Sox in 20 7-game series, they'd win five or six of them. Apply that to a short series where the two teams involved just finished seasons where they won 98 and 93 games. It's a coin flip.

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I dont know. I think Trembly would rather another player be playing third but we are stuck with some bad contracts. Until they expire we will be forced to do things we dont like. Unlike Gibbons Mora isnt completely useless now. He just isnt who we want. That is why MacPhail is stressing that this season may be painful he is also stressing that who we see now playing to start the season isnt likely to be who we see ending it. He needs time to arrange the chess pieces on the board.

I'm sure Trembley would rather have David Wright at third. But he's probably just fine with an average major league third baseman like Mora.

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Is this being brought up because of Crawford yesterday?

Had Mora fielded that cleanly, he still may not have gotten him.

Any third baseman in baseball rushes that play because of who was running.

Now, i happen to agree that on balls where Mora has to come in on them that he struggles....That is just how it is but bringing it up because of yesterday is silly.

Hopefully he will be gone soon enough anyway.

He needs to be gone.

Actually, it was his indecision/lack of concentration on doing one thing that prevented him from making the play. You're right, Crawford is too fast...but the runner from third (can't remember who - Navarro?) was slow and I think a good throw by Mora would have nailed him at the plate. The fact that Mora was even trying to look up and decide where to go was why he failed, and why he is a decent baseball player, not a great baseball player.

I like Mora a lot, but sometimes kind of in the same way that I liked watching Woody on Cheers. You just have to shake your head sometimes and focus on what they do well.

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Is this being brought up because of Crawford yesterday?

Had Mora fielded that cleanly, he still may not have gotten him.

Any third baseman in baseball rushes that play because of who was running.

Now, i happen to agree that on balls where Mora has to come in on them that he struggles....That is just how it is but bringing it up because of yesterday is silly.

Hopefully he will be gone soon enough anyway.

He needs to be gone.

Rushing the play and totally bungling or botching the play like Mora did yesterday are two different things. You have to be mentally disciplined not to even divert your attention at all to the runner but focus on picking up the ball as quickly and smoothly as possible. Mora, like a dunderhead, focused on Crawford which was simply the worst thing to do.

With that being said I don't necessarily think Mora needs to go but he needs to be moved from third if he continues to struggle with those types of plays. Those plays should be made 9/10 times not 5 or 6 out of 10 like Melvin does. To me if he cannot make those plays 90% of the time at a minimum I want a better third baseman period.

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Rushing the play and totally bungling or botching the play like Mora did yesterday are two different things. You have to be mentally disciplined not to even divert your attention at all to the runner but focus on picking up the ball as quickly and smoothly as possible. Mora, like a dunderhead, focused on Crawford which was simply the worst thing to do.

The point is, most third baseman would have done the same thing.

I agree with you about Mora but this just isn't a good example.

Besides, its one play...Even Brooks made stupid decisions and errors...It hasppens to everyone.

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With that being said I don't necessarily think Mora needs to go but he needs to be moved from third if he continues to struggle with those types of plays. Those plays should be made 9/10 times not 5 or 6 out of 10 like Melvin does. To me if he cannot make those plays 90% of the time at a minimum I want a better third baseman period.

Mora should be the SS or the super UTI guy and Moore should starting at third.

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