Ned Yost and his current managerial performance in Kansas City

[brewmann04]

Have to give the man some credit keeping the royals in the race.

[trwi7]

[Invader3K]

The Royals have improved this year. They're currently 3.5 back in the Wild Card, and with 82 wins, have clinched a winning season (their first since 2003). I think Yost's job is probably safe for 2014, but they'll be expecting bigger improvement next year.

[JohnBriggs12]

Have to give the man some credit keeping the royals in the race.

 

Just about everyone is in that race. Royals benefited by having 2 of the worst teams in baseball in their division. Royals won't ever win anything until they make a change.

[fondybrewfan]

Well now is about the time Yost should be fired to assure a playoff spot right? How many games were left when he got canned here?

[Invader3K]

Well now is about the time Yost should be fired to assure a playoff spot right? How many games were left when he got canned here?

 

13 games were left, as I recall.

[MadScientist]

One of the interesting things Ned said near the start of his term with the Brewers was that the important thing was how the team would handle success. Ned and his teams were ok handling adversity, but did not respond well to having success.

[RockCoCougars]

Yost could not handle a bullpen to save his life, but other than that, I really think that he gets an unfair shake with a lot of Brewer fans. Personally, I think he did a great job bridging the dark days of Dean Taylor and Jerry Royster back to playoff contention.

[owbc]

Attendance is absolutely abysmal in Kansas City. Cleveland as well. The Royals averaged 21,600 per game. The Brewers only had 3 games with attendance below that all year. Pirates fans finally started showing up next year, so hopefully KC gets a sales boost this offseason and can spend some more money. Someone should be able to take down the Tigers next year, they aren't getting any younger.

 

The Royals' roster still looks unimpressive, but they somehow have the 5th best ERA in baseball. Yost or his pitching coach must be doing something right.

[DHonks]

I always liked Yost in Milwaukee. His management of the roster (playing backups regularly), bullpen, and rotation were brilliant. I always liked his philosophies on pitching (with Maddux) where:

1) if you get a reliever up in the game, try to get him into the game

2) Give your starter the benefit of the doubt and let him try to go an extra inning (as long as pitch counts are fine)

 

It seemed that 90% of the complaints regarding his bullpen management were later found to be bunk in the post-game pressers when we found out that pitchers were unavailable. I'm glad to see Ned having success in KC. SI once created a stat that found that Ned produced more wins for the team than nearly every manager in the majors. I remember questioning the stat, but it surrounded Ned with the best managers in the game. I always loved his enthusiasm and passion

[homer]

Ned would pitch the 7th inning guy in the 7th, the 8th inning guy in the 8th, and the 9th inning guy in the 9th regardless of matchup or situation.

[logan82]

Ned would pitch the 7th inning guy in the 7th, the 8th inning guy in the 8th, and the 9th inning guy in the 9th regardless of matchup or situation.

That's dumb but how is that different from Ronald.

[Invader3K]

I think Yost's biggest flaw is that he often manages based on what he'd like to happen, rather than what should be expected to be the most likely outcome. He really believes in his players, which is admirable to a point, but it sometimes costs his team.

 

This is particularly glaring with pitchers, where a guy is clearly gassed, but Yost always tended to leave them in for one batter too many, hoping the guy would be able to perform an escape artist trick.

[TooLiveBrew]

I always liked Yost in Milwaukee. His management of the roster (playing backups regularly), bullpen, and rotation were brilliant.

http://i.imgur.com/F6jIGT3.gif

[TURBO]

I always liked Yost in Milwaukee. His management of the roster (playing backups regularly), bullpen, and rotation were brilliant. I always liked his philosophies on pitching (with Maddux) where:

1) if you get a reliever up in the game, try to get him into the game

2) Give your starter the benefit of the doubt and let him try to go an extra inning (as long as pitch counts are fine)

 

It seemed that 90% of the complaints regarding his bullpen management were later found to be bunk in the post-game pressers when we found out that pitchers were unavailable. I'm glad to see Ned having success in KC. SI once created a stat that found that Ned produced more wins for the team than nearly every manager in the majors. I remember questioning the stat, but it surrounded Ned with the best managers in the game. I always loved his enthusiasm and passion

 

hmmmm

 

I can't figure out if this is some sort of reverse belief post... Was this meant to be humorous, or is this what you truly believe?

 

Not ripping your thoughts in any way, just want to get the "joke" if that was your intention.

 

Carry on.

[sveumrules]

Yost's really killing KC with his bullpen management this year, oh wait, they're tops in MLB in fWAR, 2nd in K/9, 2nd in ERA...

 

Maybe the problem with the bullpen in Milwaukee was terrible talent mixed with a guy who managed it exactly the same as probably 26 or 27 of the other 29 MLB managers would have managed it.

 

While Yost's in game strategy was clearly lacking, he went by the same book that every other manager does so trying to attribute said faults to him exclusively doesn't compute for me. He had the player's backs and I absolutely loved his contempt-for-the-media-filled interviews, personally.

[trwi7]

Shouse vs Burrell >>> Shouse vs Howard

 

Sure he didn't have great bullpens to work with but Yost was an idiot with the bullpen.

[WV Brew]

Absolutely shocked that he didn't bring Wes Helms out of retirement for this season.

[jerichoholicninja]

Absolutely shocked that he didn't bring Wes Helms out of retirement for this season.

 

Or Jason Kendal.

[logan82]

He gave Yuni about 160 PA less last year than our current manager has. That may have more to do with the GM though.

[CheezWizHed]

Well, its their year to have Yuni back, so we can see how Yost uses him next year.

[sveumrules]

Shouse vs Burrell >>> Shouse vs Howard

 

Sure he didn't have great bullpens to work with but Yost was an idiot with the bullpen.

 

Pointing out the biggest mistake a manager made in bullpen management is the definition of small sample size.

 

The 2008 Yost managed bullpen was good for -0.7 fWAR, mainly because of Gagne & Riske combining for a -1.7 WAR. As high priced free agent acquisitions, Yost kind of had his hands tied in how they were going to be used.

 

The 2009 Macha managed bullpen was good for 1.3 fWAR, primarily becuase Gagne was replaced with Hoffman in the offseason and Mark DiFelice came out of nowhere.

 

Granted there were other moving pieces in the bullpen between the two seasons but ultimately what makes a bullpen good or bad more than any other factor is the talent of the pitchers sitting in it, not the manager deciding when to use them.

[trwi7]

That's more than just a big mistake. That is just monumental stupidity of the manager. Yes it's a small sample but it's that bad that it really tells you all you need to know about how Yost handles a bullpen.

[Baldkin]

He had Brian Shouse for 3 seasons, who was the definition of a lefty specialist. The guy should ONLY face LHBs, maybe a righty if it goes Lefty, Righty, Lefty.

 

From 2006-2008, Shouse PAs against were 83, 108, 108 RHBs. He faced 91, 93, 104 vs LHBs. He faced MORE righties than lefties.

 

For comparison, Trever Miller, the Cardinals LH Specialist in 09/10 faced nearly 50% more LHBs than RHBs.

[sveumrules]

In a perfect world, I agree Shouse should rarely face righties. However the bullpens he was a member of between 2006-08 did not exist in a perfect world. In 2007 he was probably the 2nd best reliever we had after Cordero, in 2008 he was 3rd after Villy and Torres.

 

The number of right handed batters he faced over that time speaks more to the lack of relief talent assembled by the GM than it does to bullpen mismanagement by the manager, IMO.