Benching Pratt is overblown nonsense.

[bm1090]

6 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Okay this is pretty funny. Murphy straight up said the message is for everybody but not everybody has to play the same. That's a really awful soundbite. 

 

Won’t comment on Yelich. But you absolutely do not want your catchers going from squatting to sprinting too often. Perfect way to get injured.

[AdvantageSchneider]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

Good people managers manage to intentions, not outcomes.

I guess Murphy will need to win a 3rd manager of the year award before we can consider him a "good" manager.

[Team Canada]

Well at least the benching didn't put the clubhouse in shambles.

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/cooper-pratt-s-benching-discussed-by-brewers-players-pat-murphy

Pretty much what I expected to hear, and part of why this team continues to be elite.

[thebruce44]

The expectation from team leadership is that a 22 year old SS hustle more on the bases than the 28 year old catcher who plays every day (or needs to be physically removed from the field) and is starting to feel the effects.

How is this a problem?

[Outlander]

It is overblown, especially by the media during the dog days of summer when there is far less to talk about with baseball being the lead. However, Murphy makes it a show because he pinch runs for him, similar to taking out a pitcher mid at bat. Can eliminate the drama and still make a point by subbing for him in between innings. With that said, don't expect much talk about this going forward and largely forgotten until when Murphy does this to the next rookie in 2027.

[homer]

Seems odd to take a great defender out of a game in the mid-innings for disciplinary reasons. Pull him aside, look him in the eye, and talk to him for 30 seconds; you probably get the same result.

[Turning2]

Probably a mild overreaction, but I'm largely indifferent to it. Perhaps Murphy has been seeing little things from multiple players that have been gnawing at him and pulling back on the bunt just was the final straw. Murphy is about my age. We could be siblings. Probably some of you here as well. I can identify with his mindset more than younger coaches. I like that he is more old school in an era that is closing fast for managers and coaches with that generational wisdom.

[Fear The Chorizo]

59 minutes ago, homer said:

Seems odd to take a great defender out of a game in the mid-innings for disciplinary reasons. Pull him aside, look him in the eye, and talk to him for 30 seconds; you probably get the same result.

Ask Andruw Jones about that.  He got pulled off the field mid game after letting a ball drop in front of him in center right after taking a strikeout from the previous AB onto the field with him mentally.

 

When this move happened, 1st thing I thought of was Bobby Cox and Jones - as it was more than all out hustling on that bloop hit for Pratt that game.  

[truesch]

Did it cross anyone's mind that this is a message to the whole team as well?  Maybe the leaders on the team need to start being leaders, and not let Murphy be the bad guy.  Especially now after hearing Turang taking extra BP and Yeli sticking around with him to help him through it.  

At the end of the day, I trust Murphy knows more about the pulse of this team than anyone does.  In Murphy I trust!

[CheezWizHed]

The Brewers have the best record in the league by 2 wins.  The manager that has won two straight MOTY awards makes a slightly controversial move to send a message to his players.  The players respond POSITIVELY to it.  

And the fans whine... this speaks more to the dog days of fandom than the actual state of the clubhouse...

[homer]

1 hour ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Ask Andruw Jones about that.  He got pulled off the field mid game after letting a ball drop in front of him in center right after taking a strikeout from the previous AB onto the field with him mentally.

 

When this move happened, 1st thing I thought of was Bobby Cox and Jones - as it was more than all out hustling on that bloop hit for Pratt that game.  

Yeah and I think talking to him after the inning would have probably sent the same message.

[tmwiese55]

Anyone notice Hamilton not run yesterday in a late AB, I think his last one. Routine grounder to the right side and he didn't try at all.   Message received apparently.

that said, this will all be forgotten in a few days and is nbd in the grand scheme of things

[Thurston Fluff]

The same talking heads who complained yesterday will talk about how smart a move it was a if Pratt makes a couple great plays this week. 

This is what we all wanted. The Brewers to matter enough that people talk about the smallest of "controversies" surrounding the team. It was the same when we didn't get Skubal. It just means people are interested enough in our team to talk about more than the box score.

[torts]

14 hours ago, trwi7 said:

So let's say instead of pulling back on the bunt attempt, he bunts it foul down the line or even worse pops it up and makes an out without advancing the runners.  Is he benched for that?  

No, he probably wouldn't have been

[Fear The Chorizo]

3 hours ago, homer said:

Yeah and I think talking to him after the inning would have probably sent the same message.

I tend to disagree - how do we know Pratt didn't get pulled aside in the dugout tunnel after his botched bunt AB to relay that type of message, only to see that bloop hit the next AB and that just bubbled over and triggered him taking a seat.

 

I don't love the look of it - but I'm not in that dugout either

[CheezWizHed]

5 hours ago, homer said:

Yeah and I think talking to him after the inning would have probably sent the same message.

What if they already spoke to him about this 4 times already?  

I had an engineer that continually let his work take longer than he needed by doing far more detail than required (often using AI to dig into rabbit holes of deep analysis).  I pulled him aside several times, in my office a few times... finally I kicked him off the project.  

People were shocked that I wouldn't let him finish the task he was working on.

Tip of the iceberg. People only see the tip. 

[Playing Catch]

I think that, if Murph had it to do over again, he may do things differently, instead of yanking a rookie after a base hit. But as is suggested with some of the other comments here, I don't think these types of things are done in a vacuum. Murphy is with these guys all of the time. He sees a lot.

The whole thing looked a little unfair to me, sure. But IF Murphy is good at this, and I happen to think he's really good at this, he knows who he could do this to and who he couldn't (or shouldn't, IMO. You don't bench and embarrass Contreras the same way. Dude puts it on the line day after day and is a two-time all-star). And as someone mentioned, this was clearly more of a mentality check than an effort check. If Cooper Pratt is going to be the best option at shortstop in the playoffs as a 22-year old, he's going to need to squeeze every last drop of his focus, aggressiveness, and competitiveness that he's got. Because I guarantee that Andrew Vaughn can't wait to play more third base, and he's a player that doesn't seem to lack for concentration and in-game focus.

Would Pratt have gotten the bunt down? I don't know. Would he have made it to 2nd on the blooper? I don't know. But should he have tried?

[Samurai Bucky]

What is one of the qualities that people have touted about Murphy?  That he knows how to coach young players.  Some of the moves I have seen him make (Frelick, Pratt, Gasser) remind me of what a college coach would do.  I thought that Frelick was unfairly singled out at times.  I think Frelick was one of the first ones to talk to Pratt when he came off the field.  That... is culture.

Putting Pratt in the next day told me it was a learning experience for a young player.  If Murphy would have kept Pratt out of the lineup the next day, then I would have questioned it more.  I truly believe Pratt will be better because of it.

Murphy knows the players much better than we do (unless there is a closet Brewers employee on the board).  He is the captain and so far, he has directed the ship in the right direction.

[Team Canada]

1 hour ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Some of the moves I have seen him make remind me of what a college coach would do. 

...which is exactly what he was for most of his career, and why he was a perfect fit to take the reins of a young team. It's also a credit to him that the veterans have bought in as well.