Friday, February 16, 2007
Leyland Hits the Right Note
Spring Training officially starts today so an article about Jim Leyland in today's Free Press seems appropriate. Most of the article focuses focuses on the expectations of the season. He says his only goal is for the team to maximize its talent and continue its growth. I think Leyland is taking the correct approach by stating those types of goals as opposed to more tangible goals such as winning the division or the World Series. Having a season where you make the playoffs requires a lot of things going right and some of those things are largely out of the team’s control. By avoiding saying things like “We have to make the playoffs for this season to be a success”, he can get away from a feeling that the season is a loss if there are events that make such lofty goals virtually impossible.
For example, if Verlander and Maroth were to get hurt and Kenny Rogers pitches more like he did when there was talk of removing him from the rotation than he did in October, the team’s chances of recovering from those setbacks are not good. If your coach is on record as saying rah rah stuff like, “We’ve got to finish what we started last year”, you’ve probably lost your fan base and at least a few of your players for the rest of the season. On the other hand, if your focus has always been “Play your best with whoever you can put on the field”, you can shift to looking for growth from the remaining players when it becomes evident the loftier goals won’t be reached. Yes, there will still be disappointment and you will still lose a lot of the interest that would have been there otherwise, but I think as the manager this approach allows you to still be heard after things have gone wrong.
The reason being there isn’t the sharp contrast of the before and after speeches. With the one approach of “We have to do this to be considered a success”, you have to adjust after setbacks and the inevitable change in tone will most likely seep into your clubhouse and probably on to the field as well. With Leyland’s approach, he would be saying the exact same things the day after a catastrophic hit to the team’s chances as he was when the team was one of the league’s favorites. I think it’s a very intelligent, measured approach. These are the types of things that cause me to say Leyland is a good manager even though a lot of his game and roster decisions have me yelling at the screen during the season.
Also contained in the article was Leyland’s reply to a question about the big issues for the team heading into the season. His replies were that they had to find out if Maroth was healthy and whether Thames can play first base. We’ve known these were key issues for a while now, especially Maroth’s health. However, hearing Leyland say it like that gave me the feeling Thames auditions at first may very well double as his audition for the team. The other interesting thing about his chosen issues was what he didn’t say. There was no mention of the seventh spot in the bullpen, despite that being a major focus of the media during the offseason. I find that a little surprising since Leyland made some effort over the offseason to point out how important to the team Walker was last season. There are so many possible explanations for him not mentioning that issue it seems silly to speculate. If I had to, though, my guess would be he wants to take the focus off the guys in the competion so they are free to do their thing with as few added concerns as possible.
For example, if Verlander and Maroth were to get hurt and Kenny Rogers pitches more like he did when there was talk of removing him from the rotation than he did in October, the team’s chances of recovering from those setbacks are not good. If your coach is on record as saying rah rah stuff like, “We’ve got to finish what we started last year”, you’ve probably lost your fan base and at least a few of your players for the rest of the season. On the other hand, if your focus has always been “Play your best with whoever you can put on the field”, you can shift to looking for growth from the remaining players when it becomes evident the loftier goals won’t be reached. Yes, there will still be disappointment and you will still lose a lot of the interest that would have been there otherwise, but I think as the manager this approach allows you to still be heard after things have gone wrong.
The reason being there isn’t the sharp contrast of the before and after speeches. With the one approach of “We have to do this to be considered a success”, you have to adjust after setbacks and the inevitable change in tone will most likely seep into your clubhouse and probably on to the field as well. With Leyland’s approach, he would be saying the exact same things the day after a catastrophic hit to the team’s chances as he was when the team was one of the league’s favorites. I think it’s a very intelligent, measured approach. These are the types of things that cause me to say Leyland is a good manager even though a lot of his game and roster decisions have me yelling at the screen during the season.
Also contained in the article was Leyland’s reply to a question about the big issues for the team heading into the season. His replies were that they had to find out if Maroth was healthy and whether Thames can play first base. We’ve known these were key issues for a while now, especially Maroth’s health. However, hearing Leyland say it like that gave me the feeling Thames auditions at first may very well double as his audition for the team. The other interesting thing about his chosen issues was what he didn’t say. There was no mention of the seventh spot in the bullpen, despite that being a major focus of the media during the offseason. I find that a little surprising since Leyland made some effort over the offseason to point out how important to the team Walker was last season. There are so many possible explanations for him not mentioning that issue it seems silly to speculate. If I had to, though, my guess would be he wants to take the focus off the guys in the competion so they are free to do their thing with as few added concerns as possible.
Labels: roster
Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
