Friday, June 3, 2011

JJ's back and taking aim at Crusty the Clown

Take it away JJ.....

Dusty Baker and His Wisdom of Doom

I think the Reds have played (and lost) enough games this season to be critical of them. We have a big enough pool of results to specifically point out how Dusty Baker is hindering the Reds’ ability to win games. So let’s have a contest and give out the first Annual Dusty Baker Managerial Awards:

  • Let’s say you have the player that is leading the NL in HR’s and RBI’s, also with the 3rd highest BA on the team while your reigning NL MVP is walking every at bat because the person behind him is a corpse and offers no protection, how long does it take you to bat the NL HR and RBI leader 4th to protect your MVP? If your answer was 45 games then you win the Dusty Baker Managerial Award. (the results of the batting order change yielded 3 RBI’s and 1 HR for your NL HR and RBI leader while your reigning MVP hit his first HR in a month in the second game of the order change)

  • Let’s say you have two SS’s, both aren’t hitting, one is approximately 55 years old , has no range and leads the team in errors while the other is 26 years old, has range, and is a defensive standout. How do you handle the starting SS position? If you said play them equally, and even bat the elderly SS 5th on occasion you win the Dusty Baker Managerial Award.

  • Let’s say your team has played two, long extra inning games on the road in the same week and your bullpen is a bit overworked. During close games in the midst of losing 10 of 12 games do you allow just called up rookie pitches to be sacrificed to rest your bullpen and knowingly lose another game or two so your bullpen will be rested for the post season or do you try to frickin’ win the games to stop the bleeding of the losing streak so you will be around for the post season, bullpen be damned because who cares if your bullpen is rested for the post season if you don’t even make it because you knowingly lost games earlier in the season to rest your bullpen? If you answer is knowingly sacrifice rookie pitchers and lose games to rest your bullpen for the post season even though you probably won’t make it because YOU ARE LOSING TOO MANY GAMES EARLY IN THE SEASON you win the Dusty Baker Managerial Award.

  • Let’s say your leadoff hitter is the fastest man on the team, maybe in the league, but is in the midst of striking out 70 times in 140 at bats, never bunts (not sure h knows how), has power and has been known to hit in the clutch on occasion, would you continue to bat him leadoff without him putting balls into play 50% of the time and hitting with no one on base (where he can be clutch) or do you move him down the batting order to 5th or 6th to drive in runs and not hinder your team at the start of every game? If you answered keep him at leadoff you win the Dusty Baker Managerial Award.

  • Let’s say you have a LF veteran who is batting under .200 but had a huge May (in 2010) and now swings a bat like a crazy person swatting at imaginary fairies and has no defensive skills. Would you give him the opportunity to hit himself out of his 1+ year funk while wasting away a decent veteran and a kid with potential who was once the Reds minor league player of the year or would you cut your losses with said LF and platoon the average veteran and young kid with potential to see if he could live up to it? If you answered let the veteran hit himself out of the prolonged slump you win the Dusty Baker Managerial Award.

If your answer on any of the questions above gave you a Dust Baker Managerial Award you’ve earned the right to sit in a major league dugout chewing on a toothpick while continuing to look mystified that your team is losing way too many games early in the season. If your answer on every question earned you a Dusty Baker Managerial Award you ARE Dusty Baker and you should quit wasting your time reading this blog and watch a Little League game to pick up some managerial tips

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