The Contact Play

[Troll Daddy]

No it's not what you think.

KC had the fewest walks and strikeouts this season. They encourage early contact as opposed to working the count.

Alcides Escobar carried .293 OBP during the regular season.

[Angel Oracle]

It's true that pitchers with normally better control are seen in the post-season.

[Blarg]

Escobar batted at the bottom of the order most of the season.

[Troll Daddy]

Escobar batted at the bottom of the order most of the season.[/

That really wasn't my point ... although, he did have over 200 abs during the season and has been leading off during the playoffs.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Troll Daddy

[Blarg]

So Yost is a madman.

[Troll Daddy]

So Yost is a madman.

Yost definitely manages against the gain or saber logic.

[tomsred]

How Yost manages........

 

[AngelsLakersFan]

Yost is simply a bad manager.

[Blarg]

Sorry ALF but you can't take a team to two World Series in a row being a bad manager.

[ELEVEN]

Tommy Lasorda

[AngelsLakersFan]

Sorry ALF but you can't take a team to two World Series in a row being a bad manager.

 

He isn't actively trying to sabotage the team, and he has enough baseball knowledge not to put Alex Gordon in to pitch, and that's really all it takes.

[tomsred]

He isn't actively trying to sabotage the team, and he has enough baseball knowledge not to put Alex Gordon in to pitch, and that's really all it takes.

 

So if Scioscia doesn't try to sabotage the team, and never pitches Cole Calhoun, that's all we need, right?

[tomsred]

Sorry ALF but you can't take a team to two World Series in a row being a bad manager.

 

You can if Gibbons and Hinch do a much worse job than you, LOL.  In Gibbons case that is entirely possible.

[laagamer]

Sorry ALF but you can't take a team to two World Series in a row being a bad manager.

If you have the talent then any decent manager could IMO.

But why is he a madman? I don't follow.

[ukyah]

So if Scioscia doesn't try to sabotage the team, and never pitches Cole Calhoun, that's all we need, right?

 

 

i'm afraid you're using the future tense, when you should be using the past tense. that is his implication, after all.

Edited October 27, 2015 by ukyah

[Oz27]

Ned Yost is a terrible manager gifted by two things, luck and a damn good team.

[Brent Maguire]

Ned Yost is a terrible manager gifted by two things, luck and a damn good team.

Yup. The Royals are winning in spite of Yost, not because of him. Batting his 2nd or 3rd best hitter in the 8th spot is yet another baffling move from him. Yet, the Royals are winning because they're very good. 

[Docwaukee]

What is manager does on the field during the games is only a small part of what gets a team to the world series.  He's done enough right in those other areas that his team is still playing.  

[Stradling]

Yup. The Royals are winning in spite of Yost, not because of him. Batting his 2nd or 3rd best hitter in the 8th spot is yet another baffling move from him. Yet, the Royals are winning because they're very good.

I guess I don't follow them close enough but who batted 8th, who are you referring to?

[Sciosciapath]

I guess I don't follow them close enough but who batted 8th, who are you referring to?

Alex Gordon

[mulwin444]

Yeah, Yost's choice to lead-off with Alcides, and his .296 OBP from that spot in the line-up, is just odd considering both Gordon or Zobrist would have made more sense but their line-up is so fat with good hitters it kind of doesn't matter.

[Blarg]

He isn't actively trying to sabotage the team, and he has enough baseball knowledge not to put Alex Gordon in to pitch, and that's really all it takes.

 

ALF, it is all about the winning record. If that team, the way it is comprised, had a losing record you can clearly state the manager is bad. But as the team is comprised a neutral manger is a .500 team because that is what is going to happen when it's primarily the players with little outside help. But that is not their record the last two seasons. Their record is beating every team on the way to the World Series and this season they had the lowest OPS and only .06 percentage points better ERA than the Blue Jays. 

 

It's not as though they roll into either last season or this season as the stat powerhouse of any division and yet they win. And that can only be attributed to someone making better decisions from the dugout to best use what they have.

 

I know this goes against the grain but winning is the final scoreboard. The Royals win and win the AL with Yost and no other manager for the last 3 decades. He has earned the right to be respected for what he has accomplished with the roster he has.

[Blarg]

Ned Yost is a terrible manager gifted by two things, luck and a damn good team.

 

Luck doesn't last two seasons in a row, plenty of really good teams never make the playoffs due to the manager being just average.

[Blarg]

Yup. The Royals are winning in spite of Yost, not because of him. Batting his 2nd or 3rd best hitter in the 8th spot is yet another baffling move from him. Yet, the Royals are winning because they're very good. 

 

Alex Gordon fell off the table in September putting up his worst OPS of the season at .692. Obviously Yost knows when a horse comes up lame and isn't putting him on the pole.

 

It still doesn't explain why Alcides is batting leadoff by the regular season numbers he was worse than Gordon in September but his post season numbers say and that is why a manager should have the rights to chose his lineup card based on who he thinks is going to produce the best results. In post season play Alcides has an .816 OPS, Gordon a .709. 

 

Fan perception vs real production. That is why I said Yost is a madman, most would look at the base numbers and say order X with player Y, Yost like Y more than X and it somehow works.

Edited October 27, 2015 by notti

[Angel Oracle]

Kind of off the subject, but with Gordon's September slump, I hope that puts an end to any talk of signing him in the off-season.

He turns 33 in 2016 anyway.