Yuku free message boards

On plate discipline:

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Yes, that was studied many years ago. The batter has more to do with determining when a walk occurs than the pitcher does. This is really the central insight of the on-base percentage discussion--not that On Base Percentage is important; that's self-evident. But rather, that it is the hitter, more than the pitcher, who determines when a walk occurs.
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I hadn't heard it put that way before.

AND:

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In pure terms it is no doubt learned. But it is learned so early, in my opinion, that, for major league players, it functions as an innate ability. I don't think you can change a player. I don't think that you can teach Ozzie Guillen to take a walk, any more than you can teach Doug Jones to throw a fastball.
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Doesn't bode well for Shea's future with the team.

On the Bullpen philosophy:

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I don't blame the writers; hell, we probably have the best corps of baseball writers in the country. Sometimes they're a pain in the ass, and sometimes they miss the point, but still. . .would you rather have the New York writers, or the Los Angeles writers? Maybe we just didn't explain what we were doing very well. . .
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Probably smart not to antagonize them. If only the Bush team had such a good diplomat.



On keeping pitchers healthy:

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Well, it's been studied and studied and studied, but it's an immensely complicated subject, and I don't know that we're gaining on it at all. There are 40 factors involved in the discussion--pitch counts, and age, and pitch selection, and mechanics, and game time, and usage patterns, and throwing between starts, and. . .and there is just no way to stablize the discussion so that we can focus on one factor without being distracted by the others. There is no consensus, and there is no real KNOWLEDGE. There is a hell of a lot of guesswork.
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Couple this answer with his outright insulting answers to people criticizing Baker's abuse of Prior and Wood, and you can maybe see a reason why Manny Delcarmen is undergoing Tommy John surgery.


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Well, Walker's been great. . .absolutely the best #2 hole hitter I ever saw, except that Sandberg hit second one year when he was having an MVP season. But part of the mix is, his defense is just far better than he is given credit for. People got an idea that he couldn't field, but he's been fine. And our infield defense has been fine, which frankly I was very worried about going into the season.
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Sounds to me like Bill James had a lot to do with acquiring Todd Walker, doesn't it? I'm frightened by the fact that he thinks Walker is a good secondbaseman.


On the Questec system

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I'm all for it. I think it's a wonderful thing. And. . .believe it or not, I realized, as a baseball fan, that the strike zone was getting better before I knew what was causing it. I could SEE that the umpires were getting more consistent. So how bad was the umpiring, before this came along. It's great. . .I wish they could have done it 15 years ago.
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Ugh! I totally disagree, even though I thought it would be great. This experiment has been a disaster. Just let the umpires call their own games.


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.go Red Sox. I'm sorry that ... no one gave me a clear opportunity to point out that the Red Sox have a better bullpen ERA than the Yankees do, or that we are below the major league average in blown saves. Next time, I guess. Bill
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Are either of those things relevant? The Yankees have been without Karsay and Rivera. The Red Sox are also below the major league average in saves. The offense is so good there haven't been a lot of save chances.