Does Anybody Wonder "What If" About Ron Washington?

But I would have liked to have seen it just the same. two consecutive WS appearances is impressive regardless
OT #1) I’m curious if last night was the busiest night ever in SBN history based on posts, etc. Very interesting to see SBN grow from just AN to a major player in the sports social media world
OT#2) BBG, is there any place I could follow you like Twitter or Google+? Enjoy your insight about baseball, Athletics, and SBN and would like to see more of your stuff

And so does the media. But Wash is a terrible in-game manager. He’s done more to prevent the Rangers from winning the Series than anyone else in uniform.

That said, they’re still one win away and I’d love if it the A’s were in that position. Ultimately, he wouldn’t have made much of a difference if he’s been with the A’s in ‘01 – ’06. Those were good teams. Washington has shown he does fine with good talent. It’s only in these short series that his lack of tactical acumen really shows up and makes an impact.

Many, many players want to play for Wash. We have read on occasions that some players may not have wanted to play for the A’s with Geren as manager.

Another issue: would Wash have had more say in choosing his coaching staff than (I suspect) Geren did? Would he have been more consulted than Geren was about roster moves?

The last line gave me pause: a formula he thought would work?. Beane’s formula did work. The A’s competed for years with the richest teams in the league all the way to the playoffs. They had no business winning the number of games they did (and while you can’t discount the amazing pitching, the Moneyball philosophy worked for them,

The 2000-2003 A’s were built around 5 (Chavez, Tejada, Mulder, Hudson, Zito) or 6 (Giambi) players who would put up near All-Star or better years (25 WAR+) each year. None of those guys were “Moneyball” acquisitions. Only Zito and Mulder were acquired after Beane became GM.

Beane’s real imprint on the roster started in 2004 when he decided to replace Tejada, Hernandez and Long with Kotsay, Kendall and Crosby probably in large part due to the greater plate discipline of the latter 3 players. The fact that these guys were injury prone and/or sucked probably cost the team 3 Wins per year through 2006. To make matters worse, while Beane wasn’t looking OBP became less important than SLG leaving the A’s with a bunch of impotent strike takers.

Over the past 7 years neither has the team won very much nor has it won more than other teams with similar payrolls — Rays and Rangers. I’m sticking with my position that Beane is possibly the most overrated baseball executive in history.

Not unless he had that roster and that ballpark like he does in Texas.

There have been some decisions made on a national stage that were just unreal. Neither has overly impressed me, but what do I know? I would have fired Ron Washington in 2009 for benching Nelson Cruz.

I agree that it wouldn’t have made a big difference at all. The talent disparity between the A’s and Rangers is huge, and Wash would have had the same bag of balls to work with as Geren; BUT, I think the team would have probably been more fun to watch. And yeah, I think they would have been more cohesive, worked/played together better, under a manager that they liked/respected.

i think you’re reading too much into the “thought would work”/“did work” thing. i’m reading wash’s words as, at the time that BB was putting the team together he had to have faith in the formula (ie. he “thought [it] would work” without yet knowing if it did or not because the season was still playing out.) not that wash now thinks the formula is of dubious value.

That story doesn’t actually say anything about Frank McCourt. A horrible crime was committed on the property and at an event of the Dodgers. Because the Dodgers have by far the deepest pockets anywhere around, lawyers for the victim are trying to pin as much as possible of the blame on the Dodgers. In response, the lawyers for the Dodgers are trying to redirect as much of the blame as possible anywhere else, including back onto the victim. That’s unpleasant, sure, but it’s what lawyers do in a liability case. It’s business as usual, and it would be a stupid lawyer who doesn’t play that game.

Meanwhile in this news story, Frank McCourt is the lead sentence, he’s all through the story, and there’s a big picture of him. And yet, if you read the story carefully you can see that McCourt has in fact done absolutely nothing at all here except own a big company that employs a lawyer who is not incompetent.

And that’s the journalist doing her job. That’s what journalists do. They take a mundane event and connect it to a reviled figure to turn it into a scandal that makes your blood boil.

The Angels have been looking for a GM for a little while now, and there were reports that the owners had dinner with Friedman from the Rays (no no no no no!). Well, they just made a hire. Jerry Dipoto. The same guy who, in Arizona, gave up Dan Haren for Joe Saunders.

Hahahahahaha.

sorry if this was already posted. Three A’s made super two, Gio, Powell, Rosales. I can see them letting Powell and Rosales go possibly.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/10/price-porcello-among-27-to-reach-super-two-status.html

See.

I really Nelson Cruz was going to catch Freese’s 9th inning triple – if I were a Texas fan, I would rue that (non)play regardless of how unfair that may be. That was a catchable ball for a competent outfielder.

He’s not a great tactical manager, he doesn’t seem to be a great strategic manager either.

His players love him, that’s a plus. It’s not like we had that with Geren.

I don’t think it would have mattered much.

if we got to the World Series, and our manager made a series of decisions like the ones Wash made last night.

Never forget

“It’s a total failure when you give up a three-run home run in an All-Star Game,” Wilson said. “Bummer. Now it’s time to go home to the beach.”

I don’t see a thread, so I guess this is the one?

I turned on 5 mins in and missed two runs already!

I’m hanging out at SFO waiting for my flight watching the game on the television here (if anyone is here, come on over to the Buena Vista Cafe near Gate 83!)….it’s a semi-lively crowd here, which is to say that there has already been ooooohing and aaaaahing and some applause, but that may have just been for the replay from last night… ;)

there is indeed a game thread for game 7. for some reason it’s not showing up on the FP. click this: http://www.athleticsnation.com/2011/10/28/2521747/the-last-game-of-the-season-game-seven

See you there.

…but everyone else in a Texas hat can kiss my posterior. Go Cards.