Sunday Notes: Winter Meetings Manager Potpourri

MLB managers not named Tony La Russa did Zoom calls with members of the media this past week. Today’s column features highlights from several of those sessions.

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Two of the topics Dusty Baker addressed on Monday were job-related. One was the position he currently holds with the Houston Astros, the other was a role that’s never appealed to him. The latter is anathema to baseball’s Most Interesting Man in the World because it wouldn’t allow him to kick back and ruminate on life.

“One reason I never wanted to be a general manager is because you don’t really have an offseason,” Baker told a cohort of reporters. “He works all year, and doesn’t have much time off, but for the general manager, and front office people, this is the most busy time of the year.”

Baker is 71 years old with 23 managerial seasons under his belt. How much longer he’ll sit in that chair is a question he can’t answer, but he’s been around long enough to know that life can come at you from different directions. Much for that reason, he’s simply going with the flow.

“Depends on how I feel [and it] depends on how the team feels about me,” said Baker, who was hired by Houston prior to last season. “Changes are going to come about in life. I tend to think in terms of Walter Alston and Tom Lasorda. Those guys signed a series of 20 one-year contracts. I’m not lame anymore. You know what I mean? A lame duck can’t fly. But my wings aren’t clipped no more. I can always fly.”

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Lance Lynn didn’t deliver many off-speed pitches last year with the Texas Rangers. The 33-year-old righty threw 49% four-seamers, 18.5% two-seamers, and 21.8% cutters, all of which averaged north of 90 mph. Only a fraction of what left Lynn’s hand were of the softer variety.

In Chris Woodward’s opinion, staying hard has its advantages, especially when it comes in varying fashion.

“He’s got three different fastballs,” explained the Rangers manager. “He goes cutter, sinker, four-seamer. It’s probably the best new-age version of a pitcher. You can adjust to a breaking ball, you can adjust to a changeup, because it’s slower and has different spin. But when a ball is coming at you at 95-plus, you have the least amount of time possible to make a decision. The ball is going this way, that way, or that way [so] it’s really, really difficult if that guy can execute those pitches. I think he did that better than anybody I’ve ever seen.”

Lynn logged a 3.32 ERA while leading the American League in starts and innings pitched. He was traded from Texas to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Dane Dunning and Avery Weems earlier this month.

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Offa Neal went 0 for 6 against Orval Overall.

Johnny Gill went 1 for 4 against Art “Red” Herring.

George Bone went 2 for 4 against Snake Wiltse.

Creepy Crespi went 3 for 8 against Kemp Wicker.

Spider Jorgensen went 4 for 7 against Elmer Riddle.

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The St. Paul Saints, which for years had been baseball’s most-successful independent-league team, are the now the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. The news brought to mind ballpark size, as the Saints play in — and regularly fill to capacity — 7,200-seat CHS Field. Under the impression that a minimum of 10,000 seats has previously been required for Triple-A venues, I checked the rule book. It turns out I was wrong.

Per section 1.0 of Attachment 58 in MLB’s official rules, the listed numbers for each level of the minors are “recommended minimum capacities.” In other words, they aren’t required minimum capacities. The rule does also state that “seating capacities shall be established to be appropriate for the size of the Minor League Club’s market,” and St. Paul sits in a metropolitan area with a population of roughly 4 million. One might quibble with that, but quibbling in this case would be a silly exercise. The Saints in Triple-A seems perfectly fine.

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I asked Bob Melvin about the impact minor-league contraction could have in areas that will no longer have affiliated baseball. Not surprisingly, the Oakland A’s manager has some concerns.

“It’s a little bit heartbreaking to see not as many teams out there,” Melvin said. “There are so many communities, and cities, that rely on minor-league baseball. That’s hard, but I’m not in charge of something like that… It’s a tough decision. It’s hard on MLB to have to do, as well. For a guy who came up through every classification like I did, you understand the impact in all these different cities.”

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Gabe Kapler said that Buster Posey will be the San Francisco Giants’ primary catcher in 2021. The exact number of games the veteran backstop will spend behind the plate is yet to be determined, but plans are to “utilize his brain and body to the best of his ability.” Posey had a career-worst year in 2019 while dealing with a hip issue, then opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns. How Joey Bart will fit into the equation is unclear. Acknowledging that last season was “a challenge” for the 24-year-old (as of this past Tuesday) rookie, Kapler said the club will “continue to assess his readiness.”

One other Giants note: Johnny Cueto isn’t playing winter ball this year. Kapler wouldn’t confirm as much, but it sounded as though the 34-year-old right-hander’s hopes to do so were squelched by the club.

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A quiz:

Who holds the San Francisco Giants franchise record for RBIs?

The answer can be found below.

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NEWS NOTES

Dustin Morse is the recipient of this year’s Robert O. Fishel Award for Public Relations Excellence. The senior director of communications for the Minnesota Twins for each of the past six years, Morse has worked for the club since 2006.

Former Astros, Braves, and Reds infielder Denis Menke died earlier this month at age 80. A big-league hitting coach following his playing days, Menke made two All-Star teams and was one of five Milwaukee Braves batters to blast between 20 and 24 home runs in 1964.

The Society for American Baseball Research announced on Monday that it has established a task force to evaluate how to better integrate Negro Leagues records, stats, and stories into SABR’s publications, databases, and future research projects. The task force is chaired by Mark Armour and includes representatives from SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee, and Baseball Records Committee.

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The answer to the quiz is Mel Ott, with 1,860 RBIs. Willie Mays had 1,859.

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Don Mattingly and Kim Ng are reunited in Miami, the latter having been hired as the team’s GM, while the former is the Marlins’ manager. A decade ago they were in the Dodgers organization, Ng as an assistant GM, Mattingly as the hitting coach, and later as the manager.

Mattingly offered an interesting anecdote when he met with the media on Thursday.

“I told a little story when she was introduced just to our staff, and maybe a few people in the organization, before it went public,” said Mattingly. “[She] and I changed the Dodgers fate in a hotel lobby over a bottle of tequila. We figured some things out that night.”

Specifics of the tequila-aided brainstorming session weren’t shared.

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The Los Angeles Angels got more than a defensively-gifted shortstop coming off a career-year with the bat when they traded for José Iglesias at the beginning of the month. They also got a once-capricious player who has matured into a positive presence in the clubhouse. Brandon Hyde managed Iglesias in Baltimore this year, and he was asked about the 30-year-old Havana, Cuba native earlier this week.

“[There’s] what he brought from a veteran leadership standpoint,” said the Orioles skipper. “He had a great season offensively, and I’d have loved to see him play more defensively — his leg just wasn’t going to allow him to do that — but the mentorship that he brought to the young players in our clubhouse was was huge. The players really liked him. Where he came from when I saw him back in 2009 [in the Arizona Fall League] to the the man he is now, is special.”

Iglesias was hampered by a quadriceps strain in 2020 and played just 24 of his 39 games in the field. He slashed .373/.400/.556 in 150 plate appearances.

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Frank Herrmann will be returning to NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines next season. The erstwhile Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher has played each of the past four seasons in Japan.

Yomiuri Giants pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano and SoftBank Hawks outfielder Yuki Yanagita were honored with this year’s MVP awards, Sugano in the Central League and Yanagita in the Pacific League. NPB’s Rookie of the Year awards went to Hiroshima Carp pitcher Masato Morishita (Central) and Seibu Lions pitcher Kaima Taira (Pacific).

Chicago Cubs prospect Luis Verdugo is playing for Tomateros de Culiacan in the Mexican Winter League. The 20-year-old shortstop — No. 23 on our 2020 Cubs Top Prospects list — has one hit in 12 at bats.

Luis Liberato is slashing .406/.457/.625 in 36 plate appearances with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. The 25-year-old (as of this past Thursday) outfielder came into the year No. 33 on our 2020 Seattle Mariners Top Prospects list.

The Australian Baseball League’s Melbourne Aces and Sydney Blue Sox had this weekend’s series postponed due to COVID concerns. Per ABL’s website, Victoria is considering closing its border to New South Wales as the Sydney’s Northern Beaches COVID cluster grows.

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Craig Counsell was pragmatic when asked about rule changes, both past and what we might see in the near future.

“What we tend to always do is have an opinion on it,” said the Milwaukee manager. “We’re shocked and outraged, and then we generally get used to it; we actually function with it and it’s okay. So whatever we choose to do, I’m kind of on board, and ready to roll with it.”

Much like many fans across the country, Counsell is concerned that there aren’t enough balls being put in play, and he’s of the opinion that it could take more that just one rule change to affect that. He’s not sure what those might be, but he’s amenable to some experimentation. As he put it, “We’re probably going have to try some things that might not work, and we’ve got to be okay with that. ‘That wasn’t a great rule, maybe we should take that out.’ I think that’s okay.”

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Count Terry Francona among those who wouldn’t want to see the shift outlawed. The reason he gave to reporters on Friday wasn’t about tradition so much as it was the risk of making the dearth of balls-in-play even worse.

“In a perfect world, I think the game would evolve organically,” sad the veteran Cleveland Indians skipper. “By that I mean not telling people they can’t shift, but players going back to learning how to use the whole field more, and put the ball in play more. [That] leads to more base runners [and] base running, which I think everybody likes. If you artificially put in rules like no shifting, players aren’t going to try to hit the ball the other way. They won’t have to, because if you can’t shift, they’re going to just reach back for more, and everybody’s going to pull the ball.”

Francona can also be counted among those concerned about too much kvetching.

“One thing we need to do better as an industry is make people understand just how much we love our game, and enjoy our game, and not just pick apart the things we don’t like,” said Francona. “I don’t think we always do that really well.”

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Most managers were asked pandemic-related questions during this week’s Zoom calls. Possibly the best perspective came from Kansas City’s Mike Matheny.

“We had guys that were scared,” said Matheny. “That’s just the truth of it. We had the whole spectrum. We had guys that didn’t really care about the virus and felt that they were immune, 10-feet tall and bulletproof. We had some other guys where it rocked their world. They were scared for their families, they were scared for their own health. And that’s all real. Those conversations — those real, personal, outside-of-baseball conversations — probably happened more this year than than any other year. I think 2020 forced everybody to think about life maybe a little bit differently.”

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

Charlie Pride played in the Negro Leagues with the Birmingham Black Barons and the Memphis Red Sox before forging a singing career that saw him get inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Bill Francis wrote about the recently-deceased Pride at baseballhall.org.

At The New York Times, Gary Phillips wrote about Manny Ramirez’s plans to play for the Australian Baseball League’s Sydney Blue Sox.

At The Los Angeles Times, Maria Torres told us about how Joe Maddon thinks Jo Adell could use more seasoning in the minors.

Bill James shared some thoughts on newly-named New York Mets GM Jared Porter.

Rachel Luba is a groundbreaking agent, and Adam Caparell wrote about her at Complex.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

Los Angeles Angels pitchers have thrown 210 wild pitches since the start of the 2018 season, the most in the majors. New York Mets pitchers have thrown 97 wild pitches over that stretch, the fewest in the majors.

Blake Snell has 31 wild pitches in 337-and-two-thirds innings since the start of the 2018 season. Hyun-Jin Ryu has one wild pitch in 332 innings over that stretch.

Felix Hernandez threw 2,729 innings and allowed 2,487 hits.
Dave McNally threw 2,730 innings and allowed 2,488 hits.

Sandy Koufax threw 2,324-and-a-third innings and allowed 1,754 hits.
Clayton Kershaw has thrown 2,333 innings and allowed 1,756 hits.

Lefty Grove and Early Wynn each had 300 career wins. Grove had 141 losses and a 148 ERA+. Wynn had 244 losses and a 107 ERA+.

Carl Yastrzemski had 1,844 RBIs and 1,845 walks.

Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Chuck Klein had 40 home runs and 44 outfield assists in 1930.

On today’s date in 1926, the St. Louis Cardinals traded Rogers Hornsby to the New York Giants in exchange for Frankie Frisch and Jimmy Ring.

Players born on today’s date include Snooks Dowd, whose career comprised 16 games split between three teams during the 1920s. He slashed .115/.115/.115.

Roxey Roach played for the Interstate League’s Punxsutawney Policemen in 1907. He later played for the New York Yankees and Washington Senators.