I've never been impressed with Joe as a manager. Early on, it was the pointless lying. In an effort to TRICK people he would just flat out lie about Phil Hughes' injury or when Alex Rodriguez was coming back. Then he fell in love with Wilson Betemit in a year when Betemit had to be a strong contender for worst player in baseball. We had DEFENSIVE REPLACEMENT WILSON BETEMIT and PINCH RUNNER WILSON BETEMIT.
I thought for a man that was supposedly a player's manager, he allowed (and in some ways created) situations with Posada and A-Rod that got completely out of control.
And holy mother of hell, the obsession with handedness. It was always *bad* with the constant pitching changes, but it all culminated in one of the worst managed seasons I've ever seen in 2012. It started almost literally immediately with the walk in the first inning of the first game. It continued through with a season with two loogys and two roogys and Steve Pearce and stacking the bad righties against Ricky Romero and it was just a disaster. I really, really think he's a terrible baseball manager.
That being said, perhaps because of the circumstances and little room for error this year, he's been much, much better. We don't have roogys. We rarely have the four pitcher inning any more. We're not bringing the lefty in for Sam Fuld, and instead saving him for actual threats. The pitching changes have slowed, and now we're bringing in talent over all other considerations (Except for Joba, but that's not unique to him. After a while, he stopped using the useless Ben Francisco solely because he happened to be right handed. I don't know if he's finally improving or if the pressure is preventing him from managing the way he wants, but this is probably his best year with the team.
[1] He does seem to have gotten better on a lot of those things, which were always just minor annoyances to me. And it looks like he's going to be sticking around.
The Yankees of the last 20 years(and certainly since 2000 or so) really haven't been teams that require *constant* managerial interference. Just sit there, watch the game, and react to what's happening, and it should be okay. Planning an inning before hand with two pitching changes so that you have a "favorable" matchup against Jeff Mathis (Something we did several times, actually. I mean seriously. What's the worst that can happen should JEFF MATHIS face a lefty?)
And like I said, what about Ricky Romero's career suggests "stack anyone that happens to be right handed in the lineup?" Because he kept doing that in the heat of a pennant race. Because Steve Pearce was gonna lead us to the promised land.
I've never been impressed with Joe as a manager. Early on, it was the pointless lying. In an effort to TRICK people he would just flat out lie about Phil Hughes' injury or when Alex Rodriguez was coming back. Then he fell in love with Wilson Betemit in a year when Betemit had to be a strong contender for worst player in baseball. We had DEFENSIVE REPLACEMENT WILSON BETEMIT and PINCH RUNNER WILSON BETEMIT.
I thought for a man that was supposedly a player's manager, he allowed (and in some ways created) situations with Posada and A-Rod that got completely out of control.
And holy mother of hell, the obsession with handedness. It was always *bad* with the constant pitching changes, but it all culminated in one of the worst managed seasons I've ever seen in 2012. It started almost literally immediately with the walk in the first inning of the first game. It continued through with a season with two loogys and two roogys and Steve Pearce and stacking the bad righties against Ricky Romero and it was just a disaster. I really, really think he's a terrible baseball manager.
That being said, perhaps because of the circumstances and little room for error this year, he's been much, much better. We don't have roogys. We rarely have the four pitcher inning any more. We're not bringing the lefty in for Sam Fuld, and instead saving him for actual threats. The pitching changes have slowed, and now we're bringing in talent over all other considerations (Except for Joba, but that's not unique to him. After a while, he stopped using the useless Ben Francisco solely because he happened to be right handed. I don't know if he's finally improving or if the pressure is preventing him from managing the way he wants, but this is probably his best year with the team.
[1] He *does* seem to have a man crush on Vernon Wells, but the Wells disaster is more on Cashman than anyone else.
[1] well shit, it's a wonder they ever won a game
[3] Hilarious.
[1] He does seem to have gotten better on a lot of those things, which were always just minor annoyances to me. And it looks like he's going to be sticking around.
[3] He told Strawberry to hit a home run.
The Yankees of the last 20 years(and certainly since 2000 or so) really haven't been teams that require *constant* managerial interference. Just sit there, watch the game, and react to what's happening, and it should be okay. Planning an inning before hand with two pitching changes so that you have a "favorable" matchup against Jeff Mathis (Something we did several times, actually. I mean seriously. What's the worst that can happen should JEFF MATHIS face a lefty?)
And like I said, what about Ricky Romero's career suggests "stack anyone that happens to be right handed in the lineup?" Because he kept doing that in the heat of a pennant race. Because Steve Pearce was gonna lead us to the promised land.