Stone on Bradley

Not a lot of time to post this weekend, but this is a must-read article from the finest sportswriter in the city.

about 2 years ago Jeff Sullivan 22 comments 0 recs |

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Wait a sec.

You mean there’s a chance that this could actually work?

But…..everybody else says Bradley’s going to kill our clubhouse…

by ThundaPC on Dec 20, 2009 4:07 PM PST reply actions

More importantly, however, is nobody gives a crap.

He could be a total whackjob, and we drop him like we would have dropped Silva. I feel like this is the thing that other sites and reactionalists are missing.

...and now I'm here

by CapSea on Dec 20, 2009 4:12 PM PST reply actions

I really hope this works out like it did for Jose Guillen while he was here

by Scrupio on Dec 20, 2009 4:22 PM PST reply actions

I'm just hoping that he's healthy and productive because that's when he seems happiest..

by JLC on Dec 20, 2009 4:27 PM PST reply actions

The big key to this: keep him at DH.

Think of him like Edgar. If you put him in the field, he can probably do a decent enough job but the chances are too high that he’ll get hurt. I know that leaving him at DH and not even, say, trying to use him to spell Saunders in left hurts the team’s flexibility, but that’s why the team has guys like Bill Hall and Jack Hannahan.

by Johnny Slick on Dec 20, 2009 4:38 PM PST up reply actions

Bradley will at least play some LF

But Bradley mostly DH’ed in Texas and he still lost time to injury.

by JLC on Dec 20, 2009 4:48 PM PST up reply actions

It's crazy what you can find out when you have an actual journalist writing an actual story.

by SethGrandpa on Dec 20, 2009 4:43 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

One of my favorite comments on this whole situation comes from a commenter at Fangraphs

Let’s face it. Cub fans know the guy is a problem. Not everyday, of course. When things are going well, all is good with the world. But when things don’t go his way, his behavior is just unacceptable. Do we really need the tantrums? The way he looks like he’s going to clock an ump? Ripping people in his own clubhouse? Ripping up the clubhouse itself? Ripping his own management? Always finding someone else to blame? And maybe most unforgivably of all, the crazed antics on the field–all that’s a disrespect to the game itself.

But you know what? Cub fans love it. Because this guy is Lou Piniella.

All Hail Zduriencik!

by Goose on Dec 20, 2009 5:21 PM PST reply actions 5 recs

Totally.

I have really developed a healthy distaste for Lou these past few years.

by Aaron Campeau on Dec 20, 2009 7:24 PM PST up reply actions

I still like him somewhat, but I really think I would hate him if he was still our manager.

And really, looking back on it, I don’t think he was that good of a manager anyways when he was here.

All Hail Zduriencik!

by Goose on Dec 20, 2009 7:32 PM PST up reply actions

Before Brian Price became pitching coach, the stathead community used to call him Mt. Piniella.

Because of all the pitchers the Mariners would sacrifice to feed his angry mouth. One guy in particular in I think 1998 got called up, pitched in a single game, and then got sent down a couple weeks later without pitching again because Piniella didn’t like his control. His 15 pitches worth of game time was enough for Piniella to make this decision.

Somewhere around the time they promoted Price they basically told Piniella that he could no longer talk to the pitching staff.

by Johnny Slick on Dec 20, 2009 7:38 PM PST up reply actions

Honestly the more I learns about the affect of managers on expected W/L records the more I think Piniella might be one of those that actually cost teams wins.

by Aaron Campeau on Dec 20, 2009 7:41 PM PST up reply actions

From what I remember, he was pretty good at running the offense, and unforgivably bad managing the pitching staff

by Poochie on Dec 20, 2009 9:48 PM PST up reply actions

My dad was at the game where he let Freddy Garcia throw 140+ pitches.

Said it was one of the worst abuses of a pitcher he had ever seen.

by BrianL on Dec 20, 2009 10:25 PM PST up reply actions

Really?

I remember a game where Kevin Kennedy, the Red Sox manager at the time, left Aaron Sele in for something like 180 pitches. You can pretty much map that game as the turning point in Sele’s career. Before it he was a solid #2 or #3 starter. Afterwards, he was injury-prone and mostly useless. I think Ron Villone had a similar game like that.

Randy used to go 140-150 pitches a game all the time under Mt. Piniella. Granted that the Big Unit is a unique specimen and you can’t assume all pitchers have his endurance, but 140 pitches isn’t automatically going to destroy an arm.

Not that I disagree with the overall point: Piniella was hell on Mariners pitching and a big part of why the team had so little sustained success during the mid to late 90s.

by Johnny Slick on Dec 20, 2009 10:52 PM PST up reply actions

Seeing that I was ten at the time and didn't start following baseball until 2000/2001 I can't exactly verify his claims.

by BrianL on Dec 20, 2009 10:58 PM PST up reply actions

He was good the first time around with the Mariners

by Poochie on Dec 21, 2009 11:55 AM PST up reply actions

Personally I think he just had so much talent on offense for most of his tenure here that it was hard for him to screw it up

by OlSalty on Dec 20, 2009 11:08 PM PST up reply actions

And yet he managed to.

I think we’ll always remember Piniella as the guy who brought winning baseball into Seattle (technically that was Jim Lefebvre but still) but just 3 playoff appearances during a time when the M’s had 4 bona fide HOFers (at least until 1998) strikes me as “screwing it up” somewhat.

by Johnny Slick on Dec 20, 2009 11:31 PM PST up reply actions