Matt Herges, relief pitcher for the Florida Marlins was just
interviewed on WSCR. He practically gushed about Joe Girardi and said
that the one word that describes him best is integrity. He said that
none of the negative stuff that came out about Girardi near the end
of the season is true: he is not a control freak and he's not a
Napolean to use Herges' word. The clubhouse was very tight and
together.

Herges said that Girardi knows how to handle different types of
players. When asked if he thought Girardi could handle veterans who
are potentially a problem (used Ramirez as an example) Herges brought
up Miguel Cabrera who had issues in 2005 with hustling and getting
along with teammates and how Girardi handled him perfectly and by the
end of the year Cabrera was a great teammate and teared up during
Girardi's goodbye speech to the players.

It paints a more positive picture of Girardi and makes me think that
the negative Girardi press was spin control created by the Marlins to
soften the blow of his firing.

"Michael Lanasa" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:L6GdnWo19Z8Y97jYnZ2dnUVZ_uydnZ2d@comcast.com. ..

Not to dispute anything here (right now, Girardi is my favorite of the
mentioned names), but I think the record says more than players' feelings.
Look at all the rave reviews Dusty got from his players.

"Claude" <claude@hatesspam.com> wrote in
news:L3eVg.4651$0L1.4528@twister.nyroc.rr.com:


That's a good point, and you have to take it for what it is: a
player praising a former manager, which as you say, is exactly what
happened with Dusty. I definitely liked hearing a former player say
that the specific charges against Girardi; particularly control
freak; were not true.

I think Girardi would not be a bad hire, although there are others
I'd rather see. With Girardi you'd likely have someone who nurtures
and develops young players, stresses fundamentals and holds players
accountable. You'd also probably have a manager who bunts too much
and abuses pitchers, which may be more important in the long run.

Before going overboard on Girardi, how much credit does he deserve
(compared to the Marlins' scouting) for the team's success? Consider the
following:
According to Baseball Prospectus' VORP system, of the 277 rookies in
2006, Marlins Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla and Josh Willingham ranked 1st,
2nd and 4th, respectively. They also had 3 rookie pitchers in the top
14.
As smart as he seems to be, and having learned under Joe Torre, I'd
guess he understands the importance of OBP and SLG, but inheriting a Cub
farm system oblivious to them makes a performance with Chicago like the
one in Florida unlikely, at least for a few years.

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:26:45 -0500, Michael Lanasa <nospam@nospam.com>
wrote:


I have a new take on this. I don't care what the Hell happens to the
Cubs. I only care about my own entertainment. I want the goofiest
psycho they can hire. I want a loon thats going to make me want to
run to the gas station to get my coffe and Sun-Times so I can read his
crazy antics and laugh at the terrible record or humiliating losses.

I am transitiong from fan to old alcoholic sinic that is drinking Old
Milwaukee tappers and spending my rent money on scratch off tickets at
noon on tuesday waiting for the Cubs pre-game show to come on so I can
get a cheap laugh!

Screw the Cubs I want FUNNY crazy asshole!

Major

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:51:56 -0500, Major Drunkdey
<MajorDrunkdey@URmil.org> wrote:


Look in the mirror.

--
BubbaRumDum
----------------------------------------------------------
|"Baseball is too much of a sport to be a business
| and too much of a business to be a sport."
| William Wrigley Jr.
----------------------------------------------------------

<Bubbamike_01@yahoo.com> wrote:

I wouldn't have been that mean, but yeah... what he said.


G

--
Chaos Digest: an oasis of information... we think
<http://www.chaosdigest.com/>

I am not a Stat Guru but, I looked at the Cub team stats vs the Marlins
and found some interesting information. The Marlins allowed almost 300
more Base runners then the Cubs. and allowed 716 runs vs the Cubs 695.
Their RPG 4.4 to the Cubs 4.3. Marlin pitchers allowed 1477 hits vs the
Cubs 1216. The Marlins defense made 118 errors to the Cubs 82. Now the
Marlins Offense did score more runs 760 to the Cubs 709. But, you then
look at the Won lost record and the Marlins Won 12 more games then the
Cubs? With Stats that are worse or close to the same. What did the Marlins
have that the Cubs lacked? Could it of been Leadership.? Well you know
what Leo once said "Nice Guys Finish Last.

wolfer <wolf76@nospam.cox.net> wrote:


Were there any stats that you left out that were favorable to the
Marlins?


I don't think that has any bearing at all to this.


G

--
Chaos Digest: an oasis of information... we think
<http://www.chaosdigest.com/>

The G, no C wrote:

You mean like the Marlins hit 582 home runs while the Cubs hit only 12.

Granted that's not true, but then again neither are any of the other
stats cited. Among other things, the Marlins gave up 40
fewer runs than the Cubs did.

ray heitmann