Gibbons, who managed the Blue Jays for parts of five seasons from 2004 to 2008, will be introduced Tuesday morning as their next manager.
At the general managers meeting in Indian Wells, Calif., Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said he was “looking for someone he could work with, someone his staff could work with, someone who was good for the city, good for the whole country.”
Going on a we-need-to-know-you-to-hire-you basis we figured the only people Anthopoulos knew with previous managerial experience were Frank Robinson from their days together with the Montreal Expos, plus Cito Gaston, bench coach Don Wakamatsu, and John Farrell from his GM days.
We forgot about Anthouplous’ time as an assistant GM, under J.P. Ricciardi. Anthopoulos and Gibbons were close friends, working well together.
...The Jays have been riding a crest of excitement and popularity since the 12-player deal with the Miami Marlins brought in shortstop Jose Reyes, right-hander Josh Johnson, lefty Mark Buehrle, catcher John Buck and utility man Emilio Bonifacio. The Jays also have signed free-agent outfielder Melky Cabrera.
Both deals were finalized on Monday.
Repoz
Posted: November 20, 2012 at 06:35 AM |
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1. JJ1986 Posted: November 20, 2012 at 09:10 AM (#4306591)In fairness, who hasn't wanted to punch Shea Hillenbrand in the face at one time or another?
Gibbons replaced fired manager Carlos Tosca in 2004. Tosca also inquired about returning as the Jays manager.
Certainly anyone who paid to watch the 2007 Angels.
Going by my terrible memory, but I believe he pulled Bush from a game when Bush thought he shouldn't have. Yelling match in the dugout ensued.
It's entirely possible I'm wrong on this, but that's my fuzzy recollection.
A disagreement about troop levels in Iraq and medicare prescription benefits. No wait, wrong country, wrong Bush.
That was a Jays tradition under Ricciardi. It wasn't something specific to Gibbons.
In other words, the pool of managers is the same as it's always been, although theoretically there could be managers now who make smarter decisions than they did in the 80s.
Under Farrell, the Jays had a ton of (especially younger) players make a ton of really, really dumb mistakes, and never seemed to learn from them, as Farrell never really seemed to care. I guess the idea is to have Gibbons beat the stupid out of them.
Those are other words indeed.
Never before have managers been this collectively risk-averse.
Out of curiosity, what do you base this statement on?
A working knowledge of baseball history, including a particular interest in managers throughout it.
I don't have a WAR-type stat on it, if that's what you're asking.
And this has nothing to do with the fact that your beliefs about managers and risk-aversion have developed under this generation. How did you feel about Connie Mack's willingness to take risks? Gil Hodges?
Congratulations on providing a remarkably useless response.
I don't have a WAR-type stat on it, if that's what you're asking.
I'm asking about specific behaviors. What do you think has changed the most in terms of how they're managing things? How do you think those behaviors could be improved? What are the areas where you think they could gain the most by returning to the methods used by their predecessors?
I'm withdrawing from this conversation.
Out of curiosity, what do you base this statement on?
No, that would be Ken Macha.
Art Howe had expressed interest in the position. I don't know if they were actually considering him.
Sacrifice hits and intentional walks are down slightly. That's even with the AL teams now playing 10 or so games per year using NL rules. That's a sign of progress in stats that are under the elective control of a manager. Stolen base percentages are up - indicating recognition of the value of an out, and not allowing low percentage runners to attempt them.
The big trend in both leagues though is the use of pitchers. Almost nobody is allowed to throw more than 120 pitches, ever, and most starts don't even get to that level. Lots more relievers, and more pitching changes. Is this trend a risk-averse strategy to avoid being blamed for injuries? Or more from the knowledge of how few starters, in the 3rd-4th time through the lineup, are more effective than middle inning relievers?
The actions of managers have certainly changed.
I think every ex-manager over the past generation-and-a-half expressed interest, except perhaps the dead ones (and I don't have inside information on that). The Jays search even managed to perpetuate the statheady apologia for Manny Acta, which I had assumed would need a year or so to reemerge.
Stolen base percentages are up - indicating recognition of the value of an out, and not allowing low percentage runners to attempt them.
Are stolen base attempts down as well, or are percentages just higher? I'm wondering whether this is more of an indication that pitchers/catchers are getting worse at preventing the running game, or an indication that teams are actually being more selective in when they attempt to steal.
Totally agree. Is this the same guy that lied about being a veteran?
The Jays have had some weird managers...
Starting pitchers generally throw fewer innings per start than they did in, say, the 1970s, but I don't think 1970s teams thought they were taking a big risk in doing so. This does not make managers of the 1970s less "risk averse"; rather, it makes them less aware of the risk they were taking.
So, this continues the Jays streak of having only ever hired Bobby Cox as manager who'd managed somewhere else, correct?
Jim Fregosi too.
Ah, I'd forgotten about Fregosi, thanks.
In order to manage risk we must first understand risk. How do you spot risk? How do you avoid risk and what makes it so risky?
Pretty sure JP sent Bush to AAA the next day too.
As for the cause it could be any of those. But the trend shows that CS are down, SB went down as well, compared to what we saw in the 80s. In the last few years SB are going up without an increase in CS.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml
If he shows up to spring training sporting a moustache we'll have our confirmation.
C: John Gibbons, Buck Martinez
1B: Gene Tenace
2B: Roy Hartsfield, Jimy Williams
SS: Jim Fregosi, Bobby Mattick
3B: Bobby Cox, Tim Johnson
OF: Cito Gaston, Carlos Tosca, Mel Queen
P: John Farrell
Tim Johnson has many exciting stories about his days as an outfielder. And an astronaut.
And a dessert topping!
Also, few starters are pulled early, ie after 20-40 pitches. The starter job seems now to be 5-7 innings of 95-110 pitches, with little adjustment for performance.
I've never thought of it that way and am about to check the actual numbers, but that statement feels about right.
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