PREACH!
Is this team still heavily invested in analytics, albeit less so than under Luhnow? That distinction would cull the managerial list. Baker surely didnāt utilize analytics; perhaps a ouija board, but not analytics
1 Like
Dart board
1 Like
My impression is they donāt have their foot on the gas the same way they did in the Luhnow days, but they havenāt gone Luddite or anything. Theyāre still the Astros.
My hope is that they bend more back towards the analytics focus of Lunhow/Hinch. My uneducated perception is that their current success is based on talented people reacting reasonably well to in-game circumstances (Dusty aside) instead of thinking 3 steps ahead of the competition on both sides of the ball and controlling the game accordingly with those same talented players. I much prefer the latter.
3 Likes
The Astros will conduct a thorough search, but I think itās Espadaās job to lose unless he just interviews really poorly. He knows this group of players well and has built relationships over the last few seasons.
1 Like
You need a combination of analytics, adaptability, people skills and feel/instinct to be a good manager.
The Astros havenāt moved away from analytics. If you want to see what analytics without feel/instinct looks like, look at the Dodgers under Dave Roberts.
Another example would be the Rays pulling Blake Snell in the sixth inning in the 2020 World Series when heās pitching a shutout.
You can script a game plan all you want, but a manager needs to be able to use their best judgment based on what they are also seeing from their players to make adjustments, as necessary.
5 Likes
Every team, every manager, uses analytics.
Every single one.
Conflicts between front offices and on field managers are more about degree or case specific use than anything else. And good old fashioned power struggles.
2 Likes
Thanks for a.) bringing that idiocy back and b.) finding a way to make me hate Dusty just a little bit more.
Hating Dusty? Put yourself in his shoes. Dusty has been in Major League Baseball for over 50 fucking years. He just won a World Series title as a manager. Imagine how you would feel if some snot nosed little turd like Chandler Rome and countless internet losers are taking potshots at you. You canāt see how he would be over that shit? You hate Dusty? Line up what he has done and what any of us has done and see what looks better.
I saw a quote from Dusty dismissing analytics in favor of what his own eye told him. An in-house promotion makes more sense in terms of the franchise needing a tweak instead of a house cleaning
I hate Dusty Baker because he mismanaged the everloving fuck out of the baseball team I root for this season.
I like Dusty as a person, but he was absolutely atrocious as a manager this year. And if he had decided to ride his mobility scooter off in to the sunset after 2022 the Astros wouldāve been much better for it.
7 Likes
While I get that, Dusty should never have described some players as his ābig boys.ā He opened himself up to even more criticism by using such terminology in the clubhouse.
Baker was good at connecting with his players for the most part, but he was a step slow when it came to in-game adjustments and he never did himself any favors with the responses he gave the media. Think about some of his nonsensical retorts to questions about Michael Brantleyās return, for example.
4 Likes
He consistently sat better players in favor of worse players and offered very poor explanations for those decisions. None of Romeās questions or articles seemed unfair or out of line to me.
6 Likes
Agreed. When it became clear Chas McCormick had earned the everyday center fielder position, but heās basically splitting time with Jake Meyers, that will cause questions to be raised. The same is true when the defensive metrics donāt support Martin Maldonado playing as much as he did, but Yainer Diaz is only catching one or two days out of every five games. Thatās especially true when everyone covering the team and Astrosā fans could see that playing Diaz more could help a struggling offense.
If Dusty is retiring because heās hurt that people question why he doesnāt play his best players then itās long past time for him to leave.
13 Likes
When Dusty was hired I was ok with it. I thought it might be a good thing. A friend of mine however, who was a fan of a team Dusty had managed, told me I was going to grow to hate him. Hate is a strong word, but Iām damn sure glad heās gone. I tip my hat to him for all heās accomplished, but after the way he managed the team this year, specifically in regards to McCormick, Diaz and the way he handles the bullpen, he had to go. Iāll have a few drinks at home tonight to celebrate and looks towards the future.
4 Likes
Iād like this post 1000x if I could.
2 Likes
This is my least favorite line of argument. āLetās see if you can do better, no? Then shut upā
If you resort to that then you have lost. Could I have managed team better than Dusty? As a whole, no. I could not manage the clubhouse and the personalities there in. But just because I, or any of us, could not do a better job doesnāt mean we cannot criticize.
I hope you have never criticized a player, because you couldnāt do better. Or a chef, because they probably cook better than you. Or any other field, donāt like how a road is set up, I bet you couldnāt do better, so shut up. You see how stupid this argument is? I canāt stand it.
7 Likes