Manky's Playpen

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

It may be that Long worked better under the management of Joe Torre, who was a great hitter in his playing days. Girardi was more of a defense & leadership guy in his playing career, which is fine but he needs a strong hitting coach to compensate.

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

Nice try at mockery. Such a thin line between funny and lame.

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

If Jeter is such a great player, why does he need a hitting coach? Shouldn't he be writing the book on everything baseball related? WELL?

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

You'd know lame, wouldn't you?

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

Only the incomparable manky would demand we defend kevin long. i'm among those who don't believe 'hitting coaches' or 'pitching coaches' have much of an impact overall on a team's production; by the time they're established big leaguers, players are pretty much what they are. some players are still open to coaching and are willing to tinker, others keep their ears plugged.

no batting coach will ever help everyone on his team. players have to take most of the responsibility. those who are open to coaching and desire to improve can be helped. often, they can't, no matter how open to it they are.

someone at jeter's age/experience is not going to be either markedly helped or hurt by his hitting coach. they're their own best coach. younger, less established players are the ones to best judge a coach by. they've yet to maximize their potential, still searching, still growing as players.

for example, i don't judging the yanks pitching coach by how a.j. burnett, that veteran headcase, is doing. but i darn well will give him plusses or minuses for the development of ivan nova and phil hughes. so, nova has been a revelation and looks like the legit prospect hughes was supposed to be. but hughes is a mess. so is the pitching coach brilliant or a dunce? neither. ultimately, the player is responsible for himself.

why does it seem to me that kevin long is a good hitting coach? well, the players seem to respect and trust him. but no coach turns chicken spit into chicken salad unless the talent is there to be tapped and the player is eager to fulfill it.

forget what jeter or a-rod or tex is doing. hitting coaches are not for them. in my eyes, long is excellent based primarily on the two young hitters who are arguably the yanks two best hitters now -- robinson cano and most strikingly curtis granderson. i mean, granderson was an automatic out vs. lefties when he came to the yanks, a guy with power but at a complete loss vs. southpaws. what granderson has done since last august is nothing short of remarkable. and anyone who doesn't want to give long plenty of credit for it must have a bug up his butt about kevin long.

granderson has hit the second-most homers in mlb since last august, and last time i checked, he'd hit more homers off lefties than ANYONE in mlb. the transformation has been nothing short of remarkable.

bravo to granderson, who seems like one of the most likeable players in mlb. the majority of the credit goes to him for being such a willing, driven pupil. but long deserves mad props, too.

based upon his work with granderson alone i will have an infinite amount of respect for long's abilities as a 'hitting coach.'

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

Pot, kettle; kettle, pot, etc.

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

At this point I think I need to take a break from the board or at least excuse myself from commenting on Jeter. It seems to be a raw subject for many here.

So, just a few points I want to make now:

* The defensive stats that malign Jeter are unreliable. Think about it, these flavor of the month 'metrics' that have sprung up in the last few years have only measured a few years of the game. What I'm saying is a stat that tries to measure defense across all positions, ballparks, over 100 years of history tells you nothing. Bill James himself has said that defensive contributions can't be just neatly reduced to a number. Jeter's winning 5 Gold Gloves tells me more about what kind of player he is than one of the 'alphabet soup' stats.

* I believe the Yankees will go all the way this year, making Jeter the only player in the last half century to win 6 rings. Jeter will go down in history as the key player on nearly 1/4 of the Yankees championship teams. Think about that a minute.

* He now has 3215 hits, counting postseason as you should. Subtract that from 4342 (Rose's total) and you get 1127. Since 2005 Jeter has almost 1300 hits, meaning we could be only 5 years away from history. Start the countdown.

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

We all know Jetes would've been shrewd enough to invoke the rule that spawned the infamous Pine Tar Game.

My question: Would Jetes have been shrewd enough to not have the decision overturned, as it ultimately was.

My answer: it's a trick question. We all know Jetes would've been able to run to right field from his spot at shortstop, scale the wall in one bound, and then balance himself enough to make the leap to rob Brett's home run, thus making the whole exercise moot.

Your thoughts? (And don't cop out by stealing my theory)

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

OK, just had to comment on this before I bow out. No one can deny that he has been a valuable cog in the Yankee machine, but I'm waiting to see which Granderson shows up on the big stage in the World Series. He was abysmal in 2006 against the Cardinals (who might have been the weakest champion in modern history). I have concerns about him going up against the Phillies.

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

See ya, Manky. Have fun fluffing Jetes!

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

Say hi to Kermit from the soccer threads as you leave ...

 

Re: Running Derek Jeter Thread Vol. 1: COUNT THE RINGS

wowza. so you're really 'the boss' (steinbrenner, not springsteen) reincarnated? if the yanks/granderson get to the world series and are shut down by the phils it will be proof that both granderson and long are frauds? what utter insanity....