Thoughts On Dusty Baker?

[twinkie13]

I hope to lure JOB to post, but what do you guys think about him as a manager?opcorn:

 

[B.A.R.]

I hope to lure JOB to post, but what do you guys think about him as a manager?opcorn:

First guy I thought of when I saw thread title.

 

[twinkie13]

been in the playoffs a bit.......

<header style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: ProximaNovaCond, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><header class="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">[h=1]Dusty Baker Panicked[/h]</header>
[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.74902)]Tom Ley
<time class="meta__time updated" datetime="2016-10-14T10:21:00-04:00" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Today 10:21am</time>Filed to: [COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.74902)]DUSTY BAKER[/COLOR]<svg class="svg-icon svg-chevron chevron--bottom"><use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="#iconset-chevron-right"></use></svg>

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</figure>Dusty Baker had a choice to make heading into the seventh inning of last night’s NLDS finale, and both options would have been defensible. Nobody would have blamed him for keeping Max Scherzer, who had thrown 99 pitches and worked himself through some high-stress situations at that point, on the bench; and no mobs would have formed if Baker had decided to let his ace pitch through one more inning, because that’s what aces are for. But instead of choosing either of those sensible options, Baker managed to split the difference, going with a third option that led to his team’s unraveling.

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</figure>[h=6]The Seventh Inning Of Dodgers-Nationals Was Insane And Made Me Feel Insane[/h]The seventh inning of the Dodgers’ eventual 4-3 NLDS Game 5 win was the wildest single inning of…Read more


</aside>Baker did let Scherzer take the mound to start the seventh inning, and after the game he explained the logic behind his decision quite eloquently (viaWashington Post):

“You know, a couple years ago when they took [Jordan] Zimmerman out of the game and everybody was crying about that, why they took him out of that game,” Baker said, referencing Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS. “And if I had taken him out — I mean, Max said he was still good. We were hoping to get another inning out of him.”
“How do you take out your — a guy in a 1-0 game?” Baker said. “And Max is capable of going 100-some-odd pitches.”
​

All of that is true, and remained true even after Joc Pederson hammered the first pitch of the inning over the left-field fence and made it a 1-1 game. The ball Pederson hit out was a 96-mph fastball on the outside corner of the plate, and was not evidence that Scherzer had suddenly lost his stuff or his composure. All that home run proved is that baseball is crazy, and sometimes you’ve got to deal with a big swinger like Pederson turning a solid pitch into a homer.
Baker decided to hit the panic button, though, and immediately pulled Scherzer in favor of Mark Rzepczynski. In one moment, Baker was handing the fate of his team’s season to Scherzer, and in the next he was snatching it away despite the fact that nothing had really changed. Rzepczynski of course went on to walk Yasmani Grandal on four pitches, officially starting the Nationals’ death spiral.

​

Who the hell knows what Scherzer would have made of the rest of that inning if Baker had decided to leave him in after Pederson’s dinger. Maybe he would have gotten the next three outs in 15 pitches; maybe he would have walked a few guys and coughed up the game himself; maybe he would have spontaneously combusted. That’s not the point, though. The point is that Baker trusted his ace enough to let him start the inning, and then suddenly lost that trust after one fluky solo homer. That’s the decision-making process of a manager who’s not thinking straight, and it will leave Nats fans—as well as a few players, I imagine—agonizing over what could have been.

 

[Dollaz]

As a Nats fan, I didn't want him because of the reputation he had. But, he actually did a good job. I agreed with every move he made last night with the exception of starting Espinosa (who got a big hit)

I thought Max was walking a fine line the entire game trying to manage through all those lefties (that he struggles against). Him being tired and trying to get through them a 3rd time would have been a big risk. Especially, when the Nats had a bunch of really good relievers that were rested and ready to try and get 9 outs. (including 3+ from Melancon)

Baseball is a funny game, if the weak grounder by Ruiz is 6 inches to the left, it's a 1-1 game in the bottom of the 7th. The result as it ended up means Dusty gets questioned.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dont-blame-this-on-dusty-baker/

 

[Timh]

As a Nats fan, I didn't want him because of the reputation he had. But, he actually did a good job. I agreed with every move he made last night with the exception of starting Espinosa (who got a big hit)

I thought Max was walking a fine line the entire game trying to manage through all those lefties (that he struggles against). Him being tired and trying to get through them a 3rd time would have been a big risk. Especially, when the Nats had a bunch of really good relievers that were rested and ready to try and get 9 outs. (including 3+ from Melancon)

Baseball is a funny game, if the weak grounder by Ruiz is 6 inches to the left, it's a 1-1 game in the bottom of the 7th. The result as it ended up means Dusty gets questioned.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dont-blame-this-on-dusty-baker/

Appreciate the article Dollaz, and totally concur with it and what you said. Still feel like shit today though, just a brutal loss...can't understand for the life of me how Hendley sent Werth that will haunt me for a while....and Jason then striking out with 1st and 3rd one out...this team just snakebit in postseason....

 

[Dollaz]

Obviously a bad send, but Hensley is aggressive and does it all the time. We may not have the first run without his aggressiveness in sending Murphy, who is out by a mile with a good throw. Also, Espinosa was in the on deck circle so what are the odds he drives in another run?

Bad send, but I can at least understand he did it all year. And the Nats probably benefited from it.

Werth has to put the ball in play.

 

[Timh]

Obviously a bad send, but Hensley is aggressive and does it all the time. We may not have the first run without his aggressiveness in sending Murphy, who is out by a mile with a good throw. Also, Espinosa was in the on deck circle so what are the odds he drives in another run?

Bad send, but I can at least understand he did it all year. And the Nats probably benefited from it.

Werth has to put the ball in play.

Yeah I know Espinosa on deck but I don't care who it was you can't take the bat out of their hands there...he was out by 30 ft. didn't even slide....true on Murphy and Hendley aggressiveness during the year.

 

[BetCrimes1984]

Dusty handed the game ball to Russ Ortiz when he pulled him from game 6 of the 2002 WS against the Angels, with the Giants up 5-0 at the time. Managers counting chickens before a game is done is unarguably horrendous, both from the pov of where they're revealing their mindset to be, to the example they're setting for the intensity levels of the players in their charge.

But this goes much deeper into the litany of failure that Dusty delivers wherever he goes. Steve Bartman didn't screw the Cubs in 2003, Dusty's handling of Mark Prior did.

 

[braves]

there was a quote I heard where Dusty took a shot at the Dodgers, basically saying that what Dave Roberts did with Jansen and Kershaw will hurt them in the next series..

Lol, who cares, Dodgers move on and Nats go home.

 

[nbafan88]

0-9 in his last 9 elimination games


that says it all


he is pretty good in getting his team to perform well during the regular season but he's clueless when it comes to critical decisions in the playoffs.

 

[nbafan88]

As a Nats fan, I didn't want him because of the reputation he had. But, he actually did a good job. I agreed with every move he made last night with the exception of starting Espinosa (who got a big hit)

I thought Max was walking a fine line the entire game trying to manage through all those lefties (that he struggles against). Him being tired and trying to get through them a 3rd time would have been a big risk. Especially, when the Nats had a bunch of really good relievers that were rested and ready to try and get 9 outs. (including 3+ from Melancon)

Baseball is a funny game, if the weak grounder by Ruiz is 6 inches to the left, it's a 1-1 game in the bottom of the 7th. The result as it ended up means Dusty gets questioned.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dont-blame-this-on-dusty-baker/

you agreed with him giving Murphy no protection?... he made a switch late in the game that was really poor. That's what lost them the game imo.

In the bottom of the 7th it was first and third with Werth at the plate. Having Harper running to 2nd was so dumb. It's possible they would've still intentionally walked Murphy but it's less likely if first isn't open.


Murphy is by far the most lethal offensive weapon and he was intentionally walked too much. Gotta have an answer for that

 

[Dollaz]

you agreed with him giving Murphy no protection?... he made a switch late in the game that was really poor. That's what lost them the game imo.

In the bottom of the 7th it was first and third with Werth at the plate. Having Harper running to 2nd was so dumb. It's possible they would've still intentionally walked Murphy but it's less likely if first isn't open.


Murphy is by far the most lethal offensive weapon and he was intentionally walked too much. Gotta have an answer for that

Not taking bases because your scared of an intentional walk is incredibly dumb. Hell, it was stupid when people talkies about it with barry Bonds and we certainly arent talkin about a situation like that here.

 

[Dollaz]

Dusty handed the game ball to Russ Ortiz when he pulled him from game 6 of the 2002 WS against the Angels, with the Giants up 5-0 at the time. Managers counting chickens before a game is done is unarguably horrendous, both from the pov of where they're revealing their mindset to be, to the example they're setting for the intensity levels of the players in their charge.

But this goes much deeper into the litany of failure that Dusty delivers wherever he goes. Steve Bartman didn't screw the Cubs in 2003, Dusty's handling of Mark Prior did.

I agreee with that and it was my major concern with dusty. Luckily, he didnt treat our starters like that.

The way pitchers are handles has really changed in the last 15 years.

 

[nbafan88]

Not taking bases because your scared of an intentional walk is incredibly dumb. Hell, it was stupid when people talkies about it with barry Bonds and we certainly arent talkin about a situation like that here.

Its not dumb. It wasn't the tying run. And it was very unlikely werth would hit into a DP. It was either a fly ball or a strike out. Just shitty managing overall.

 

[Dollaz]

Its not dumb. It wasn't the tying run. And it was very unlikely werth would hit into a DP. It was either a fly ball or a strike out. Just shitty managing overall.

I really dont feel like calculating the actual benefit, but the run scoring expectancy of first and third with Murphy up is Significantly less than bases loaded for Rendon


Additionallly, Harper stealing increased win exp from 35% to 38%. Then the Dodgers walking Murphy helped the Nats chances from 38% to 40%.