Results tagged ‘ Dick Pole ’
Dumb, Dumber and Dusty
We’ve discussed here many times that in the big picture of a season, lineups and in-game managerial decisions impact only a small portion of games. One of those times absolutely occurred last night, when a complete brain fart by Dusty Baker turned a great Homer Bailey outing into a 4-3 loss to the Marlins. Baker mismanaged the bullpen and overtaxed closer Coco Cordero turned a 2-0 ninth-inning lead into a defeat. It was the fifth straight day Cordero had pitched. All you needed to know that trouble was ensuing was he started overrelying on his slider on his first two batters. In fact, look at this Pitch FX chart of last night’s outing by Cordero. He threw sliders in 12 of his 29 pitches. And pitches is exactly why Cordero should not have even been in the bullpen last night. In taking the mound four prior days, he had thrown 70 pitches. Yes, his fastball was between 94-96 mph, but his changeup and slider were each at 88 mph. Baker had nine guys in the bullpen and he could have/should have given Cordero and Nick Masset the night off. Like Cordero, Masset pitched his fifth straight game. Who knows what Carlos Fisher, Danny Ray Herrera, Ramon Ramirez or maybe even Micah Owings could have done. But for one night Baker could have turned the eighth inning to one of the kids and the ninth to Arthur Lee Rhodes. Instead, he once again got wrapped up getting a stat for a player and it cost the Reds a game. It will also cost him the use of Cordero and Masset tonight and possibly Sunday. Asked what he would do tonight to fill their roles, Baker said, “I’m not sure what we’ll do.” Seriously. Maybe he should have thought of this on, oh, Thursday! Yes, some of you will say all of this would be moot if Wladimir Balentien had not lost that ball in the lights that led to the four unearned runs. That’s true. Some of you will question why Balentien was in left field in lieu of the Crabman. That would be wrong. Both are rated as average to slightly above-average defenders. Some of you will say that for what the Reds pay Cordero, he can pitch when needed. That would be the fantasy-leaguer in you. And some of you will say that for a guy with just 64 innings it’s not asking too much to to tack on one more inning to seal the win. That would be too subjective. But if you said last night wasn’t Cordero’s fault, you would be right. It’s up to the manager, his bench coach and his pitching coach to have the brains God gave them to understand that no pitcher can warmup and throw in a game five straight days. But then, this isn’t the first time brains have been missing in handling of the pitching staff under Baker and Dick Pole.
Voltron Has Tommy John Surgery, and Dick Pole on Hot Seat?
Who is to blame for Voltron’s elbow issues? Was it going to happen organically? Was it the way he was used at the end of last year, as the Verducci Effect might suggest? Was it his own fault for participating in winter ball and the WBC after last year’s workload?
What to Do Now? The trade of promising Zach Stewart, the Reds’ most MLB-ready minor league pitcher, seems especially ridiculous now as the Reds already have injury issues with Micah Owings, development issues with Homer Bailey, and financial issues with keeping Harang and/or Bronson Arroyo. Do the development people think LH Travis Wood and LH Ben Jukich are close? Would the trading of Harang or Arroyo net a close-to-ready pitcher, ala Stewart?
I’m not one who thinks Uncle Walt makes knee-jerk decisions–his extreme patience is legendary to us all by now–and I also don’t believe he made the Rolen deal as a one-shot object. The question is, how do they fill all these needs–shortstop, one or two outfielders, at least one more starting pitcher?
It’s getting very close to time for big-league tryouts for some of these minors pitchers at the top of the organization.
Pole on the Hot Seat? My pal the NL West scout says it’s no secret Dick Pole has lost the pitching staff and they have tuned him out. That tends to happen when your pitching approaches and game plans fail to produce results and players start “freelancing.” Plus, Reds starting pitchers are regressing. My pal the NL West scout has seen Harang a couple of starts the past month and he says all his cronies clearly see Harang isn’t “finishing off” his slider. Okay, if every scout in baseball can see this, why can’t the Reds? And why can’t Pole and Harang get it fixed?
When I emailed back to say if Harang is traded some pitching coach is going to fix him very quickly, my pal the NL West scout replied: “Absolutely . . . and make [Harang] lose a little weight too. I question the emphasis on in-seasoning conditioning with that team.”
Anyway, the point is Dick Pole is Dusty’s guy. He would have been Dusty’s pitching coach even if he wasn’t already on staff when Baker was hired. Now managers have long been allowed to select their coaching staffs–that’s proper. Jocketty has never been one to interfere too much with the manager and his people doing their job. But the Reds need to make coaching staff changes. Question is, with all the other issues with Baker–including some growing discontent among the younger players–is Dick Pole a fight Baker is willing to be fired for?
Fixing Johnny Cueto: We have all noticed that since Johnny Cueto was ticked off for not making the NL All-Star squad, he is 0-4 with a 10.32 ERA. Part of that is surely typical midseason fatigue. Part of that is gross immaturity on Cueto’s behalf (he should have been yanked for the look he gave EE when he failed to turn a double play last week against San Diego). But it’s also something we saw last year–his pitch selection. Why in the world is Cueto throwing so many sliders? Why has he gotten away from his bread-n-butter, the fastball and changeup?
Yeah, yeah, a real pitching coach would have fixed this problem. But if the pitcher is tuning you out, he’s shaking off the catcher time and again and he’s battling everyone, including himself, what are you going to do?
Batphone to Mario Soto, that’s what.
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Observations of Spring Training: Vol. 2
E-6?–The loss of starting shortstop Alex Gonzalez to a fracture of the knee means there’s an open competition for the position. Most people assume Jeff Keppinger will step into the slot based on his terrific second-half performance of last year. But that is not apparently true (yet) as manager Dusty Baker has not given Keppinger an endorsement defensively. Instead, Baker has heaped praise upon Paul Janish’s major league-ready glovework, Adam Rosales’ athleticism, Jerry Gil’s versatility and Juan Castro’s recovery from elbow surgery. If Neifi Perez suddenly appears in camp, oh brother. . . .
Point is, it appears Dusty is saying now is a good time to look closer at the minors kids and see if a starting shortstop for 2010 and beyond is among them. Or, more likely, as Dusty is wont to do, he’s using a little psychological rhetoric to ***-kick everyone to step up and grab the job. Obviously, Keppinger is not going to be handed the position, nor should he be. He’s not earned it yet. Three months is not a career like Gonzalez’s. But the minors kids have an opportunity to earn the job and Keppinger has to play himself out of the job–if that makes much sense. Tie goes to Keppinger.
BREAKING NEWS!–This just in! Scott Hatteberg plays, trade speculation begins! MLBTradeRumors.com says the Yankees, Royals, Giants and A’s are possible matches. If the Giants want to part with Dan Ortmeier or the Royals part with Joey Gathright . . . waitaminute, I may have 108 red stitches in my head but this ain’t fantasy baseball. Sheeez.
Majik Man–After Gary Wayne Majewski’s disastrous first outing of the spring (1/3 IP, 6 hits, 6 runs), almost all of Redlegs Nation was screaming bloody hell for him to be released. Oddly, no one asked for an exorcism. But the lunatic thinking was all over the map–this is the Majik Man’s last chance to save his career; he has the name of a serial killer; and the dumbest (but prevailing) mindset: GM Wayne Krivsky won’t cut the Majik Man because Krivsky will look bad for making “The Trade” with the Nationals two years ago. Here’s a thought: The performances and contracts ($9.9 million combined) of Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns in Washington have already made it look like a good trade for the Reds, regardless of the oft-injured Majewski and Bill Bray (combined for just under $1 mil).
Majewski is not getting released so save your rant. He’d be claimed on waivers in about 8 minutes. There’s this little shortage of pitching going around. It’s also the first week of spring games. He’s only 28, he’s got minor league options, he’s cheap, he’s been successful in the big leagues, and when healthy, his fastball has a lot pop, movement and sink–perfect for GABP. His problem has been strike-zone command, which is very common for pitchers coming off shoulder problems. He can always go back to Louisville and continue to find himself. But for now, it’s a good thing the Majik Man had a stellar inning his second outing. His ERA dropped from 162.0 to 40.50.
Pole Vaults–Anyone else notice that pitching coach Dick Pole, who seemed to have almost no impact or visibility last year under Jerry Narron and Pete Mackanin, seems to have received a shot of B-12 (the illegal stuff) with Dusty’s hiring? Remember, many thought the Reds should have brought in a younger pitching coach for the young arms when a new manager was hired. But Pole, who was Baker’s pitching coach with the Giants and bench coach with the Cubs, has now vaulted (har) to the forefront with the kid pitchers, being very proactive in workouts, mid-inning mound sessions and a meeting of the minds with Baker on a game plan for the pitching staff. Maybe it’s an illusion, or elusion, but me thinks with Narron being a former catcher, perhaps he and Pole had differences on handling the pitching staff. Just guessing. . . .
Ross For Less–David Ross, who is coming off a terrible offensive year (.203-17-39) but is one of the best defensive and play-calling catchers in the bigs, is missing time with a balky back. Obviously you want more offense from your catcher, so this could be a pivotal spring, a pivotal year for him and the position. Ross and backup Javier Valentin are free agents after this season and there’s no heir apparent ready in the system. Ross is making $2.52 mil this year and there’s a $3.5 mil option for 2009 with a $375,000 buyout. Needless to ponder, Ross needs to get on the field, have a better offensive season or he’ll be playing for a lot less in 2009.
Quip Master–The Reds’ media is having a grand ol’ time in their daily meetings with Baker. Mackanin brought great humor and broke the tension long fostered by know-it-all Bob Boone, puppet Dave Miley and tightly wound Narron. Yes, some of you think Dusty is illiterate. Yes, some of you think he’s a fool. Yes, some of you think he hates young players, OBP, runners on the base path, modern music and wine in a box. But you have to go back to Trader Jack McKeon in 2000 for a better Reds manager for quotes, quips, honesty and keeping everyone informed, including the readers/fans. Dusty is very refreshing, even if you take the interpretation of his round-about musings way, way too literal.
Today, Dusty has this laugher, talking about injured pitchers having a better chance nowadays of reviving their careers: “With so many teams in need of quality arms, guys are able to come back more than before. They’re giving their body a natural chance to recover, in addition to rehab. In the old days, there were some guys I knew who were in better shape and were better players in the beer league after they got hurt. They just couldn’t get a chance [to make a comeback]. But they got all the beer.”
The Eye Seez. . . . Ron’s kid, reliever Josh Roenicke making his second appearance of the spring against the Hated Yankees Thursday. Josh blew away the Pirates Saturday with 2 strikeouts in an inning. He had teammates buzzing about his fastball in a batting practice session last week, and he gave up an unearned run with a strikeout in the intrasquad game. John Fay of the Enquirer has mentioned twice in 10 days that Roenicke is the surprise of camp and believes he’ll make the team. And there’s this Dusty quote:
“I hunted with his dad this winter. We talked about [Josh], his background and where he came from. I’ve been following him since he was in high school, as a football player.”
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