It's been awhile since there has been so much speculation about an MLB manager getting fired as there is right now about Don Mattingly. It seems like every writer, fan, and analyst thinks he should be giving his walking papers. While I don't necessarily disagree with them, it's not really all that easy.
Yes, the Dodgers are bad right now. They're in last in the NL West with a record of 19 and 26. They're team payroll is north of $200 million and they're simply not winning. But they're only 6 games out of first, and it's May. I know the expectations are high, but lets not freak out quite yet. Also, what has Mattingly done to deserve to get fired? Is it his fault the team isn't scoring runs? Not really, most of that blame should fall on the hitting coach. Is he to blame for their miserable bullpen? Nope, he didn't go out and spend millions upon millions of dollars on players that forced management to let veteran guys go. He didn't not sign a legit closer in the offseason. You certainly can't blame him for the multitude of injuries they have. So why is he getting the blame?
It's simple really, he's the manager. He's the one who does the press conferences, he's the guy they show in the dugout on TV. Mattingly is essentially the fall-guy. They could get rid of McGwire and Honeycutt but changing pitching and/or hitting coaches midseason hardly seems like a reasonable thing to do. They can't fire the players, so who is left? The manager.
Mattingly didn't do himself any favors on Wednesday when he benched Andre Ethier and then essentially called him for not being tough enough. I don't even know what that means to be honest. Does he think Ethier isn't trying to make plays and get on base? Odd thing to say. What it does tell me is that Mattingly is fed up and sounds like he's looking for a way out. He went from saying things like "we or us" when referring to the team and used "I and my." That just won't sit well. Not only did he criticize one of the team's most popular players, but he also went after the front office. You just can't do that these days. Is he right in saying they weren't able to keep experienced guys on the team because they spent so much in the offseason? Absolutely he is. But you just don't say it publicly. He criticized his employer and basically blamed them for the team's poor record. Not the brightest of ideas.
Look, I'm not saying Mattingly should be fired, but I think he has to be at this point. The Dodgers need to make a change, and right now that's the only change that can be made. The front office has to respond to what Mattingly said on Wednesday. They can't just let him criticize players and upper management without some sort of action. Several sources have said he'll be the manager at least until the start of the series with the Cardinals on Friday, but his future after that is unknown, at least to the public. Also, I don't think the Dodgers want to have a situation like there was in Boston last year. Bobby Valentine wasn't right for that team and for whatever reason they waited until after the season to let him go. It might not have changed much if anything, but it shows that the front office is paying attention to more than just dollar signs.
If the Dodgers continue to be cellar dwellers, Mattingly is gone. Actually, unless they win the World Series he's probably gone. His contract is up at the end of the season. Anything short of a miracle at this point won't save his job. What will be interesting is what happens with Ethier. I can't imagine he's too pleased by what was said about him on Wednesday and if they don't pick things up I won't be surprised if he's no longer wearing Dodger Blue by the trade deadline. Things are a mess in LA right now, and while they did win their series against the Brewers, I don't think that's going to turn their season around. Not suggesting that Mattingly getting fired will, but I can't imagine them winning a few games here and there will save his job.
Follow me on Twitter- @TwittinSports
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
First Impressions
April has come and gone and the MLB season is in full swing. Now that there have been enough games played to show some real trends it's a good time to reflect on what we've seen so far. There have been some surprises, some disappointments, and some just as we expected. Not going to go team by team here, just going to point out my thoughts so far.
Biggest surprises-Have to go with the Red Sox and Rockies here. The Red Sox currently have the best record in baseball at 19-8 and the Rockies are 3rd best at 17-10. I said in my MLB preview that I thought the Sox would make the playoffs. I did not however expect them to look as good as they have. Their starting pitching has been much better than anyone anticipated, thank you very much John Farrell, and they have the best run differential in MLB right now at +47. If things continue the way April went, we could see Boston making a serious title run.
The Rockies have been equally surprising, if not more so. No one I saw had them anywhere above about 75 wins this year before the season began. That hasn't stopped them though. They've scored the second most runs out of any team and their team ERA is 10th in MLB. If they can stay healthy they could very easily be this year's 2012 Oakland A's. They're going to have a tough time with this as the Giants are clearly still very good and the Dodgers should pick things up if/when they get healthy. For now though, the Rockies are turning a lot of heads and rightly so.
And as much as I hate them, the Yankees deserved to be mentioned. They're way better than I think anyone anticipated. Kind of scary to think about the players they're going to get back later this season.
Biggest Disappointments-Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Angels. All three of these teams made big offseason acquisitions and all three haven't done squat with them. Granted the Dodgers are dealing with a ridiculous amount of injuries but they should be scoring more runs. They're second to last in batting average, runs, and 3rd worst in slugging percentage in MLB. That simply isn't going to win ball games. Add in the injuries to Greinke and Billingsley and this season could seriously be slipping away from them.
The Angels and their fans have to be sick of this. Their owner breaks the bank and signs guys to massive contracts only to have them fall flat on their faces in April. Josh Hamilton is so lost at the plate he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat right now. They've only got 2 regular starters hitting over .300 right now and their team ERA is 4.91 which is next to last in MLB. They're simply not a good team right now. The scariest thing for Angels fans is there is no Mike Trout waiting in the wings to come rescue them this year. He's already there and he's only hitting .270 right now. Will he pick it up? Absolutely. But there is no way he's going to put up numbers like he did last year. And if he does, they should just enshrine him in Cooperstown right now. All of this and I didn't even mention their bullpen. Which is terrible. Their save percentage right now is 38%, 2nd worst in all of baseball.
Toronto has to be the biggest disappointment of all. Nearly everyone I saw picked them to win the AL East with relative ease. I'm not really sure why, the guys they got didn't do ANYTHING last year except for Dickey. But Dickey isn't a typical pitcher. It's not like they got a guy like Kershaw or Verlander. They got a guy who had an ERA lower than 4.62 only once before last year. He throws a completely unpredictable pitch and is therefore a completely unpredictable pitcher. The amount of pressure heaped on the Blue Jays doomed them from the time Spring Training started.
So what does this all mean? Nothing. It's only May, we still have a TON of games to play. But if these trends continue there are going to be a lot of analysts and experts in line for a nice crow dinner. Not to mention managers and GMs on the hot seat. You have to think Scioscia is worried about his job and Mattingly can't be too comfortable right now either. It's a long season, can't wait to see how the rest of it plays out.
Follow me on Twitter-@TwittinSports
Biggest surprises-Have to go with the Red Sox and Rockies here. The Red Sox currently have the best record in baseball at 19-8 and the Rockies are 3rd best at 17-10. I said in my MLB preview that I thought the Sox would make the playoffs. I did not however expect them to look as good as they have. Their starting pitching has been much better than anyone anticipated, thank you very much John Farrell, and they have the best run differential in MLB right now at +47. If things continue the way April went, we could see Boston making a serious title run.
The Rockies have been equally surprising, if not more so. No one I saw had them anywhere above about 75 wins this year before the season began. That hasn't stopped them though. They've scored the second most runs out of any team and their team ERA is 10th in MLB. If they can stay healthy they could very easily be this year's 2012 Oakland A's. They're going to have a tough time with this as the Giants are clearly still very good and the Dodgers should pick things up if/when they get healthy. For now though, the Rockies are turning a lot of heads and rightly so.
And as much as I hate them, the Yankees deserved to be mentioned. They're way better than I think anyone anticipated. Kind of scary to think about the players they're going to get back later this season.
Biggest Disappointments-Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Angels. All three of these teams made big offseason acquisitions and all three haven't done squat with them. Granted the Dodgers are dealing with a ridiculous amount of injuries but they should be scoring more runs. They're second to last in batting average, runs, and 3rd worst in slugging percentage in MLB. That simply isn't going to win ball games. Add in the injuries to Greinke and Billingsley and this season could seriously be slipping away from them.
The Angels and their fans have to be sick of this. Their owner breaks the bank and signs guys to massive contracts only to have them fall flat on their faces in April. Josh Hamilton is so lost at the plate he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat right now. They've only got 2 regular starters hitting over .300 right now and their team ERA is 4.91 which is next to last in MLB. They're simply not a good team right now. The scariest thing for Angels fans is there is no Mike Trout waiting in the wings to come rescue them this year. He's already there and he's only hitting .270 right now. Will he pick it up? Absolutely. But there is no way he's going to put up numbers like he did last year. And if he does, they should just enshrine him in Cooperstown right now. All of this and I didn't even mention their bullpen. Which is terrible. Their save percentage right now is 38%, 2nd worst in all of baseball.
Toronto has to be the biggest disappointment of all. Nearly everyone I saw picked them to win the AL East with relative ease. I'm not really sure why, the guys they got didn't do ANYTHING last year except for Dickey. But Dickey isn't a typical pitcher. It's not like they got a guy like Kershaw or Verlander. They got a guy who had an ERA lower than 4.62 only once before last year. He throws a completely unpredictable pitch and is therefore a completely unpredictable pitcher. The amount of pressure heaped on the Blue Jays doomed them from the time Spring Training started.
So what does this all mean? Nothing. It's only May, we still have a TON of games to play. But if these trends continue there are going to be a lot of analysts and experts in line for a nice crow dinner. Not to mention managers and GMs on the hot seat. You have to think Scioscia is worried about his job and Mattingly can't be too comfortable right now either. It's a long season, can't wait to see how the rest of it plays out.
Follow me on Twitter-@TwittinSports
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