One of our favorite baseball writers out there, Jonah Keri of the great Baseball Between the Numbers, and a handful of other books (we highly recommend ‘Mind Game’ which Jonah worked on with the Baseball Prospectus crew), has been kind enough to join us for an interview. As always, our questions in bold; enjoy!
1) We’ll delve into a broader set of baseball questions in a bit, but let’s start local, with the Marlins. From afar, you made what of the handling of Emilio Bonifacio this season? Is there any justifiable reasons to give him 400+ at-bats at this level?
There’s a strong recency effect in baseball, where a manager will overlook a career worth or awful minor league and major league numbers and fixate on some recent success. It’s possible that Bonifacio’s long history of ineptitude wasn’t even considered in the Marlins dugout. He looked like a good player in April, so they kept riding him. It’s the GM’s job to step in when such situations occur.
2) Sticking with the Bonifacio theme, the only argument spoken on his behalf on talk radio down here, is that given his age and skill set, that his on-base percentage is something that can improve. Would you say that as a 24 year old with a substantive sample size of playing time in both the major and minor leagues that his OBP prowess sort of ‘is what it is’, or that it’s still fluid?
There are players who improve with age, and there are occasions to give a player the benefit of the doubt. Circumstances should dictate the decisions. If the Marlins have no one in the entire organization who can be a passable option, give Bonifacio a chance. If they do have someone, don’t.
3) Something that exasperates us consistently (and it’s an old issue, Joe Sheehan at BP has been all over it for years) is the usage of closers and the ill-conceived notion that the last 3 outs of a game are somehow harder to get than any other 3, and thus managers (Jim Tracy) use their “closer” rather than match up correctly (Huston Street pitching to Ryan Howard). Why is that so prevalent, Jonah? What has to change for managers to “get it”?
I wrote about this, completely indirectly, in addressing the topic of going for it on 4th down in football. If managers could feel confident that they won’t meet significant criticism for not adhering to standard closer usage, or at least that such criticism wouldn’t endanger their jobs, you’d see some skew from the norm. As is, though, there’s nothing more universal than working to save one’s own ass, no matter your profession.
4) Talk to us a little bit about this Jeter is clutch, Arod is a choker argument that has been so steadily spewed out for years, and now all of a sudden is changing. Are you in on the idea that Arod never was “un-clutch” he was just presented with a sample size that paled in comparison to Jeter’s and now he’s rectifying it, the way Barry Bonds did in 2002? Does it frustrate you to no end, how now we will hear stories for 6 months about how “Alex Rodriguez is a different guy”?
A-Rod played poorly in two series when he happened to be a Yankee. For much of the baseball world, how a player performs is irrelevant until he becomes a Yankee. Now that A-Rod has come up with some big hits for the Yankees, that talk will quiet down a bit. Stll, there will be plenty of people who will never fully embrace A-Rod until he wins a World Series in the Bronx. And that’s even if he hits .500 with 20 homers in this postseason.
5) Your take on the whole Fredi Gonzalez/Bobby Valentine situation that was in the news not too long ago is what? Forget for a moment, whether or not Valentine qualifies as an upgrade; is there ANY sort of upgrade that is worth spending 2-3 times more money on manager A than manager B?
I’d spend 2-3 times as much to get the GM I wanted. Can’t think of any managers who’d warrant that gap, though.
6) You’re one of the most well rounded sports writers out there, so let’s end here- give us your take on Rush Limbaugh’s (now dead) chance of buying the Rams? Should he have been allowed to purchase them if he were so inclined?
Someone had a really good take on this and I’m struggling to remember who it was. Basically the argument was that it’s not worth the trouble. Personally, I’m pretty agnostic about it. It’s a PR issue more than anything, and the league has the right to manage their PR however they see fit.
Check-Downs
1) Best Meal You’ve Ever Had?
La Giostra, Florence, Italy
2) The one TV show you can’t miss?
Now: Mad Men; All-time: The Wire
3) Best sports (and then non-sports) book you’ve read this year?
“The Beckham Experiment” by Grant Wahl; “Home Game” by Michael Lewis (I haven’t read many non-sports books this year unfortunately, because I’ve been cramming while writing my own book about the Rays)
Thanks to Jonah for tolerating us, and make sure to check out his book on the Tampa Bay Rays, due out in the Spring of 2011.
