Last night was interesting. I got Willie alone after the game and tried to press him more on his decision to start Marlon Anderson over Lastings Milledge.
He got a little defensive. You can read more by clicking on to my story.
Last night was interesting. I got Willie alone after the game and tried to press him more on his decision to start Marlon Anderson over Lastings Milledge.
He got a little defensive. You can read more by clicking on to my story.
27 Comments
Good job on that story John. And what BS from Willie, he gets credit, sometimes too much, for his “gut” decisions. Just b/c it worked out doesn’t mean it was a smart move. And that’s the issue for me, times when these dumb decisions work out just embolden him to do something stupid in a big spot…like using a guy on one good leg as a PH in the bottom of the 9th in the NLCS.
If everything was OK between Willie and Lastings why then did he not at least put Lastings in for Defense the last couple innings.
where’s the link? am i crazy?
Willie should be the teams the third base coach and the therapist (keeping the teams happy feeling really is his job, but not the manager.
Even a broken clock has a gut feeling of being right two times per day.
Hunches are for bell-towers, mad-science and paperback detectives… sweet Lord Christ at the peak of God Mountain, this is baseball, it isn’t a completely irrational set-up.
Anderson is a fine journeyman bench player. Green is an… acceptable journeyman bench player who was great six or seven years ago.
The gut is for turning nourishment into excrement, your gut, my gut, anyone’s… and that’s certainly what we’re getting from Willie’s.
Haven’t read the article yet but would not expect Randolph to be anything but defensive; that’s the way he is with his blunders.
FWIW, I have no issue with him starting Anderson on a whim. And I won’t raise too much of a fuss about him sitting Milledge—and not because the move worked out but because there are a number of good reasons why Randolph would feel the need to sit Milledge that don’t really need to be shared with anyone.
But, in general, it would be better to sit Shawn Green and play Milledge in CF when it’s time to play Anderson in the OF.
He’ll go with what he feels when he wakes up today? I hope that is Alou sitting, since Willie can give him the excuse of a day game after night game, then Anderson in left, Milledge in center. If Milledge is gonna get a day off anyway, I can’t see why Willie doesn’t get credit for sitting him last night.
I really don’t have that big of an issue with resting Milledge, but the thing that bothers me is that John said “and for the near future” in the post that mentioned it. That seems kinda strange. Hopefully, the near future just meant that one game. It’s hard to believe, but Anderson was probably the fastest outfielder playing last night, and 2nd best defensively, as evidenced by Green’s flop-trip.
“where’s the link? am i crazy?”
Get to it from the links in the box on the right side (down a ways) labeled “Latest LOHUD Mets News”. Click on the “Anderson makes Randolph look like genius” header and you’ll get the link for the full article.
I wish you would have asked him why Milledge didnt go in for defense in the last three innings. That is a rather questionable omission on Willie’s part.
Also, how did Willie know that Oliver Perez, a known fly ball pitcher, was going to strike out everyone last night? Did his gut tell him that too?
Green is 0-10 vs Capuano for his career.
Alou-Milledge-Anderson
or
Easley-Milledge-Anderson
is your outfield today potentially.
Unless Willie’s gut tells him Green is going to rake Capuano today.
In
Gut
I
Trust
IGIT!
I would have Milledge in center, Anderson in right and Alou in left for today’s game.
If LoDuca is ready to play today, he’ll be behind the plate.
MY gut says that Randolph will have Anderson in CF, Milledge in left and Green in right.
We’ll see soon enough.
Yeah those gut moves is the reason why the bullpen is worn out.. and why feliciano and heilman havent been sharp lately.. I HATE willie randolph he comes from the school of managing from Joe Toree so you know he has no idea what he’s doing out there. LET HOJO MANAGE AND BE THE HITTING COACH
Hey Danny, Is there anybody youthink is a good manger?
Willie always seems a little bit testy with the press.
It’s funny that Willie’s gut never comes up with anything very creative, interesting or worthwhile, like bringing in his closer in a tie game or in the 8th inning in a one-run game instead of in the ninth inning in a three-run game, or making the regular starter a guy who hasn’t been the regular. His “gut” always seems to tell him that rookies and young players can’t get the job done, and that he needs to play boring Proven Veteran Winnersâ„¢ on the downward slopes of their careers. The guy is not a manager; he is a croney beholden to the more influential and experienced players on his team.
I like Willie as a manager…am I alone out there? I feel like, all things, considered, he’s worked the bullpen pretty well this year with what he has . Willie wasn’t the one who made the moves for Green and Alou; Willie didn’t sign Mota and Schoenweis; Willie didn’t make the move for Castillo; Willie didn’t hold back any trades. Milledge has shown some attitude problems over the last year and a half or so-
when he was injured earlier this season, it seemed like everyone was saying we should’ve traded him while he was hot. So what, he benched Milledge for one game and it worked out-give him credit for that. It’s not like he’s decided to start Marlon for the rest of the year, or to send Milledge back down to AAA. Last night wasn’t game 7 of the NLCS; I think what he meant by “one of my guys” was no more than that Anderson is part of the team, and he wanted to see how well he could fare out in center.Blastings: Willie brought Wagner into a 1-run game to get the last out of the 8th inning against the Phillies a while back. Billy struck him out on 4 pitches(4 or 5, I belive), and gave up a homer to the first batter in the 9th. On SNY they were talking about how Billy gets himself so worked up before he comes in to close, that it seemed to throw him off by coming in for the 8th, having to wait through the top of the 9th, then come back in.
Nice that the guys on SNY are ready to make excuses for Wagner. How about he gave up a homer and it happens and its not such a rare and unusual event that we have to make up stupid explanations for why it happened. Wagner should come in when the Mets most need an out to secure a win. If thats the 8th inning then so be it. If he has a problem with that then he is more interested in accruing saves, a fairly silly stat to start with, than he is in helping the Mets win ball games.
Williams –
No, you are not alone. I liked him as a player, coach and now manager. I also realize that he knows a lot more about managing a baseball team than I do, and trust judgement, ‘guts’ or whatever.
We’re still in first place aren’t we??
Wether or not it was intentional or not, it was a good move to thwart the Brewers’ advanced scouting reports on the Mets.
The element of surprise should not be underrated.
Joan…I would say that we’re in first place not because of him but in spite of him. Remember we’re in a division where the Phillies and the Braves have not been able to put together long winning streaks while we’ve played inconsistently. Just a thought.
Taylor: I’m saying that Wagner wouldn’t be as good over 2 innings. There’s no way to defend giving up a home run, but it does give a reason as to why it would be beneficial for the Mets to use a different combination in the 8th-
Feliciano, Heilmen, et. al-to bridge to Wagner. If he could go 2 that would be wonderful, but if he can’t (and it his career doesn’t seem to prove that he can), then how is pushing our closer helping the us win?“Hey Danny, Is there anybody youthink is a good manger?”
Yeah..
Leyland in Detriot..
Twins manager can’t spell his name..
Angels manager can’t spell his name..
i like ned yost
Yes, but here’s the rub. Outs are far more important in the 8th inning with runners on base in a close game then they are in that same game to start the 9th. So if you really want to maximize your teams chance to win the game you bring in your best pitcher to get the most important outs. But Oh no you can’t do that if you would have to remove him to start the 9th because then he wouldn’t accrue that much coveted stupid save. But of course if a pitcher came into a game in the 8th inning with the bases loaded and nobody out and a 1 run lead and then they got out of the inning without allowing a run to score and some other pitcher pitched a scoreless 9th, who really saved the game? Common sense tells you it was the pitcher who got out of the tough jam in the 8th. But since he can’t get a stupid save you can’t use your best pitcher in that spot. Unless of course he can pitch the 9th too. But since its argued (unconvincingly to my mind) that Wagner can’t come in in the 8th and also pitch the 9th we have to use a lesser pitcher in the most important spot in the game. Its just ridiculous.
Ok, well if it’s a situation like that, then I completely agree with you. Point taken.
Yeah, in a perfect world, we’d drop Willie on a desert island with a year’s provisions and back a dump truck full of money into Angel Stadium… and come back with their manager.
‘Course, I’d most just wanna hire Mookie because I’m a sentimentalist.
Outs
That is what Joe Smith used to do before the batters adjusted.
He was great. You bring him in for one or two outs at any time of the game and he snuffed them.
Hope he gets it together soon. We need him. It would solve a lot of our pen problems.
Dave
John,
Read your article on Anderson. nice,
I can respect Willie for trying someone else in CF. Not sure if I would do it, but you are in first and can try things to see how it looks.
Still would have played Lastings tho since he is the hottest player on the team now.
Also, I remember something where Willie said a bunch of nice things about Marlon. How he liked how he prepared and respected his approach to the game.
How you comport yourself goes a long way in your managers assessment of you.
Dave