Thursday, June 15

Happy Birthday!?!??!??!!!?!?!! [A gift of sarcasm]

Woooooooooooooooooooo Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!


t1_baker


Maybe we can celebrate with a win tonight!!!!!!!


hot dog birthday


Who needs world peace when you manage one of the worst teams in baseball!!!!!!!


dustybakerCC04


Congratulations! Dusty Baker, 57 years old!!!!!!!! Looking good, dude!!!!!


[Also, may you not get a gift-wrapped contract extension just because it's your birthday.]

6 Comments:

At 11:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you blame Dusty for how poorly this team has played you're just being unreasonable. The only things I can see blaming Dusty for here are:

1. Neifi Perez getting way too much playing time.

2. (MAYBE) Juan Pierre getting way too much playing time.

And as for number two, a lot of other managers would leave him in too.

 
At 2:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. You can blame Baker for the fact that Pierre has no arm? No. You can blame Baker for the fact that Murton is still learning the outfield? No. As for Jacque Jones, I'm not sure you can blame Baker for the fact that sometimes Jones throws the ball directly into the ground. Bunting has been poor sometimes, so that I will say could be Baker's fault.

2. Losing D-Lee didn't mean losing just leadership. We lost our only legitimate #3 hitter, one of only two real power guys, and one of only two real OBP guys. The best hitters we have in our lineup are Barrett, Walker, Ramirez, and they are all complimentary type guys. Then you've got Murton and Cedeno, who would be doing much better with someone in the lineup to take the pitcher's attention off of them. Then you've got Jones and Pierre, who are what they are. Jones is going to be hot and cold, because he swing all the time. Pierre is doing absolutely terrible, but with his career numbers nobody is willing to take him out of the lineup or trade him or make any changes. I do blame Dusty for the fact that no one on this team seems to bunt very well except for Cedeno and Womack.

#3. I think we are all agreed on Neifi at least. He's playing way too much, and Womack is just as good a defensive 2B if not better. Also, why isn't Nevin in the lineup today? We really need that power. But other than these issues, I can hardly blame Baker for the decisions he's made. I even understand the Juan Pierre choices, though I don't like them.

#4. Firing the manager won't do anything. You might as well fire the broadcasters (ala Steve Stone) if you want to make symbolic personnel changes.

 
At 3:06 PM, Blogger Jim Hendry said...

Lazlo --

I know we've had this discussion/argument a million times before, so I'll keep it brief.

While I don't blame him entirely for the way the team has played, if there's one person who could help and have an impact in turning it around, it has to be the fucking manager. He is the guy who has the first and last word at gametime, the man with the empty lineup card and the black marker, the man with the hotline to the bullpen.

He can have more of an impact that almost everyone else.

 
At 3:20 PM, Blogger Jim Hendry said...

Seriously though, I wouldn't call firing the manager a "symbolic personnel change", unless by "symbolic" you mean "meaningful".

I don't think there's a more significant firing you could make than manager aka guy who oversees and controls the everyday pace of the ballclub, unless you took out the owner and GM.

 
At 5:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think we've all said what we want to say about what can or cannot be attributed to the manager, and I have growing problems with some of Dusty's decisions, but still don't think getting a new manager will turn things around. I still feel that change is largely symbolic ("fire the manager because you can't fire the team"). Here's a serious question: What available managers (or potential managers) could do a better job with this team than Dusty Baker? The only potential manager I can think of that I wouldn't mind having is Brenly. Maybe Steve Stone, but we all know that won't happen, and I'm not even sure he's interested in managing.

As far as my growing problems, MLB.com has an article now saying that Bynum may be playing himself into a platoon in left with Murton. Pause to laugh, then let that sink in. Oh, and how did we get Pierre and Bynum to third with less than two outs twice, and not bring him in, despite grounding out to the right side in both cases?

 
At 5:19 PM, Blogger Jim Hendry said...

I see what yr saying, but the fact remains: it isn't a symbolic firing, at least the way I see it.

As for replacements, I'm not sure who's out there or who might ever possibly be interested, but I know that with the current Cubs administration something has to change.

Surely that Murton/Bynum platoon story plays into my argument about Dusty's impact on the Cubs decision-making [and therefore his ability to change things around and make us a better team], because who do you think is thinking hardest about using Murton and Bynum in that system?

 

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