BRAVE NEW WORLDS
Welcome to Small Ball 2007. We've got a new masthead featuring the Mad Dogs (a $3 bill for anyone who knows who they are) and a renewed sense of excitement. It's a year of real, quantifiable change.
For fans of the Nationals, Cubs, and Giants, there are many, many reasons to be excited in 2007. All three teams have new managing coaches: Manny Acta, formerly of the Mets, replaced Frank Robinson in Washington; veteran AL coach Lou Piniella came out of retirement to replace Dusty Baker in Chicago; and Bruce Bochy, who made San Diego competitive in the NL West, replaces Felipe Alou in San Francisco.
As people and baseball legends, Alou, Robinson, and Baker can't be reproached. They certainly contributed special things to their teams, but I'm not shy about my relief that all three of them have been replaced. They were not able to make or keep their teams competitive. They did not seem capable of making hard, painful decisions to get the wins, and were more interested in loyalty and rapport than in convincing organization leadership that dead wood (pun intended) needed to be thrown overboard.
At 38, Many Acta is over thirty years younger than Frank Robinson. He may lack Robinson's epic knowledge of the game, but his enthusiasm and reputed canniness for nurturing and milking the farm system may be his secret weapon as a leader. He and the Nationals have a couple of things in common: they are young and untried, with oodles of opportunity before them. Will they be in 2007 like the reconstituted Marlins were last season -- surprising everyone with their potential? Or do they need a season or two to simmer on the back burner while they develop new talent?
I don't know much about Piniella except that he is one of the most ejected coaches in major league history. The north side of Chicago is going to love that. He apparently had great tenures with the Mariners and Reds, the latter of whom he took to victory in the '90 world series. On one hand, I think he's just the kick in the pants Chicago needs. But because I've watched the quality of Alou and Robinson's coaching decline with age, I wonder if Piniella is simply past his prime. He's got real pitching depth this year, and a cornucopia of marquee names to excite Cubbie fans all season.
Like my oft-disappointed co-blogger Erik, I'm reserving judgment on Chicago until I've had a chance to see the new chemistry in action for 20 or 30 games.
Which brings us to the Giants. Yep, Barry's back, and I'm down with that. I've thought a lot about what gets me off my ass and out to games at Mays Field during the regular season. It's Barry.
What's going to get me out this year is Bruce Bochy and important new blood among the players. Bochy turned the Padres into a perennial division leader, regularly vexing the Giants and Dodgers as they diminished in the west for a variety of reasons. He is precisely the injection of fresh coaching blood San Francisco needs. At 51, he's still got the physical and cerebral vitality I think a winning coach needs. Add to that the arrival of super-pitcher Barry Zito from the Oakland As, catcher Bengie Molina, and base-running genius Dave Roberts, plus the return of San Francisco favorite Rich Aurilia to the infield. 22-year-old prodigy Matt Cain is back on the mound. Omar Vizquel is back, with 2006 OBP, SLG, and AVG figures that beat any single personal instance of these stats in the previous three seasons. The man is motivated. Jason Schmidt, who was dragging ass for us as a pitcher, has moved on to LA, where I wish him luck.
What doesn't excite me is Pedro Feliz, Randy Winn, Noah Lowry, Brad Hennessey, Kevin Correia, Jason Ellison -- the usual suspects of middle-of-the-road (i.e., not world-class) talent. If Bruce Bochy can pump them up in ways that Felipe Alou could not, then we might be in business. I'm highly skeptical.
So, lots to watch, lots at stake, with many chances to see extreme highs and not so many chances to see extreme lows (for a change).
Got to get back to today's spring training game between the Cubbies and the Sith Lords otherwise known as the White Sox. The games have begun.
For fans of the Nationals, Cubs, and Giants, there are many, many reasons to be excited in 2007. All three teams have new managing coaches: Manny Acta, formerly of the Mets, replaced Frank Robinson in Washington; veteran AL coach Lou Piniella came out of retirement to replace Dusty Baker in Chicago; and Bruce Bochy, who made San Diego competitive in the NL West, replaces Felipe Alou in San Francisco.
As people and baseball legends, Alou, Robinson, and Baker can't be reproached. They certainly contributed special things to their teams, but I'm not shy about my relief that all three of them have been replaced. They were not able to make or keep their teams competitive. They did not seem capable of making hard, painful decisions to get the wins, and were more interested in loyalty and rapport than in convincing organization leadership that dead wood (pun intended) needed to be thrown overboard.
At 38, Many Acta is over thirty years younger than Frank Robinson. He may lack Robinson's epic knowledge of the game, but his enthusiasm and reputed canniness for nurturing and milking the farm system may be his secret weapon as a leader. He and the Nationals have a couple of things in common: they are young and untried, with oodles of opportunity before them. Will they be in 2007 like the reconstituted Marlins were last season -- surprising everyone with their potential? Or do they need a season or two to simmer on the back burner while they develop new talent?
I don't know much about Piniella except that he is one of the most ejected coaches in major league history. The north side of Chicago is going to love that. He apparently had great tenures with the Mariners and Reds, the latter of whom he took to victory in the '90 world series. On one hand, I think he's just the kick in the pants Chicago needs. But because I've watched the quality of Alou and Robinson's coaching decline with age, I wonder if Piniella is simply past his prime. He's got real pitching depth this year, and a cornucopia of marquee names to excite Cubbie fans all season.
Like my oft-disappointed co-blogger Erik, I'm reserving judgment on Chicago until I've had a chance to see the new chemistry in action for 20 or 30 games.
Which brings us to the Giants. Yep, Barry's back, and I'm down with that. I've thought a lot about what gets me off my ass and out to games at Mays Field during the regular season. It's Barry.
What's going to get me out this year is Bruce Bochy and important new blood among the players. Bochy turned the Padres into a perennial division leader, regularly vexing the Giants and Dodgers as they diminished in the west for a variety of reasons. He is precisely the injection of fresh coaching blood San Francisco needs. At 51, he's still got the physical and cerebral vitality I think a winning coach needs. Add to that the arrival of super-pitcher Barry Zito from the Oakland As, catcher Bengie Molina, and base-running genius Dave Roberts, plus the return of San Francisco favorite Rich Aurilia to the infield. 22-year-old prodigy Matt Cain is back on the mound. Omar Vizquel is back, with 2006 OBP, SLG, and AVG figures that beat any single personal instance of these stats in the previous three seasons. The man is motivated. Jason Schmidt, who was dragging ass for us as a pitcher, has moved on to LA, where I wish him luck.
What doesn't excite me is Pedro Feliz, Randy Winn, Noah Lowry, Brad Hennessey, Kevin Correia, Jason Ellison -- the usual suspects of middle-of-the-road (i.e., not world-class) talent. If Bruce Bochy can pump them up in ways that Felipe Alou could not, then we might be in business. I'm highly skeptical.
So, lots to watch, lots at stake, with many chances to see extreme highs and not so many chances to see extreme lows (for a change).
Got to get back to today's spring training game between the Cubbies and the Sith Lords otherwise known as the White Sox. The games have begun.
posted by Andrew at
2:42 PM
1 Comments:
Wow. I learned more in this one post than I managed to retain the entire off season. You're the man.
By
Erik, at 10:03 PM
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