Fire Greg Walker

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

statistically we are nearly equal of the royals when both hitting and pitching are considered and they are something like 3-11 i think

[witesoxfan]

Not justifying the weatehr because it is BS to do so but I think it is easier to get up for the playoffs then a game on April 17th. The amazing thing was there is a decent crowd out there 3 years ago you could hear yourself think out there on days like these.

 

It should be standard procedure to be able to get a base hit, 20 degrees or 120 degrees.

[WilliamTell]

its hard to believe the sox are even 5-7 at this point. ranked last in MLB in runs scored and 17th in MLB in ERA. so on the positive side things can only get better from here. right?

 

There's only 1 direction to go up in runs scored and after those first 2 games against Cleveland, being 17th in ERA isn't too bad.

[Wanne]

I originally thought of all this not to blame Walker because these guys have all hit in the past and I can't understand what's changed in them. The stories of him "changing" people to these home run swings, though, horrify me. And where's the damn bunting?

 

So I will join the consensus in calling for his head; although I like the idea of just moving him somewhere else in the organization.

 

It's about adjustments...or lack thereof. I honestly can only remember one...maybe 2 hits this year to the opposite field. EVERY right handed hitter is being pitched low and away. Why is this that goddamn hard to figure out for them?!?

[beautox]

Put it this way -- never have straight fastball down the middle in hitters counts looked so devastating.

 

The team wide struggles have to make you believe that whatever Walker is instructing these hitters to do, it's easily being exploited by opposing pitchers.

 

We're recoginizing their flaws as fastballs and offspeed pitches located on the outside corner. I'm afraid, judging from their offensive output (ranked amongs the worst in the league) other teams have caught on.

 

It could be a LOOONNNGG year ahead of us. What's overlooked in this loss is how Garland failed to exceed 89 mph on his fastball (WCIU didn't even have a radar gun), and Pierzynski's plate calling was horrendous.

 

yeah, i hate the way AJ sets its like last second but thats just a personal thing, he also had s***ty pitch selection. 0-2 count on sosa wow.

[Steve9347]

yeah, i hate the way AJ sets its like last second but thats just a personal thing, he also had s***ty pitch selection. 0-2 count on sosa wow.

 

This entire season our pitchers have been lacing 0-2 fastballs down the heart of the plate, which I don't understand.

[caulfield12]

Speaking of the Twins...I recently saw the OPS ranks of the piranhas (2B,3B,LF,SS):

Twins Positional OPS ranks among AL teams:

OPS RANK

C .708 5th

1B .982 1st

2B .525 13th

SS .509 12th

3B .461 14th

LF .384 13th

CF .872 4th

RF .911 5th

DH .752 6th

 

Which I think goes to show that I wouldn't want Ozzie Guillen picking out who gets to play on my team (if I owned a team).

 

I'm sort of biased towards liking Walker because he played for the Sox when I first started paying attention to baseball (which may have been one of the great mistakes of my life). But I'm all for moving him to some other organizational job if the Sox have a decent replacement in mind (someone that's a disciple of the Texas hitting coach?).

 

I don't think that alone will fix the Sox. The offense has been bad for several months now going back to the second half of last season. It's possible Crede's year of excellence was a fluke (or he's hurt), and AJ, Iguchi, and Dye are all of an age where diminishing skills are a possibility. Still, it's hard to sit any of those guys given their track records. The place the Sox can upgrade is the outfield where they decided to play 2 sub .700 OPS outfielders (Pods start nothwithstanding). If Williams wants to try to salvage the season, he needs to fill those spots with players that aren't complete ciphers at the plate (and I don't mean Brian Anderson). Otherwise, I think he should just get ready for a big firesale in month or so.

 

OTOH, Jaramillo has been under a lot of fire for the regression of hitters like Blalock, the loss of power for Texeira, Mench, Lance Nix, Brad Wilkerson, Phil Nevin...etc. Texiera was their leading HR hitter, and he didn't even get 20 in a ballpark made for power.

 

Sure, Young's great, Kinsler is like Brian Roberts/Brady Anderson of this year (hopefully Shelton), he took some credit for GM Jr. last season

[hitlesswonder]

OTOH, Jaramillo has been under a lot of fire for the regression of hitters like Blalock, the loss of power for Texeira, Mench, Lance Nix, Brad Wilkerson, Phil Nevin...etc. Texiera was their leading HR hitter, and he didn't even get 20 in a ballpark made for power.

 

Sure, Young's great, Kinsler is like Brian Roberts/Brady Anderson of this year (hopefully Shelton), he took some credit for GM Jr. last season

 

Well, no hitting coach is perfect. Everyone has some failures, but it's hard to pin the faielure of some of the players you list on the hitting coach. Nevin was pretty much at the end of his career, no knows if Nix will ever hit big league pitching, and fair or not Blalock has had his work ethic questioned. Moreover, questioning someone's loss of power these days is sort of a loaded issue. I'm sure Jaramillo isn't the world's greatest hitting coach, but if Texas were to drop him I'd hope the Sox would hire him in a heartbeat.

[caulfield12]

<!--quoteo(post=1397626:date=Apr 18, 2007 -> 02:26 PM:name=caulfield12)-->

<!--quotec-->OTOH, Jaramillo has been under a lot of fire for the regression of hitters like Blalock, the loss of power for Texeira, Mench, Lance Nix, Brad Wilkerson, Phil Nevin...etc. Texiera was their leading HR hitter, and he didn't even get 20 in a ballpark made for power.

 

Sure, Young's great, Kinsler is like Brian Roberts/Brady Anderson of this year (hopefully Shelton), he took some credit for GM Jr. last season

 

Well, no hitting coach is perfect. Everyone has some failures, but it's hard to pin the faielure of some of the players you list on the hitting coach. Nevin was pretty much at the end of his career, no knows if Nix will ever hit big league pitching, and fair or not Blalock has had his work ethic questioned. Moreover, questioning someone's loss of power these days is sort of a loaded issue. I'm sure Jaramillo isn't the world's greatest hitting coach, but if Texas were to drop him I'd hope the Sox would hire him in a heartbeat.

 

Thought Dick Allen would enjoy this thread...from back in 2007.

 

 

 

By Lee Judge, kcstar.com (Judging the Royals)

 

The other thing that worked in my favor is the Royals had two days set aside for hitters to come in and take their swings and George Brett—a lock for the Hall of Fame and nearing the end of his career—wanted three. He needed me to get in that extra work. That may be the first thing the Royals hitters can learn from George Brett: the really good guys work harder than anyone else. It’s just as true today as it was in George’s day. Who’s the hardest worker on the 2013 Royals? Who’s having the best season? The answer to both those questions is Alex Gordon.

 

The really good guys work harder than anybody else.

 

When George Brett was playing he used a weight-shift hitting style. He started with most of his weight on his back foot and shifted his weight forward as he swung. All swings contain weight-shift (movement from back to front) and rotation (circular motion). Emphasizing weight-shift keeps the hitter on the ball longer (he doesn’t pull off as he rotates) and emphasizes hitting the ball back up the middle. Rotation hitting gets the bat head in the zone more quickly, but also gets the bat head out of the zone more quickly. Bottom line: weight-shift tends to help average, rotation hitting tends to help power because the hitter is more likely to pull the ball. Back then, weight-shift hitting instructors like Charlie Lau were criticized for turning guys who might show some power into a bunch of singles-hitters. So it’ll be interesting to see what hitting philosophy George will promote and how it fits into the current debate about home runs.

 

I’ve got no clue what George Brett will be teaching—and, frankly—I’m not sure it matters.

 

What’s happening below the neck may be less important than what goes on above the neck. Whatever mechanics a hitters uses, George Brett can teach him to go about the game in the right way: how to prepare, how to get your pitch and what to do when you get it. Back when he was still playing I asked George why he was good in the clutch and he said a lot of hitters couldn’t forget that there were two outs, the tying run was in scoring position and it was the World Series—but when he was going good, George could forget. He could forget who was on the mound, what the larger situation might be and just focus on the ball. He said that all he knew was he was getting a pitch in his zone—and he had a pretty good idea of what to do next.

 

If the young players on this team pay attention, they can learn a lot. If they decide to continue flashing hand gestures after every hit and see the Hall of Famer in the dugout frowning, they need to cool it. If they come in late and haven’t down their prep-work and George says something about it, they need to listen. I doubt George Brett wants to be a hitting instructor for long (I could be wrong, nobody’s said anything), but if that’s the case—if he’s just stepping into help the Royals out of a jam—every guy on the team needs to take advantage of this opportunity.

 

It’s freaking George Brett.

 

If nothing else, this is a brilliant PR move: instead of talking about Ned Yost’s job security, lots of us will be focusing on Brett and how the hitters respond—for about two weeks. After that, if the Royals aren’t winning, we’ll be right back to where we started: what will it take to turn this team around?

 

If George Brett—my personal hitting instructor—can’t get it done, look for more changes.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/30/42646...l#storylink=cpy

[caulfield12]

Have been reading through the articles and the thought crossed my mind this is VERY similar to the White Sox naming Robin Ventura as manager...someone who's turned down full-time work in baseball over and over again, someone who certainly didn't need the money, wanted at various times to spend more time with his family, a player who's most identified with the franchise (obviously Brett is Mr. Royal) and well-respected/admired.

 

It also made me think that maybe Ventura isn't in it for the long-haul, just like Brett, who wanted to put a one month and six week time-frame on the decision to accept the post on an "interim" basis...but, most of all, it's kind of instructive to look back at Walker and now Manto and see a different interpretation of what Brett is being asked to do as hitting coach.

 

 

 

The interim tag was Brett’s preference.

 

“I think I can help these guys,” he said. “Hopefully, I can. I don’t know if I can. When Dayton asked me to do this, I said, ‘Dayton, I’ll do it on an interim basis.’

 

“These guys might not come to me. I might not be able to connect with them, and I’d hate for Dayton Moore to have to fire me from the Kansas City Royals.”

 

Brett said he plans to meet again with Moore in a month to assess the situation.

 

“Hopefully, I’ll be here for a while,” he said. “I’m planning on staying at least a month. Hopefully, more. We’re one good week from turning this thing around. We’re two good games from turning it around.”

 

Officially, Brett will replace Maloof as the hitting coach, while Grifol gets David’s former title as a special assignment coach. The main distinction is only Brett is permitted to be in uniform during games.

 

“I spoke to the players already,” Brett said. “I tried to invoke the passion I have for the organization. I’m scared to death right now to be honest with you, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

 

“I just want to come and share my life with them. How I got through things like this. How I became a more consistent player. How I became a leader of a ballclub and play with the passion I played with.

 

“They’ve just got to have someone they can trust,” he said. “I trusted (former hitting coach) Charley Lau with my heart and soul and, hopefully, these guys will trust me. I’m basically going to be Charley Lau’s ghost.

 

“There’s going to be a lot of one-on-one conversations on airplanes just like (Lau) had with me in 1974.”

 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/30/42640...l#storylink=cpy

Edited May 31, 2013 by caulfield12

[Buehrle>Wood]

If we want to somehow make our offense worse, we can make Greg Walker our hitting coach.

[Rowand44]

I'm certainly not opposed to firing Walker, cause like Kalapse said, I think at first it'll give the offense a bit of a jump start. That being said, Walk or no Walk in a few years, I bet this club is having the same problems offensively.

Look at me go.

[Rowand44]

Fire Darin Erstad

This just needs to be said again.

[Y2Jimmy0]

George Brett said yesterday that "Home runs can kill rallies". That's one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Why don't the Royals just get it over with and fire their lunatic of a manager.

[Balta1701]

George Brett said yesterday that "Home runs can kill rallies". That's one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Why don't the Royals just get it over with and fire their lunatic of a manager.

Because they're about to have to replace their GM as well and the new GM might as well get a chance to hire a new manager.

[kitekrazy]

George Brett said yesterday that "Home runs can kill rallies". That's one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Why don't the Royals just get it over with and fire their lunatic of a manager.

 

Sox fans often take that philosophy. With the current ballpark, I believe most of the players believe that philosophy.

 

[Dick Allen]

Clearly, the reason most of us aren't sitting on $100 million or so right now is because we failed to get the proper coaching growing up.

 

 

[elrockinMT]

Clearly, the reason most of us aren't sitting on $100 million or so right now is because we failed to get the proper coaching growing up.

 

 

Can we find an attorney and sue? Maybe a class action suit even

[Dick Allen]

This thread was started in 2007. Here's the Sox opening day line up that season.

 

 

1. Pablo Ozuna LF

2. Darin Erstad CF

3. Jim Thome DH

4. Paul Konerko 1B

5. Jermaine Dye RF

6. Joe Crede 3B

7. Tadahito Iguchi 2B

8. A.J. Pierzynski C

9. Juan Uribe SS

 

[caulfield12]

freep.com/sports Theories on extra hitting/BP/drills/cage work...from Jim Leyland

 

 

BALTIMORE — The Tigers elected not to take on-field batting practice before Friday’s game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The players hit in the batting cage instead.

 

The team got in at 2 a.m., a little later than usual after a 1-0 11-inning loss at Pittsburgh.

 

“You use a little common sense as a manager,” Jim Leyland said.

 

“I don’t discourage it or encourage it because I have my own beliefs,” he said of batting practice. “My beliefs don’t coincide with a lot of people’s beliefs, to be honest with you.”

 

Leyland said he thinks everyday players “hit way too much” before games.

 

“I think they take too much batting practice, too much soft toss, too much cage, too much live BP,” Leyland said. “But that’s just my opinion. I’m not saying I’m right.”

 

Leyland said it has become more of a habit for players.

 

Leyland said a struggling player might put in more time in batting practice because he doesn’t want anyone to think he’s not working hard.

 

“Everyone thinks it’s the cure-all to hit extra every time you don’t hit,” Leyland said. “I don’t buy that.”

 

Hitting coach Lloyd McClendon said it comes down to personal preference.

 

“I know with Torii Hunter, there are times when he may take 40 swings and other times he might take six or seven,” McClendon said.

 

McClendon said there are times when he has kicked guys out of the cage and other times when he went to get others to hit more.

 

McClendon said players have more resources in general, including video and facilities.

 

“Obviously when I played, we did not utilize the cage as much as players today,” McClendon said. “On the other hand, we did not have facilities that the players today have.”

 

McClendon played eight seasons (1987-94) with the Reds, Cubs and Pirates.

 

“My days when I played for the Cubs, my two years there I don’t think I was in the cage twice,” McClendon said. “In Pittsburgh, we had to go past he weight room and underneath a little tunnel to get to a place where we hit. Then they put a cage in there for us. Certainly not the facilities the guys have now.”