Ron Washington in ALCS
by javaball on Oct 17, 2010 12:31 AM PDT
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Print"You may think I don’t like you. You may think I’m on you because I don’t like you, That’s not it. I’m on you because I love you, because of what you can be."
--Ron Washington
I've always been a fan of Ron Washington. He coaches his players by example, with passion and dignity. He demands accountability from all his players, which is what all coaches and managers should do.
When he was on the coaching staff of the A's, he was also willing to work with the players one-on-one to improve their game. Players such as Chavez, Ellis and Swisher all benefited from his coaching. Teixeira showed disrespect toward Washington, who called him out for lack of patience at the plate. For that reason, I never really liked Teixeira.
Managing and rebuilding a last-place team takes patience. Washington compared it to fixing his home in New Orleans that was destroyed by the flood, "We'll fix it". He has been Rangers' manager since 2007, and their record improved every year under him. Last year they had a winning season for the first time since 2004 and only the second time since 1999, and this year they reached the ALCS for the first time in franchise history.
After their heartbreaking loss to the Yankees in ALCS Game 1, they showed resiliency by continuing to play baseball games that are fundamentally sound and exciting to watch. The Rangers are a fun team to watch right now. As Washington predicted years ago, they are now learning for themselves what they can be!
I love it how during the post-game press conference, Washington said, "This is a very humbling game" and right after that MLB showed the video clip of Murphy's home run, with all the people in the stadium cheering, fireworks and victory music playing. Baseball is a humbling game, but it's also a fun game, a beautiful game!
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I Like Ron Washington
When he was with the A’s, he was fantastic. After Ken Macha was fired, I hoped that Washington would take over. Sadly, he went to Texas. Maybe there wasn’t enough potential here for him to stay, or maybe the A’s just didn’t offer the job.
(Sigh)
Still, he’s done a great job with the Rangers. Honestly, I didn’t think they’d get far. I envisioned the same ol’ story: great offense, terrible pitcher.
I wish him, Eric Chavez, or Ricky Henderson would take over as skipper.
(Sigh)
by Oakland All-Star on Oct 17, 2010 9:55 AM PDT reply actions
Not offering him the job was a huge mistake
in my opinion. I hold out hope that he’ll return one day.
That rug really tied the room together...
by Streams Of Whiskey on Oct 18, 2010 3:35 AM PDT up reply actions
The official story from the A's
IIRC, is that the Rangers offered Wash a job before the A’s had finished their interview/manager search process. According to them, it’s not that they had decided not to offer Wash the job, it’s that they hadn’t yet decided whether to offer him the job.
"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s
where did you hear or read that the A's had offered Wash the job?
Wash was on record as saying he’d accept the first manager’s job offered to him. Everyone in baseball knew this since at least 2005. The A’s interviewed both Wash and Geren after Macha initially declined the A’s contract offer after the 2005 season. The Rays also interviewed Wash in 2005 but did not offer him the job.
The A’s waited a very long time and interviewed a lot of candidates after they fired Macha. I’m not going to speculate on whether Geren was always going to be Beane’s choice. However, I do remember that – while many of the other interviewees also were being interviewed by other clubs – Geren was only interviewed by the A’s.
In 2005 the A’s did offer to make Wash the bench coach in 2006; however, Wash preferred to be the third bench coach. That’s the only offer that I recall that the A’s made to Wash.
Where did I say the A's offered him the job?
Here’s is what I wrote:
The official story from the A’s IIRC, is that the Rangers offered Wash a job before the A’s had finished their interview/manager search process. According to them, it’s not that they had decided not to offer Wash the job, it’s that they hadn’t yet decided whether to offer him the job.
I can’t understand how you can infer from those two sentences that I’m saying the A’s offered Wash a job.
"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s
I believe...
…that if the A’s were truly interested in Washington, and had told him so, that he just might have postponed accepting the Texas offer to see if an A’s offer were forthcoming.
I also believe that the whole “hadn’t yet decided whether to offer him the job” as Nick mentioned was simply CYA spin by A’s brass.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
Honestly, who cares?
The difference between Ron Washington and the probably 70% of managers with a drug problem, or major skeleton of some kind, is that he got ratted out and they didn’t.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
oh brother.
After game 1, telling Kinsler to not stand 1 inch off 1st and no more and then bringing in a journeyman AAAA scrub with 9 IP this season to face the new york fucking yankees with the bases loaded in the goddamn playoffs instead of literally any other pitcher he had….Wash sucks at managing.
He won this year because of Josh Hamilton being Ted Williams with tattoos. I’m not at all convinced Geren is worse than him.
Get your facts straight.
1. Kingsler made a base-running mistake, and he learned from it. The 5 steals in Game 2 should show you that they are still playing their running game as they did in the regular season. 2.Washington used 2 pitchers first before turning to Rapada. None of them got it done. Washington took responsibility as a team, and didn’t put the blame on the pitches alone, which is what Geren would do to escape responsibility himself.
In the battle of the strong, victory goes to the brave.
There was an all-star calibre player on th A’s team. They sent him to Colorado.
In the battle of the strong, victory goes to the brave.
I dont agree with any of your opinions.
1a. Its KINSLER.
1. You dont ever pitch Rapada against the Yankees in a tight score with the game on the line. You just dont. Especially since he had Holland and Feliz amongst others there.
2. That “all star caliber player” we sent to Colorado had an OPS of 775 away from that nonsense park. Thats not all-star caliber, and not in the league of Josh Hamilton, who was vastly better than Cargo anyway.
Im really happy Ron Washington is in Texas. Next year when the A’s and Angels get better and the Rangers get worse, will really show how bad he is.
.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
that's quite a different argument
‘Cocaine’ is not even an argument.
by MobiusKlein on Oct 19, 2010 10:51 AM PDT up reply actions
Cocaine, which is not an argument, is nonetheless still a better argument
than blaming the manager because a runner stupidly gets picked off for no reason.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Nobody looks good under the microscope. Washington wasn’t just talking about baseball when he said, “They made mistakes. They got over it.” If the Rangers go on to win the AL pennant, I can envision a sports article titled “From Cocaine to Champion”.
In the battle of the strong, victory goes to the brave.
I wish Ron Washington the best,
After becoming manager in 2007, he has defintely turned his club around. From pretenders to contenders; Texas’ offense finally has put the pieces together, pitching wise as well which is why they won the division. In my opinion, if Washington would have managed the A’s, it would be them in the playoffs this year, not Texas. It just seemed the players had more a liking to him than Macha or Geren.
If Ron Washington had jack to do with it, that'd be one thing
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Cliff Lee, Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, and C.J. Wilson have had a somewhat larger impact.
The A’s were not even close to Texas in talent level this year. Not close.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
Obtaining good and/or highly-regarded talent is not a guarantee of success.
By phrasing it as “had jack to do with it”, are you saying that he ’didn’t do jack’ with regards to his team’s success? Nothing to do with it? That he was and is 100% irrelevant to the team’s success?
Just seeking clarification, because “jack” usually indicates one or the other extreme.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
Basically, yes
If someone else had been managing the team, it would have finished with a record within 2 games of where it ultimately finished. And that’s being generous.
A cabbage could have managed the Rangers to the AL West title.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
Given the quality of this year's AL West I do not dispute that at all.
A cabbage could have managed the Rangers to the AL West title.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
There has to be someone out there
who happens to be named Cole Slaw. Hire him!
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
I wonder if Paul meant Mike Cubbage?
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
right, but he definitely helped with converting CJ to a starter
He was an awful closer and basically I thought he was done as an MLB player.
by Billy Frijoles on Oct 21, 2010 1:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Nice post. :-)
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
Funny
people ask this Geren vs. Washington question all the time when they’re basically the same guy, i.e. guys who’ve helped develop a good amount of young talent and are well-liked within the clubhouse, but who are horrible, horrible in-game tactical managers.
Except that Wash is well liked -- maybe closer to loved -- in the clubhouse,
and Geren isn’t, not even close.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
What's that based on exactly?
Seems to me there hasn’t been too much complaining about Geren compared to Macha and Howe and he’s got a pretty solid record with regard to player development. I mean, I don’t know too much about what goes on in the clubhouse, but the only public criticism I can remember of him was from Ziegler, and that was over in-game tactics. Also, Washington wasn’t seen as beloved until the Rangers started winning.
I've never heard that Geren is "well-liked".
Nobody seems to hate his guts, either.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
who IS a good in-game tactical manager ?
Going on other teams’ boards, the Atlanta fans thought Bobby Cox lost his mind years ago. Yankee fans think Joe Torre was bad and Girardi is worse, they’re excoriating him for leaving Burnett in after giving an intentional walk last night. Rangers fans wanted Washington fired until about June. Last year in the ALCS both managers made howlers…. except maybe in St. Louis, it’s hard to find a team’s fans who think their managers can handle bullpen and lineup changes, and the reason is that a high percentage of decisions will always turn out wrong.
by vk on Oct 20, 2010 7:27 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
You're right about last year's ALCS,
but more often than not I’d give Mike Soscia that title of good in-game tactical manager.
That rug really tied the room together...
by Streams Of Whiskey on Oct 20, 2010 3:12 PM PDT up reply actions
I wouldn't even say "high percentage".
I’d say that we remember the decisions that didn’t work out as they are glaring in their failure. Note that I did not even say “bad decisions”, as not all that don’t work are necessarily bad… they just didn’t work out. People often forget that the other team factors in as to whether their own manager’s decisions works out as hoped. If the other team is good or gets lucky, there’s not much even the best manager can do.
Remember that walk-off HR Scutaro hit against Rivera & the Yankees a few years ago? Did Torre make a bad decision to bring in Rivera to close the game? Phfft, of course not. That’s just one example.
Having said that, I do believe there are better managers than others. I have never thought Torre was a particularly good manager, for example. He benefited from an incredibly talented team that didn’t need much in the way of managing. Torre’s best attribute for that team was managing the egos.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
Reply fail... meant to be under vk's post.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
Washdown on espn
Don’t know name of talking head last nite on espn radio – was quite unflattering on subject of Ron Washington and managing prowess. Essentially said Washington was a dunce, that Texass would have taken the weak-tit AL West with a rock calling managerial shots.
Then blasted away at Washington for post-game 4 interview; Wash said something to effect team wasn’t going out to win next game or something. Not appropriate baseball comment for espn jarheads.
Interview with Washington after ALCS Game 4
Here is the official transcript of the “Interview with Washington after ALCS Game 4” .
“We are not thinking about how we are going to close anyone out. We are going to go out there and play baseball, and whatever the game asks us to do, we’ll do it.”
I think that’s a realistic and wise approach in the playoffs.
In the battle of the strong, victory goes to the brave.
It's a variation of the standard non-answer...
…which is why I rarely watch or pay attention to interviews.
“We’re just going to go out there and play our game.”… “They’re a great team.”… “We’re not even concerned with .”… blah blah blah.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
I read it as "We're not going to change what we've been doing."
Which is perfectly valid. If what you are doing is working, then eliminating the Yankees will take care of itself.
by LoneStranger on Oct 20, 2010 3:38 PM PDT up reply actions
Not saying it's not valid...
…just saying it’s not necessarily insightful.
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray
What was he supposed to say?
“We’re going to fucking go out there and kick their fucking asses all the way back to New Fucking York! Fuck yeah!”
And as far as insightful, maybe that really is his plan. Keep on keepin’ on. What would you change?
by LoneStranger on Oct 20, 2010 6:11 PM PDT up reply actions
Apart from the problem that Game 5 was venued in New York,
which would make him sound kinda loony, this statement would definitely get my Stamp of Managerial Rant Approval.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
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