I admit I am definetly not a Jimy fan, but I do believe it is in the best interest of the 'stros to CHANGE MANAGERS N O W. On the other hand is that I am a fan of the aging Bigg. CB has been a stalwart for a decade but his game is decayed. He is playing old. Not horribly, but barely average? Dump the mistake of Williams and name Craig Biggio player-manager for the remainder of this season, and full time manager from next season on. It will benefit Bigg and Drayton (at the Gate, at least for the next few weeks). Bigg's contract can be reworked to all's advantage. Everybody wins, maybe 'stros on field (and Gate)!
All that would be is a publicity stunt. Astros should have hired Felipe Alou when they could have. Oh ya, that certain thing called $ got in the way.
I say we trade Gregg Zaun to some Puerto Rican team for their manager... Kinda sarcastic, but I don't like Jimy either.
Geez, Xiki, take some chill pills every now and then. Do you want to blame jimy for not scoring any runs tonight, or in the 2-0 loss at philadelphia or roy being off his game early on this year? Outside of a dreadful 4-9 roadtrip to 2 coasts, two countries and 4 cities, we are 17-10. That is more than respectable considering Wade and Roy are struggling and Lance was for the month of April. a 4-3 roadie this go round would be more than respectable if you ask me. We havent hit our stride and we are still over 500, that is a positive sign. Jimy Williams is not the root of all the Astros problems and he sure isn't as bad a manager as you think he is. He has his quirks(see Hunter), but every manager does, just look at LaRussa and Baker for example. He's a decent manager, nothing more nothing less. And considering the astros april, 21-19 right now is very acceptable especially since imagine Roy and Wade dominating with the three headed monster of Lidge, Dotel and Wags slamming the door shut the rest of the year. Baseball is a long season, and the Astros have weathered the early season storm well if you ask me.
I love TP and all, but I'm not really sure how he would have fit in Houston. In KC, he is essentially managing a minor league team, chock full of talented youngsters and only 2 or 3 veterans. Players he needs to push exactly like he did in New Orleans for the Astros. It's not that different of a role for him if you think about it. His team also has no pressure to win, which definitely makes it easier on him and his young team. In houston, he would have had a veteran ballclub, with mostly established big league vets. Plus they have a winning tradition in the Bagwell-Biggio era and he would have had to maintain that. Tough to ask a first year guy to do that if you ask me. Yes, you can argue he would have handled saarloos, and carlos hernandez better, plus the pitching in general, since he is an ex-catcher and all. However I dont think its jimy's fault those two havent performed and last year we had no kent, miller got hurt for a month, etc. We hit our stride the second half of last year and started out worse than this. Plus would veteran players take well to TP's style? That remains to be seen, though he was a former big leaguer. In the end, even with Jimy at the helm, I still think this is a playoff team this year, either as the central champs or as the WC fighting off a resilent expo club and the free spending phillies.
While losing Pena (in order to keep him they would have had to fire Williams and promote him to manager), don't let the KC record fool anyone. They started out 14-3 against the Tigers (currently 9-28), Indians (12-26) and White Sox (19-20). They are 4-7 against the Twins and Red Sox (the only .500 teams they've played). I suspect that KC will eventually fall to 3rd in the division. I would have loved to see the Astros keep Pena and see how things transpired, but he had the chance to immediately become a manager of a young team that he could 'mold' in his image.
The team is doing pretty well, yes. Yes, I am absolutely not a Jimy 'fan'. But, JW's departure would only benefit this lot, I believe. kidrock8 All that would be is a publicity stunt. Oh ya, that certain thing called $ got in the way. Yes, my 'proposal' is a form of publicity stunt, but more it is a matter of giving a graceful 'out' to a great 'stro who is showing his age -- and it's early in the marathon. Bigg would be great publicity, would help with $s, and would protect his reputation. It is an ideal solution, IMO.
I don't think there was any more evidence that the players would take to Jimy's style than to TP's style. Also, outside of Biggio, Bagwell, Kent (and I guess Ausmus), this is not really a "veteran" team. Our entire rotation is young right now and Berkman, Everett, Blum, Hidalgo, Ensberg are all in their 20s still. My post was not meant to bash Jimy Williams. I think he is doing a admirable job as the coach, but I think in the long run Tony Pena would have done a much better job.
I think Jimy has done a fairly good job this year. Aside from his handling of the starters (not letting them go deep into games) and the subsequent over-use of the bullpen, I have no problems with his performance this year. Of course, if Jimy continues his trend of bullpen abuse and it ends up costing us games due to injury or whatnot, then I might reconsider my stance. Aside from the atrocious road trip early on (3-9), we have been playing pretty damn good. Here are my early season suprises and disappointments: Suprises Awesome bullpen. Might be the best in baseball. The Blum/Ensberg platoon Hidalgo rebound Redding improvement (although his pitch counts are awful) Disappointments Biggio's bad OBP in the leadoff spot Lance's early season slump/low production No offense from the catcher position No offense/stability in the shortstop position Miller off to a bad start Oswalt not quite up to par (has pitched ok, but I think we all expected him to be his normal dominant self) No production from 3 of the 5 starting pitching positions (Moehler, Robertson, Sarloos and Miller) So overall, considering what has transpired, Jimy has done a fine job.
I'm confused codell. Is the bullpen usage predicated by some managerial whim of JW's or is it due to the almost complete & utter ineffectiveness of the starters? Redding's pitched well, but Oswalt has been the only starter who's shown any ability whatsoever to pitch past the 5th inning consistently. You can't have it both ways & bash Jimy for overusing the pen while listing the starters as one of the major disappointments.
Buck, Jimy has always had the reputation of not letting starters go deep even when they are on their game. Great example is MIller and Oswalt. Last year they were both fairly dominant for a good portion of the season, yet neither one had a complete game last year. This year, he has yanked Oswalt and others in the 5th or 6th when they had only given up 2 or 3 runs (pitch count notwithstanding). Jimy will always overuse the pen, and underutilize the starters no matter how well they are pitching.
Don't get me wrong, I agree totally with your take on his historical tendencies. It's just that this year he's had absolutely no choice. Redding & Linebrink, while pitching quite well, regularly hit the wall by the 5th inning; Miller, Saarloos, Moehler & Robertson have had (maybe) 3 "good" starts between them. I'm not saying his handling of the staff in a "regular" year is what I would recommend, but that you really can't criticize him for what he's done this year. He is the anti-Dierker, I wish the 'Stros could have found someone who's philosophy fit somewhere in between.
Buck, Just to make it clear. I am a Jimy supporter, as of right now, because I feel more has gone wrong this year than right and despite that, we are still over .500 and within a game or two of 1st place. I do agree that for the most part this year, hes had no choice other than to bring in the releivers early on. Its the handful of games when our starters are doing fine that get to me. There hasn't been much of an opportunity for Dotel, Stone, Lidge and Billy to get more than 1 day off this year. I would just like to see him give a struggling starter more of an opportunity to get out of trouble and go deep into games. He is definitely the anti-Deirker. No doubt. Overall, Jimy is a fine manager. As I said, I just feel his handling of the pitching staff is sometimes questionable. I would hate to see Dotel, Wagner and/or Lidge go down for a while with a sore elbow or whatnot.
Best early season bullpen = 'stros. What will they have left by the 'dog days'? This staff, at least with Jimy, needs an innings eater.
i think if the astros are not ovre .500 by the all star break, jimy should go... i wonder if dierker had never resgined, would the astros have made the playoffs last year?
