Ned Yost's midseason grade

[ozzybourne]

i have not been too active the last 6 weeks as the weather has gotten better--but i do look through these posts with some regularity. as we move towards the all star break, and the brewers are competing for a playoff spot with max interest and attendance, i wanted to find out about our opinions about ned yost at the halfway point of this season.

 

i will say now, and have said, i am not a yost supporter, but he has done well so far this season.

 

my opinion is that the team has stabilized after the following has occurred--

 

1-the hall/hart lineup switch was stopped

 

2-the pitcher is hitting 9th

 

3-hardy hits 2nd

 

4-more players are less 'untouchable'. that is hall,weeks,cameron, and hardy all have some sort of competition/platooning.

 

i do believe that players respond to a stable situation that is obvious to those players in the clubhouse.

 

now, what has still not happened is ned yost has not lost his stubborness about certain pitchers. the history of turnbow/gagne/ and now mota is indescribable. the game tonight is another example of an unexcusable managing decision to use/keep mota in the game.

 

overall i give yost a solid B-. but we need at least a B+ manager to get to and win in the playoffs.

 

 

Edit: Prettified title.

[T B0NE 10]

Hmm Id give him a

 

C+

 

I think alot of managers would do better with the talent he has right now

 

I still dont like Weeks hitting leadoff and I disagree often about his handling of pitchers and the bullpen

 

I do give him credit also for moving Hardy back to 2nd and stopping the catcher batting 9th

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I'd give Yost a solid B. He's making a lot of the right moves, but there's plenty of room for improvement.

[rluzinski]

What's a C, an average MLB manager? He makes the same silly mistakes that they all do. C

[Brian the Automator]

C+ ... Better than last year, but hasn't learned to go with the hot hand in the pen yet.

[sheethead]

D+

 

Just short of passing, and just short of failing. Leaving Mota in to blow the game wide open is inexcusable, and I feel he has very limited capacity to learn from his mistakes. I wish we could trade him to the Braves for a couple of low-A players.

[sheethead]

He makes the same silly mistakes that they all do.

 

*3

[thablingster]

I'd give him a C. He has been a bit quicker on the trigger this year with pinch hitting and switching out guys in the bullpen. He does however hang his starting pitcher out to dry far too often when that guy is laboring.

[crossface21]

C-I think he's done a better job this year than in years past, but he still has not learned how to manage a bullpen and his loyalty to players still continues to hurt him. As someone else said, he's an average manager. There are some better managers, and some worse.

[ozzybourne]

my wife wants to know why yost keeps a 2 out pitcher in for 2 outs plus hit-hit-hr-hit-hit before coming out.

 

grade back to a solid average C. again, i think we need a B+ manager to get into and win in the playoffs.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

H

 

As in Horse's Butt. Just for how he handled the Mota question after the game. What a jerk.

[foamboy1]

I'm incapable of responding without being banned, with much of my derision a carryover from last year's "managing the team right out of the playoffs."

 

He's better this year...but not an asset in any way that I can conceive.

[jason21nl]

I'll give him a D. Can't stand the guy and can't wait til he is gone. He does seem somewhat better this year than last year, but he is still awful.

[owbc]

I'll give him a B.

 

In my opinion, the manager has little influence over the outcome of games, so all managers in baseball would either get a B-, a B, or a B+. The clubhouse chemistry is great, he isn't sticking with guys when they aren't performing (unless there is no suitable replacement), the fundamentals have improved, he hasn't left starting pitchers in too long, he has generally managed the bullpen well, and he doesn't panic when we lose a few games in a row.

 

We've used the bullpen quite a bit over the past few days. Mota had to come in eventually. He got the first two outs. If Mota is on the team, he has to play, so if anything, that is Melvin's fault, not Yost.

 

On the negative side, he still gives the same silly answers to reporters.

 

After we make the playoffs this year, Ned will get a 3 year extension, which I will not complain about.

 

None of the flaws on this team are Ned's fault. Let's all take off our Brewers goggles and admit what everyone in the national media is saying: we have a bad bullpen and our offense is streaky. Yost can't do much about it, especially when the bullpen has been overworked (see Suppan and McClung's last starts).

[sheethead]

None of the flaws on this team are Ned's fault.

 

What?!?! My mom doesn't even support me this well.

[lcbj68c]

I give him a B. Third best record in the National League w/ injuries to his #2 starting pitcher and a bunch of nobody's in the bullpen. Solid B grade.

[mkm13]

IMO a manager has a smaller impact on a game than most people think. The goal of a manager should be to put the team in the best position to win every game and have the best record possible at the end of the year. Ned fails to do this many times. I give him a C-. He doesn't hurt us as much as some might think, but he is definetly not helping either.

[Mike Felder]

H

 

As in Horse's Butt. Just for how he handled the Mota question after the game. What a jerk.

Not to derail the thread, but what did Ned say? I mean, I have a pretty good idea based on how he generally handles stuff like this, but I like to be quite precise in my Ned hating.

 

[jason21nl]

Not to derail the thread, but what did Ned say? I mean, I have a pretty good idea based on how he generally handles stuff like this, but I like to be quite precise in my Ned hating.

 

the question was something like....why did you bring mota in when only down 1?..his response. Pause..........Sheets pitched a great game

 

that might not be word for word, but that was basically it

[T B0NE 10]

The big thing a manager does is pick the times when to pull a pitcher and who to put in.

 

I don't think the lineup ever really makes a big difference in the outcome of a game as your hitters are gonna hit the ball or their not. But picking the correct pitcher at the right situation can win you or cost you a game quickly

[1992casey]

He makes the same silly mistakes that they all do.

 

For sure. When you evaluate a manager, you almost have to throw out all those mistakes and work with what's left. Even though I think it's a flawed strategy, I can't blame a manager for assigning certain relief pitchers to certain innings, for instance. Everybody's doing it.

 

What I can do though, is blame a manager for making that bad structure worse than it has to be by picking the wrong guys for these roles.

 

 

IMO a manager has a smaller impact on a game than most people think.

 

Most people who try to objectively quantify a manager's impact will absolutely agree with you. If you cruise the message boards, you'll see lots of exaggerated posts suggesting that a manager has directly caused pretty large numbers of losses.

 

In reality, we're probably dealing with a swing of ± 3 games. That's still a range of 6 games over the course of a season, though. If one can objectively place a manager at either of the extremes, I believe some credit or blame can be assigned.

 

I'm giving Ned a 2008 C- so far. I want a larger sample. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I was ready to jettison him after the Boston series, but smooth sailing since then has pretty much tempered that feeling.

[valpocrewsader]

F. It is possible for a team to win *despite* its manager.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

the question was something like....why did you bring mota in when only down 1?..his response. Pause..........Sheets pitched a great game

 

that might not be word for word, but that was basically it

That was the jist of it. He completely blew off a legitimate question. I thought it was incredibly rude to the reporter who asked it.

 

Either that, or he really had no idea why he used him. Toss up.

 

[dlk9s]

4-more players are less 'untouchable'. that is hall,weeks,cameron, and hardy all have some sort of competition/platooning.

Who is competing/platooning with Hardy?

 

[owbc]

Either that, or he really had no idea why he used him. Toss up.

That's what I think it is. He's been delaying the inevitable since last Thursday while his starters continue to fail to make it past the 6th inning. He can't burn out his "good" relievers. Mota had to pitch and I don't blame Yost for going to him. As for why Mota was in the bullpen in the first place...