The Giants just hired Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens to replace Carney Lansford. David Pinto was critical of the hiring at first, but later reconsidered:
…. Meulens holds a .288 career OBP in the majors. Yes, he played mostly before the offensive explosion of 1993, but .288 is still poor. I’d feel better about the Giants if they hired someone who knew how to get on base to teach their players how to get on base.
Update: I was a little flippant in that last paragraph. Poor hitters do go on to be good coaches.
Yeah, but a .288 OBP isn’t poor, it’s abysmal. It’s a league-worst performance most seasons. Meulens was a flat-out terrible hitter, managing to stay in the majors for only about 180 games. In all honesty, he was so terrible, he makes Neifi Perez look like an All Star.
Carney Lansford, by comparison, was Mike Schmidt. His career OBP was .343, 55 points better. Put another way, Lansford had almost as many home runs as “Bam Bam” had games played. There is no question that this move is pointless, and in fact, should be viewed simply as a reflection of the mindset of an organization operating with an almost willful ignorance of the refinements and changes in the modern game. Watching the Phillies and Yankees only serves to remind me that it is possible to put together a team that that can execute a game plan, can take pitches that aren’t strikes, and that can win despite a lack of all-around production.
And don’t give me any of the bullshit about the Yankees buying a title. You either compete or you don’t. The 2009 Giants had the pitching to handle either of these teams this year, and our GM, our ownership group, and our organization failed, failed completely in their efforts to take a shot at a title.
A couple of real hitters would have made a huge difference, maybe would have been THE difference. Instead, they fire their hitting coach the day he buries his father, and hire one of the worst hitters in baseball history to coach their anemic offense. Sure, maybe it’s true that you can’t teach hitters knowledge of the strike zone, to be selective, as Michael Lewis suggested in Moneyball. But, if you can, it’s hard to argue that a guy who walked a total of 42 times in seven seasons is the guy to teach it.
Or maybe, just maybe, you reach out to an icon, who knows just a little bit about hitting.
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Now, I don’t think a hitting coach at the MLB is going to have much of an effect on a teams W-L record one way or another, so I’m largely apathetic to what goes on other than how it reflects our organizational philosophy. When it comes to this hire, I too decided to look at this guys past history as a player…and decided there was nothing to learn there. As far as hitting coaches go, if we’re going to have one, I guess I want one with a good approach – one that’s the opposite of the things Brian Sabean seems to covet. I’m not sure I can tell anything about Meulen’s approach/hitting philosophy from his time as a player – he was simply not talented enough to be an MLB player, whether he had the right approach or not. So…I’m pretty apathetic about this, if I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably in the typical Giants organizational mold under Sabean, which isn’t a good thing…
“Their [Pirates] fans are staying away in droves, and they can’t stop them.”
Well…we know the biggest driving factor in attendance in winning (not including mostly static variables that are uncontrollabe for the team like market size/wealth and what not). Moreso even than winning the current season – a teams record in the previous season is the single biggest drawing force for a baseball team. That’s why the Pirates can’t maintain their attendance, and that’s why the Giants have been slipping. Unfortunately, the Giants organizational philosophy of “being competitive” takes that into account – winning the WS isn’t the goal, rather just being competitive enough to keep the crowd coming…
[...] that make him a good hitting coach? He certainly wasn’t a good major league hitter, and that worries some. Whatever. Who needs good natural hitting skills when you can teach them instead, and have a cool [...]
While it is true that you cannot buy a title there is a lot to be said for having a large payroll. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, when asked about having a lot of money to spend said “Let’s be honest. We can survive a bad contract or two whereas it might cripple someone else.” But money doesn’t guarantee a title.
In the ten years since AT&T Park opened, the Giants’ total payroll ($789M) adds up to almost exactly the same as the Phillie’s ($794M). Yet the Phillies are playing in their second World Series in that stretch. By way of contrast, the Yankees have spent $1,672M over that same period of time – the difference between the Yankee’s and the Giant’s payroll ($882M) would have paid for the construction of AT&T two and a half times over – and the Yankees are only now returning to the World Series. But I digress.
Having a huge payroll not only allows a team to survive bad contracts, (and the Giants have more than their share of those thanks to Sabean’s incompetence) it also makes playing for that team the goal of every intelligent self-interested baseball player. The Giants are going to have to pony up if they hope to stand a chance of signing top quality players, and of retaining the talent they have, such as Lincecum and Sandoval.
And it is in their best self interest to spend that money, because their attendance is slipping. In 2001 the Giants had the second highest attendance in MLB. In 2009 they were down to tenth place in attendance. The trend is as follows: 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th 11th and now 10th. I’m not a mathematical genius but even I can spot that.
When Lincecum signs with the Angels and Sandoval buys a condo in Boston, the talking heads are going to have a hard time convincing even the most gullible fans that the Giants are making a legitimate effort to win a title. There are contracts on the books that will have to be honored. The Giants will have to cough up some cash – and they have the cash – or the team will be headed for a disaster: they will become the west coast version of the Pirates.
I cite the Pirates deliberately. They too have a beautiful new ballpark. They too have ad campaigns. But it isn’t enough. Their fans are staying away in droves, and they can’t stop them.
Here is a sample of how that scenario plays out.
I look at John Bowker as a prime example of what Meulens can do with a hitter. Bowker was coming off of an abysmal first big league season in which he hit .255/.300/.408, and couldn’t tell a strike from a hole in the ground. He went down to triple-A, worked with Meulens, and suddenly he’s taking more walks and striking out less (2009 in AAA, 74 BB’s, 64 K’s). Sure, in limited time in the Majors in ’09 he didn’t do much, but he also got sporadic playing time and no chances to establish himself in the lineup on a regular basis.
I guess what I’m saying is that Bowker is a nice example of Meulens’ handywork.
Let’s hope.
Thats the kind of stuff that is supposed to get taught in high school, rookie ball, not AAA. Hi minors and MLB club hitting coaches are about plate strategy and breaking down opposing pitchers. Not fundamentals of the Charlie Lau 5 step method to becoming a 3 time All Star and career .300 hitter.
Besides, the Giants problems aren’t about dugout coaches. I hate to break the news guys, but guys l like Meulens, and Joe Lefavre are hired because they are good pinochle partners and are willing to pick up the bar tab for the manager. Anybody thinking hitting coaches are hired to make a difference just need look at Carney Lansford’s experience here. He was fired because he had the audacity to tell Bochy and Sabean that not only did they have a team full of over-rated non-performers, but that the team full of underachievers and payroll padders were stupid and stubborn to boot, and were incapable or unwilling to change.
“Thanks for coming Carney, and if we want to be shown to be foolish jackasses again, we’ll be in touch.”
The Giants are a bad hitting team because they draft poorly coached, over-rated, under-talented high school and college players.
They Giants are a bad hitting team because they sign unteachable kiddie-hackers from Latin America.
The Giants are a bad hitting team because they acquire guys like brain-dead, underwhelming, no-talents like Dave Roberts, Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina, Edgardo Alfonso, Edgar Renteria, Ryan Garko, and Freddie Snatchez and sign them to long term contracts.
And the Giants will never compete for a championship with unbalanced rosters that have been Sabean’s trademark since he took over in 1997. Under Sabean, they are either pitching heavy, like they are right now, or hitting heavy like they were in the late 90s. He is the antiquated, outdated, mullet-coiffed stain-shirted refugee from Donovan’s reef whose sum total comprehension of balance is a shot-glass perched on the end of his nose. His evaluation methodology while viable for a 1980′s college coach with aluminum bats, has been outdated for years.
Sabean is not a guy with 25 years of Front Office experience. This is a guy with 1 year of experience repeated 25 times.
Well this poster at McCovey Chronicles seems to get it:
I have to disagree with John here a little bit on his take here insofar as the modernity of refinements of the game analysis. Or more correctly, expand on the timeline:
When Sabean and his idiot cohort Joe Lefebvre were fucking up college players on the East Coast, they could have taken the time to watch and observe Earl Weaver run the Orioles. Weaver hated bunts and hit and runs and steals. “….a waste of outs” And this was in the 70s.
“”The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers.” and
“”You win pennants in the off season when you build your teams with trades and free agents.”
Weaver had only one losing season in 17 at Baltimore.
But by all means, at least the Giants have filled that gaping hole at hitting coach.
Credit given where credit due The Problem with Sabean
By the same author:
I’M GLAD THEY EXTENDED SABEAN
Somewhat odd. He reckons that Neukom is so dumb that he would have signed somebody worse to replace Sabean at GM.
Emphasis not mine; that’s his title.