How To Run A Baseball Team, Part 1
This week, articles you see will include a four-part series dealing on my thoughts about how to run a professional baseball team. These will include topics such as roster composition, in-game strategy, talent acquisition and so on. So, today’s installment:
The Kids Are Alright
Playoff hopes have been shattered by a team’s obsession with playing bad old players over good young ones. Just in 2007, you could point to the Twins inserting Ramon Ortiz and Sidney Ponson (combined 6.30 ERA in 128.2 IP) in the last two rotation spots while Matt Garza, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey and Glen Perkins were collecting dust in the minors or in the bullpen. The Dodgers played Nomar Garciaparra, whose glory days were clearly past, at first base instead of James Loney, and Juan Pierre whose glory days lasted about a week instead of mega-prospect Matt Kemp. While Brett Tomko pitched like Brett Tomko, Chad Billingsley was wasted as a middle reliever.
Not only will even a decent prospect likely out-perform mediocre ‘sure things’ most of the time, but they’ll be cheaper. The epitome of futility is a team paying millions of dollars, - say, $44m over 5 years - for a bad veteran player to block a good young player. It is always better to let a young player sink or swim in a majors than to throw an old player in to sink.
There is a very simple litmus test. You should generally know what level of performance to expect from a veteran. Ask yourself “If my prospect performed at the level I expect from this veteran, would his season be considered a bust?” The answer is often yes, and if it is, let the kid play.
Walk
This should be very self-explanatory. Walks are good. Taking pitches is good. If you see a lot of pitches in at-bats, you will see more hittable pitches as well. If an entire team sees a lot of pitches in a game, the starter won’t be able to go as deep and you’ll face relievers who aren’t as good as the starter. If you swing early and put the ball in play, your production will be very dependent on the random fluctuations of batting average and BABIP; walks are consistent. So, take a damn pitch.
‘System Players’
Any football fan would know that a good player is only good if he plays in the right system. Shawne Merriman could make the hall of fame as a 3-4 Outside Linebacker, but no 4-3 team would shell out the required contract to sign him. Likewise, Jonathan Ogden WILL be a Hall of Famer, but his 6’9” frame wouldn’t fit into Denver’s zone-blocking scheme which emphasizes (relatively) quick, athletic offensive linemen.
It may not seem like this concept could translate to baseball since everybody’s job is the same, no matter what team you are on; pitch, hit and catch. However, there is a variable that should help determine the type of players to target, and that is your home park. Of course, a team’s home park is designated as a hitter’s park, pitcher’s park or neutral park, usually revolving around its tendency to give up or repress home runs. It is possible to exploit this. If you play in a hitter’s park, clearly you should target pitchers who can keep the ball on the ground, since they will be less effected. Likewise, if you play in a pitcher’s park, you should target pitchers who put the ball in play, preferably in the air, since there is less of a chance of getting hurt by the long ball. This appears to be put into practice by major league teams, as the top three teams in 2007 GB%, Toronto, Texas and Colorado, all play in extreme hitter’s parks.
It doesn’t stop there. If you play in a hitter’s park and have done the prudent thing in acquiring groundball pitchers, you should also stress infield defense, since they will have to field more balls. Outfield defense is less important, so you can target offensive-minded players who can drive the ball. In a pitcher’s park, with a fly-ball staff, an outfield that can cover a lot of ground is a must.
On Wednesday, I will look at coaching selection and in-game strategy.
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