Pretty inexcusable. Dusty was an old school manager. What you missed in analytics I think you got a balancing effect in feel for the game. I thought Dusty managed pretty well excluding that blemish.
I agree with this, but at some point the manager has to be held accountable for having the worst record in MLB in one run games. Otherwise why even have a manager. I look at the season like this. Teams are going to win 60 games and lose 60 games. That puts 42 games up for grabs. The manager can make a difference in say 20 games. Those games are the difference between making, missing the playoffs and maybe even winning a championship vs not. Records in one run games reflect on the impact the manager has on his team. IMHO
I feel like in a sense we are still arguing semantically here. 1 run games can all be changed by one pitch, one at bat etc. One run games are typically related to bullpen and clutch hitting. Our bullpen from 7-9 is locked. I don't see any logic to change what order those guys go in. That isn't on the coach. The lineup, I feel like there is an argument that Espada has put arguably the best 9 out there somewhat consistently. It is for sure better than Dusty. How much is that really on him? I would put it more so on Dana Brown and Co. They should have gotten a better 1B at the deadline. It sure seems with Brown and Arrighetti's arrival that grabbing Kikuchi was a 2nd tier need for this team currently. My complaint is with the front office who I believe has done everything they can to shorten this window this year for the short and long term.
Checking notes, Spaghetti has been lights out his last two starts, while Kikuchi has been very good in his first two games as an Astro. If only the lights-out Spaghetti had shown up a month earlier ... we would probably be able to throw bullpen games until JV returns?
A problem Espada has had is getting a surprisingly good start from a pitcher... then sending him back out one inning too many and ruining it.
Again, yeah... that is true. Maybe this 6 man rotation plan is really to conserve Blanco, HB, etc. The Astros have done it before. They seem to punt a few extra wins for playoff potential ala fresh arms. Framber, Blanco, JV, Arrighetti, HB, Kikuchi I think ultimately the lack of production at 1B offensively is going to kill them come October. We have to hope that Kyle Tucker can come back, get in somewhat of a groove and we see Jake or McCormick get hot to make up for it.
His record in one run games is going to be dependent on Abreu, Pressly and Hader’s performance. Dusty didn’t have to do anything in 2022 because literally every reliever was putting up zeros.
Pitcher usage matters. How much gas is left in the tank come playoff time for pitchers is highly related to usage. Situational usage is also important. The coach makes these determinations.
If you think the managers have a difference in 20 games you are sorely mistaken. And you do realize a lot of the decisions are discussed ahead of time with the FO and analytics team? Records in 1 run games are more luck related than managers impact. Edit: Craig Counsel was thought to be the best manager in the MLB and signed a huge deal this offseason. The Cubs have a worse record than last year at this point and they have a 17-24 record in one run games. Is he a bad manager all of a sudden?
It won't kill them if Dezenzo can come through. I'm hoping to see more Yordan in LF with Caratini and Diaz splitting time between C,1B. Then when Tucker makes it back and if he's hitting anywhere close to what he was before he got injured, then the only hole in the lineup will be Meyers and a team can live with one subpar bat. Plus with Yordan playing LF you won't have 2 weak armed OF'ers.
Did you see how I broke down the season? Ok say you're right, out of those 40 games how many do you think a manager plays a big part in winning? I went on the low side at 20, really probably 30 would be more accurate.
Wow. That's just not true. We could have avoided the year end scramble to win division if he'd played Diaz and Chaz more, and no doubt we make it back to WS if Diaz starts even half playoff games. I've always loved Dusty as a player, but as a manager he sucks.
True, but not entirely. Some of this is learning how to manage so that you can live to see another inning. Espada is learning on the job and has gotten better as the season has gone on.
Dusty was a great manager. To say otherwise just tells me you don't know much about Baseball. Not everyone is perfect, but to say Dusty sucks is bizarre.
I was thinking about it in a different way actually now that I reread it. The way I was thinking was if you took a different manager this season and replaced them for Espada, there’s no way there would ever be a 20 game difference in the standings. At most, 5-10 games and the upper range of that is pushing it. I’d guess around 5 games would be the norm. Added an edit in my last post about Craig Counsel, who was thought to be the best manager in the MLB and signed the largest deal ever in the offseason. The Cubs are 17-24 in 1 run games and they have a worse record compared to last year at this point. He didn’t suddenly become a bad manager.
He’s definitely got better as I commented last night in the GDT. I’m sure being handed the keys to this team and watching them play so poorly to start the season was tough. It wasn’t his fault the offense couldn’t hit with RISP and the bullpen sucked…but he did make some bad decisions that I don’t think he would make today. Back to your point about the playoffs, almost every decision will have been predetermined by the strategy meetings between Espada, the FO and the nerd cave before the games even start. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Dusty didn't suck, but Click had to Dusty proof the team to win a ring. Click built a Dusty proof bullpen and traded away a Dusty favorite in Straw so that Dusty would be forced to play Chas, Meyers
Agreed about Council. But he doesn't have the Stros pen. In addition to the big 3, Dana has done an outstanding job finding Scott, Ort, Kingwood off of the trash pile. Any of these 6 guys are better than what Council has to put out there
That maybe happened once/twice early in the season with Spencer or Hunter... and there may have been some context to it (like shortage on bullpen pitchers... or anticipating an upcoming bullpen day). And in the end, can we really say those two (or any of the pitchers) were ruined by that extra ask/effort? They're all now thriving. Not saying that its because of that... but it clearly hasn't impacted their confidence, performance, or health. He's getting guys out routinely around 100... and now has a little bit more bullpen flexibility to not have to try and extend guys further (Framber yesterday a perfect example).
