Blue Jays hire Eric Wedge

[glory]

Wedge did clarify those comments, for what it's worth.

 

Mariners manager Eric Wedge on Wednesday elaborated on his remarks about sabermetrics that resulted in criticism from some corners.

 

On Monday, after Dustin Ackley was sent down, Wedge was asked about players who have become too passive at the plate.

 

“It’s kind of the new generation,” he replied. “It’s all this sabermetrics stuff, for lack of a better term. You know what I mean? People who haven’t played since they were nine years old and think they’ve got it figured out. It gets in these kids’ head.”

 

Wedge apologized to those he may have offended, saying that he had heard all day about the heated response to his comments.

 

“Hey, I use the numbers as much as anybody,” he said. “I used the numbers in Cleveland. And Cleveland was one of the first teams to really dive into it with (then general manager) Mark Shapiro leading the way. So I’ve always been a big fan of using the numbers.

 

“But you are talking about one comment, and they weren’t there for the entire conversation. We were talking about the mental side of it. We were talking about Ackley. That’s not the reason Ackley was having issues at home plate. What I’m talking about is this recent generation of players that has come up in the sabermetrics world. It’s something that’s out there and people know how important it is.

 

“What you can’t do is play this game with fear. You have to go out there and play, and when you get your first good pitch to take a whack at, you have to take a whack at it. People stress so much getting deeper in counts and drawing walks, it’s almost a backward way of looking at it.

 

“When I bust somebody’s chops or make a joke about it, you can take it in a light-hearted way or you can take it personally. Quite frankly, I don’t care either way. But the fact of the matter is, sabermetrics is a part of the game of baseball. It has been for a while.

 

“It’s my job to see it from all ways. What people have to see is these are human beings. They are not widgets. It’s not XYZ corporation — something out of a book. These are human beings. And that’s the thing you have to factor in the most. They have emotions. They have families. You have ups and downs and everything that goes along with it. Things you can’t read on a piece of paper. But it’s most definitely part of it. I use it each and every day. It’s not the end all. It’s not just black and white. It’s got to be a nice blend between the human factor and the numbers.”

 

I'm not familiar with Wedge as a manager as I never really paid attention to the Indians or Mariners when he was managing them. I'm not sure why they'd stash him in a player development role just so they can wait for a poor start to make a manager change, though. I'm guessing Wedge would have still been available in May or June if they wanted to fire Gibbons, unless he was working for another team before coming to Toronto.

[HERPDERP]

fyi there is a new source in the toronto twittersphere

 

Gideon Turk got this source 24 hours before Heyman

[Stangstag]

Dude, you're arguing with a guy who has trolled this board for more than a decade. Put him on ignore and let it go.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will, I just can't do it from my phone

[Boxcar]

Thanks for the advice. I will, I just can't do it from my phone

 

My pleasure

[KingKat]

Wedge did clarify those comments, for what it's worth.

 

 

 

I'm not familiar with Wedge as a manager as I never really paid attention to the Indians or Mariners when he was managing them. I'm not sure why they'd stash him in a player development role just so they can wait for a poor start to make a manager change, though. I'm guessing Wedge would have still been available in May or June if they wanted to fire Gibbons, unless he was working for another team before coming to Toronto.

 

Maybe I'm naive but I just figure he's in the player development role so that he can play a role in player development.

[glory]

Maybe I'm naive but I just figure he's in the player development role so that he can play a role in player development.

 

That would be my guess as well. I mean, I guess he could take over as manager if they fire Gibbons, but more likely Shapiro probably just likes the guy and wants him in the org in some capacity. With how much this regime has emphasized player development, if they intentionally put someone incompetent in that role, that would be pretty counter productive. Maybe he's better in this role than he was as a manager.

[xposbrad]

Looks like Shapiro is setting everything up to have this team 10 games under at the break so he can trade bautista/encarnacion for prospects and change managers

 

Complete destruction coming.

 

But they did so well in Cleveland

[FrozenRopes]

Dude, you're arguing with a guy who has trolled this board for more than a decade. Put him on ignore and let it go.

 

Ahhh, I was trying to figure out why no one replies to his posts. Now it makes sense.

[o2cui2i]

Maybe I'm naive but I just figure he's in the player development role so that he can play a role in player development.

 

that's some mad out of the box thinking.