If you want your kids to learn the fundamentals, better not send 'em to Dusty's baseball camp . . .
I've defended Johnny B. Baker in the past. He was a great Dodger player and a great fit as manager for the Gigantes, navigating some fairly treacherous interpersonal waters (see CA Supreme Court Case Kent v. Bonds) and almost winning a World Series ("You're doing a heckuva job, Ortizy--here, take the game ball!"). Also, without Dusty Baker there would have been no Darren Baker, Dusty's cute son who, as an overeager junior-junior batboy, was saved by JT Snow in one of my favorite baseball moments.
But something--either too much losing or those hateful racist Chicago death threats or maybe all those toothpicks--has scrambled his brains. This quote, from a Cubs News & Notes type column, right there on the team's homepage, is one of the most mind-blowing things I've ever seen from a manager.
Do the Cubs need to improve their on-base percentage next year? They currently rank last in the National League with a .318 OBP.
"On-base percentage is great if you can score runs and do something with that on-base percentage," Baker said. "Clogging up the bases isn't that great to me. The problem we have to address more than anything is the home run problem."
Sorry, but you don't have to be a Bill James reader or a Moneyball fan to think that getting guys on base might eventually lead to scoring runs. Maybe Dusty is saying that his first concern is adding power to his lineup, but if so, it's the most poorly articulated thought in history. Since the guy is clearly done in Chicago, he probably ought to take some time off. Do a little fishing and that. Clear his head. When a baseball manager decides that "clogging up the bases" isn't such a good idea, it's time for a break.
4 comments:
He's right. You gotta let those bases breathe...
And everyone in history has gotten hateful racist death threats. The plain fact is he's a disaster as a manager.
Wow! Dusty Baker's baseball acumen finally draws JT into the fray! That quote about "clogging the bases" is proving useful in unexpected ways.
I vote the Cubs extend his contract through infinity.
it's ok to boo a team because they play like shit (you're entitled to when you buy a ticket). but to move into the racial stuff is really bothersome to read. racists like that don't realize the best baseball that was ever played came from the guys who were not allowed to strap it on against babe ruth.
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