Second guessing Hyde

[Philip]

It seems that during every game, there’s at least one really surprising move. Some are understandable even if they initially look head-scratchy , like removing David Hess, and bringing in Araujo( we were up 6-0, after all)

Some seem much less justifiable, or at least worthy of intense discussion. I love baseball but don’t know as much as most people so I’d like to know:

overall, why are theboutfielders playing so far back? They are all very fast and should be playing a bit closer.

Why did Hyde pinch hit Davis for Rickard? 

Why did he pull Means after only 18 pitches? That forces him to use Fry for 29 pitches, though Fry could have gone longer.

Today we have Givens and Wright. What fun!

Thanks for thoughts.

[bpilktree]

He has a bunch of guys that are not very good and lots of question marks.  The bullpen needs Givens and Bleier the too more established guys to atleast anchor the pen some.  If we can’t count on those two along with getting some innings from the starters it is going to be tough to juggle the pen with lots of question marks and some guys that probably are not on other teams major league roster.

[Can_of_corn]

13 minutes ago, Philip said:

It seems that during every game, there’s at least one really surprising move. Some are understandable even if they initially look head-scratchy , like removing David Hess, and bringing in Araujo( we were up 6-0, after all)

Some seem much less justifiable, or at least worthy of intense discussion. I love baseball but don’t know as much as most people so I’d like to know:

overall, why are theboutfielders playing so far back? They are all very fast and should be playing a bit closer.

Why did Hyde pinch hit Davis for Rickard? 

Why did he pull Means after only 18 pitches? That forces him to use Fry for 29 pitches, though Fry could have gone longer.

Today we have Givens and Wright. What fun!

Thanks for thoughts.

Mancini is very fast?

 

He's a rookie manager, a learning curve is going to exist.

Unless something truly egregious happens I'm giving him a pass on the season.

[Philip]

3 minutes ago, bpilktree said:

He has a bunch of guys that are not very good and lots of question marks.  The bullpen needs Givens and Bleier the too more established guys to atleast anchor the pen some.  If we can’t count on those two along with getting some innings from the starters it is going to be tough to juggle the pen with lots of question marks and some guys that probably are not on other teams major league roster.

I understand that, but that makes it more curious to pull Means after only 18 pitches if Hyde needs multiple innings out of the bullpen guys?

And pinchhitting Davis for Rickard has nothing to do with the bullpen. If the Yankees defense weren’t so bad, that play would’ve ended the inning.

[Philip]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

Mancini is very fast?

 

He's a rookie manager, a learning curve is going to exist.

Unless something truly egregious happens I'm giving him a pass on the season.

Mancini is not fast, but I was talking about our real outfielders, Mancini can stand where ever he wants, it won’t make much difference.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying he should be fired or anything like that I just think that some of his moods so far have been unjustifiable and I’m interested in what you guys think, and also in trying to discern his logic.

You can only make progress if you have a specific reason for doing things, and you can evaluate the validity of that reasoning over time. If you’re just random, then nothing will change

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Philip said:

Mancini is not fast, but I was talking about our real outfielders, Mancini can stand where ever he wants, it won’t make much difference.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying he should be fired or anything like that I just think that some of his moods so far have been unjustifiable and I’m interested in what you guys think, and also in trying to discern his logic.

You can only make progress if you have a specific reason for doing things, and you can evaluate the validity of that reasoning over time. If you’re just random, then nothing will change

I'm not interested in even looking for trends until the end of the season.  It will take that long to collect enough data to start making informed decisions.

[TommyPickles]

I was at the game. I honestly think he just thought it was a favorable opportunity for Davis to bust out and rebuild some confidence in front of the hometown fans. Plus Rickard hadn’t done much with the bat yesterday.

 

The way Hyde talks about Davis, I think he does really want to figure out a way for him to be successful. I think he sees that as an important long term goal that is related to this team’s future.

Edited April 7, 2019 by TommyPickles

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, TommyPickles said:

I was at the game. I honestly think he just thought it was a favorable opportunity for Davis to bust out and rebuild some confidence in front of the hometown fans. Plus Rickard hadn’t done much with the bat yesterday.

 

The way Hyde talks about Davis, I think he does really want to figure out a way for him to be successful. I think he sees that as an important long term goal that is related to this team’s future.

If he knows that Davis is on the team for the next three seasons no matter what...

[Tx Oriole]

50 minutes ago, Philip said:

It seems that during every game, there’s at least one really surprising move. Some are understandable even if they initially look head-scratchy , like removing David Hess, and bringing in Araujo( we were up 6-0, after all)

Some seem much less justifiable, or at least worthy of intense discussion. I love baseball but don’t know as much as most people so I’d like to know:

overall, why are theboutfielders playing so far back? They are all very fast and should be playing a bit closer.

Why did Hyde pinch hit Davis for Rickard? 

Why did he pull Means after only 18 pitches? That forces him to use Fry for 29 pitches, though Fry could have gone longer.

Today we have Givens and Wright. What fun!

Thanks for thoughts.

I don’t question Hyde. I certainly don’t know. A baseball manager has more baseball knowledge in his pinky fingernail than I have in my whole body. 

 

 

 

[Bradysburns]

1 hour ago, bpilktree said:

He has a bunch of guys that are not very good and lots of question marks.  The bullpen needs Givens and Bleier the too more established guys to atleast anchor the pen some.  If we can’t count on those two along with getting some innings from the starters it is going to be tough to juggle the pen with lots of question marks and some guys that probably are not on other teams major league roster.

I think this is the key to understanding Hyde's maneuvers for the foreseeable future. 

He's making whatever he can of this roster, along with some duct tape, spit and luck. 

The point here is developing guys with an eye toward winning long term (Hess, for example... could have been injured by trying to throw 100-plus pitches in that scenario.)

As for outfielder placement, etc., I haven't the slightest clue. That's why Hyde's the manager and I'm not. I also have another job, which precludes me from managing the Orioles at this time.

But as someone else said in another thread: Don't panic. We're not a good team. 

That said, what I wanted to see was spirit, hustle, grit and cohesion, along with smart at-bats and solid defense. I think we're seeing all that so far and we're already seeing what a good leader Brandon Hyde is. 

I'm extremely confident in the future of this franchise.

[Bradysburns]

33 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

If he knows that Davis is on the team for the next three seasons no matter what...

The other thing is, he knows the other players are watching how he treats Davis and handles the situation. They still seem to support Davis for now. If the other players start grousing about Davis's futility, I suspect Hyde may move to respond... 

Regardless, he will handle Davis with class, dignity and respect. His players will respect Hyde for that. And they'll play harder for him. 

Hyde has no idea what is going to happen with Davis. He's taking it day by day, realizing that dumping Davis too quickly or harshly could backfire. 

The one issue I have is when Davis starts to block the development of someone like Mountcastle, who could be our first baseman of the future. That's when Hyde's decision-making will get much more difficult.

[maybenxtyr]

36 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

If he knows that Davis is on the team for the next three seasons no matter what...

I think we know what the answer is. I'm not saying that they won't reevaluate after this season, but in my opinion management knows Davis isn't going anywhere.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Bradysburns said:

The other thing is, he knows the other players are watching how he treats Davis and handles the situation. They still seem to support Davis for now. If the other players start grousing about Davis's futility, I suspect Hyde may move to respond... 

Regardless, he will handle Davis with class, dignity and respect. His players will respect Hyde for that. And they'll play harder for him. 

Hyde has no idea what is going to happen with Davis. He's taking it day by day, realizing that dumping Davis too quickly or harshly could backfire. 

The one issue I have is when Davis starts to block the development of someone like Mountcastle, who could be our first baseman of the future. That's when Hyde's decision-making will get much more difficult.

How do you know what he knows?

I think that barring Davis taking a buyout Hyde has a very good idea of what is going on with Davis.

[Aristotelian]

I am OK with Davis hitting against RHP. Ottavino is an elite RHP and almost surely would be strongly favored in the matchup vs Rickard. My biggest problem with his use of Davis was the failure to bunt recently when he has had a man on base and nobody out in a close game, then proceeded to strike out.

[maybenxtyr]

2 hours ago, Philip said:

It seems that during every game, there’s at least one really surprising move. Some are understandable even if they initially look head-scratchy , like removing David Hess, and bringing in Araujo( we were up 6-0, after all)

Some seem much less justifiable, or at least worthy of intense discussion. I love baseball but don’t know as much as most people so I’d like to know:

overall, why are theboutfielders playing so far back? They are all very fast and should be playing a bit closer.

Why did Hyde pinch hit Davis for Rickard? 

Why did he pull Means after only 18 pitches? That forces him to use Fry for 29 pitches, though Fry could have gone longer.

Today we have Givens and Wright. What fun!

Thanks for thoughts.

For me, I'm not going to make any guesses on how he'll manage after 8 games. 

Hyde basically has 2 SP, 3-4 somewhat decent relievers, and about 4 reliable hitters. Those numbers may be a stretch, but he certainly doesn't have even close to the best 25 guys that the system offers. The fact they are 4-4 with this roster tells me that he and the players are buying into the new system. 

I think after the July deadline there will be some changes  and call ups... depending if any of the current 25 gets traded. Maybe then we will get the opportunity to see how he will make decisions.