Second Guessing Hyde and Elias (In season 2020)

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, ScGO's said:

I knew last year was about evaluating the roster and not wins.

This year was going to be the same, but I feel like the short season, players opting out, expanded playoffs, rule changes, should have EVERY team feeling like should take a shot.

Davis can't be in this line up much more this year.  Lets see what happens with the rest of the Marlins series before jumping off the hook on Elias and Hyde though. 

Was it?  If you are evaluating the roster you bring up players to evaluate.  With the exception of Means we still don't know about all the young players that were brought up last year.  Hays, Stewart, Sisco, Santander...we still don't know.  We still have Smith getting at bats.

I think it was about playing the games that they had to play and collecting their draft picks.

[MurphDogg]

Too much Dwight Smith, Jr., not enough Sisco (he should be starting every day against righties), and no Mountcastle.

 Mullins over Mason Williams is fine. Mullins is 3 years younger than Williams, and is by all accounts better defensively, has better career minor league numbers batting and is MUCH better at stealing bases. In all likelihood, neither is more than a backup centerfielder / defensive replacement / pinch runner, although both are arguably unnecessary with Velazquez able to fill that role.

Won't comment on Bleier until we know the return.

[SteveA]

38 minutes ago, Philip said:

It is a bit of a conundrum. But consider, Smith isn’t going to be here beyond this season, he might not be here for the rest of the season, so if you get anything for him, you’re money ahead.

Same for any of the guys, Frobby Mentioned that Bleier Was successful because Buck used him very carefully and in the right situations. That increased his value and we have seen the result.  So even on a bad team it is possible it is advantageous to present your guys in the best possible light to increase their value, however small it might be, with a view to trading them for future assets. That’s not rocket science.

As I mentioned, he does not seem to be doing that. 
Regarding thinking that he’s a transitional manager, he just doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of creative thought, he isn’t able to eliminate ridiculous fundamental baseball mistakes and his pitching choices are often curious.

For me the worst thing is how he’s dealing with Davis and with the sloppy play.

But that’s my opinion, and you’re welcome to disagree.

We've made a few baserunning blunders so far, but my impression -- and this is entirely subjective -- is that we HAVE cut down on the kind of stupid, fundamental errors we made a lot last year.   Last year it was a real issue and I complained about it as one thing that could be improved even though the talent wasn't there.   And it doesn't seem to me that it is as bad this year, at least not yet.

[24fps]

39 minutes ago, Philip said:

It is a bit of a conundrum. But consider, Smith isn’t going to be here beyond this season, he might not be here for the rest of the season, so if you get anything for him, you’re money ahead.

Same for any of the guys, Frobby Mentioned that Bleier Was successful because Buck used him very carefully and in the right situations. That increased his value and we have seen the result.  So even on a bad team it is possible it is advantageous to present your guys in the best possible light to increase their value, however small it might be, with a view to trading them for future assets. That’s not rocket science.

As I mentioned, he does not seem to be doing that. 
Regarding thinking that he’s a transitional manager, he just doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of creative thought, he isn’t able to eliminate ridiculous fundamental baseball mistakes and his pitching choices are often curious.

For me the worst thing is how he’s dealing with Davis and with the sloppy play.

But that’s my opinion, and you’re welcome to disagree.

If Hyde had the judgement and foresight to reliably and consistently present multiple players in their best possible light over the course of even a shortened season, he would be the greatest manager the game has ever seen.  It's not rocket science, it's something far more difficult given the number of variables and amount of guesswork involved.  Then there's the interpersonal difficulties that come from trying to  manage competitive athletes in an environment where playing time is allocated primarily to see how quickly they can be offloaded...

Very few things in life are easier to understand than the point of sports - to win the contest, first and foremost.  All athletes understand this and all managers understand that about their players.  If you want to tout the benefits of strategic losing and keep the discussion within the lines, IMO you'll end up in quicksand almost immediately.  

[webbrick2010]

1 hour ago, MurphDogg said:

Too much Dwight Smith, Jr., not enough Sisco (he should be starting every day against righties), and no Mountcastle.

 Mullins over Mason Williams is fine. Mullins is 3 years younger than Williams, and is by all accounts better defensively, has better career minor league numbers batting and is MUCH better at stealing bases. In all likelihood, neither is more than a backup centerfielder / defensive replacement / pinch runner, although both are arguably unnecessary with Velazquez able to fill that role.

Won't comment on Bleier until we know the return.

Too much DJ Stewart and Chris Davis. Time to release DJ Stewart what a wasted first round pick. Guy has no ML skill. Can't hit run or throw.

[MurphDogg]

2 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

Too much DJ Stewart and Chris Davis. Time to release DJ Stewart what a wasted first round pick. Guy has no ML skill. Can't hit run or throw.

Stewart is definitely scuffling, he outhit Mountcastle in AAA last year though. No reason to cut bait at this point. It has only been 21 plate appearances.

[Philip]

25 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Stewart is definitely scuffling, he outhit Mountcastle in AAA last year though. No reason to cut bait at this point. It has only been 21 plate appearances.

Absolutely, in a bad season, a bad team should allow bad players to have bad plate appearances. Curiously however, that’s not really happening.

[survivedc]

Regarding changes that have been made by staff, I’m thrilled with the scarcity of walks. It’s, I guess, a little early to see if pitchers are getting hit harder, so for now I’m enjoying the pitchers attacking every batter.

[sevastras]

What they should really be focusing on is time to the plate. That will really turn this team around!

This year is about losing and next year is about the young guys coming up and growing into the team. It would be good to squeeze out one more top three draft pick and then start getting everyone out there.  Next year you could see roughly half of their top 30 prospects on the team at some point. Grant it that a handful have seen time or are currently on the team, but that will be a big chunk. 
Patience is a virtue. 
My biggest fear is they win too much this year and don’t get a high draft pick. I like this up coming draft better than the last. The last was deep but the top end wasn’t that much better. The next draft has a couple players up top that fit into the special category. Why miss on that when today’s club isn’t going to do anything in the playoffs even if they string together a short season and make it?  I would rather suffer this season with a proper plan and get a Verlander or Ken Griffey JR than make the playoffs or just fall short and have dookie to show for it. Of course the draft is a crap shoot but rather up the odds. 

[DrungoHazewood]

16 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

Stewart is definitely scuffling, he outhit Mountcastle in AAA last year though. No reason to cut bait at this point. It has only been 21 plate appearances.

Not that I think they should cut bait on Stewart, but he's 26 and Mountcastle is 23.  I assume that if you left Mountcastle in AAA another three years he might be able to improve his OPS by 70 points.  Jace Peterson out-hit Mountcastle.

Stewart is very much looking like a player who is a C outfielder who OPSes .725.  Maybe if it was 1980 and you could give him 275 PAs only against righties, use him to pinch hit a fair amount, and sub him out for defense in the 7th inning of every game we're ahead (see: Terry Crowley).  But that doesn't work with 12-man pitching staffs.

[NCRaven]

On 8/5/2020 at 10:59 AM, Aristotelian said:

...but instead they walked him to bring up Sisco, who predictably struck out. 

Sisco has only gotten 8 ABs.  He has 3 hits (one a double) and 4 walks for a .615 OBP.  I don't think "predictable" applies.  Also think he should be playing more against right-handed pitchers.  Like every time one is on the mound other than double-headers and day games after night games.

[Roll Tide]

10 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Sisco has only gotten 8 ABs.  He has 3 hits (one a double) and 4 walks for a .615 OBP.  I don't think "predictable" applies.  Also think he should be playing more against right-handed pitchers.  Like every time one is on the mound other than double-headers and day games after night games.

He could DH to get more at bats

[25 Nuggets]

W H E R E I S M O U N T C A S T L E

[Aristotelian]

3 hours ago, NCRaven said:

Sisco has only gotten 8 ABs.  He has 3 hits (one a double) and 4 walks for a .615 OBP.  I don't think "predictable" applies.  Also think he should be playing more against right-handed pitchers.  Like every time one is on the mound other than double-headers and day games after night games.

He has 350 career AB's with 138 K's. The odds of a strikeout there were high. I did not like the decision to have Sisco up there in a sac fly situation. 

I would like to see more Sisco before we give up on him, but I would not be giving up outs to do so! 

 

 

[MurphDogg]

9 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

He has 350 career AB's with 138 K's. The odds of a strikeout there were high. I did not like the decision to have Sisco up there in a sac fly situation. 

I would like to see more Sisco before we give up on him, but I would not be giving up outs to do so! 

In 1931 minor league at-bats he has 424 strikeouts. Fairly comparable to Austin Hays' 266 strikeouts in 1321 minor league at-bats or Santander 402/1844.

Strikeouts are a part of the game but Sisco isn't Chris Davis out there.