Is all you need to do in order to prepare them for more innings. I didn’t realize “stretching out” a pitcher was so psychological.

any square peg they can try to put in a round hole

and its embarrassing, and its failing

“Can you compete with a $22 million Gil Meche on the disabled list?”

that the pitchers thought about pitching more innings, and so talked themselves into arm problems? I wish I could be educated on this matter.

“90% of the game is half mental.” I guess we’re all idiots for not understanding that.

I tried something sorta similar to this once. Back in college, I thought that I was smart and that I didn’t really need to study that hard to do well. So, I picked one of my classes, and all I did is attend class. I didn’t do any extra studying or preparation. I got a “D” on the next test. Turns out that I’m not that smart – I actually had to work hard to do well. I know that’s not similar in the physical aspect but my mindset was about the same.

And that’s really the part that Trey (and perhaps DM?) is missing here. While setting goals and believing and having confidence that you’ll achieve them is an “element” of success, the most important thing is actually doing the work and preparation needed to succeed. If you stop at the goal setting stage (and leave the rest to blind faith), you will fail and fail miserably.

that’s pretty much a bad idea, right?

because it cost us the game last night

I mean, they did the same thing they did as last year, who could have predicted their injuries? I mean, I remember when I bought my used car. The first year, I drove it a ton! I put 30,000 miles on it. The next year I did the exact same thing and the car broke down! Who could have predicted that?

Indians fire Eric Wedge and Entire Coaching Staff.

Compelling.

But given my current state of Apathy RE: The Royals, I forgot.

Soren really had to hold himself back on Trey, and you could tell throughout the discussion on pitchers. Soren stated early on that KC’s pitchers (-Zack) have an ERA of NINE+ in starts that followed 2 starts of >115 pitches.

Later in the interview, Trey started to ask, “You’ve done the research on pitch counts, and have you found tangible data?” and Soren started to jump all over it, but before he had a chance, Trey realized his error, and continued to ramble on about nothing for a couple of minutes, turning it into a rhetorical question. A frustrated Soren just went to break after that nonsense.

Trey Hillman will not manage in KC after 2010. I’d bet my house on it. I’d bet my boat that he’ll be gone before the All-star break next year if we had a different GM.

And clearly the right way is the way the Rangers are doing things… Which would mean that the Royals probably are doing something wrong

Trey Hillman and George Bush are becomming staggering.

Obviously both from Texas
Both hailed from proud franchises, which surely led them to their highest office (Bush was a Bush, Hillman was a Yankee)
Both have a tendency to retreat to the Texas Ranch when times are tough
Both sound like complete fucking idiots when answering a question, and similarily both dance around actually answering questions with the grace of a one legged ballerina
Both would take Sammy Sosa on their team RIGHT NOW

I love how the dude condescends to fans by explaining how they don’t understand the intricacies of baseball. This from a guy who never played and never managed a big league ball club in the U.S. (I don’t consider what he does managing so his time with the Royals doesn’t count.) Hillman probably knows more about isolating an isotope than he does baseball. Go back to Texas or Japan. Anywhere but here.

nobody

and have to follow up.

It’s not completely stupid to coach some starters to be prepared mentally to remain in the game longer. However, to succeed consistently over a series of longer outings, as Greinke said recently, a starter has to figure out how to get outs while saving his best stuff for key situations. Back in the day this was how all starters pitched, because lineups typically included a few hitters who couldn’t hurt you much even if you threw them a batting practice fastball down the middle — the worst case was that they’d slap it someplace and get on base. Nowadays, even though there are plenty of bad hitters, almost everybody whips a thin-handled bat as fast as he can and can cause big trouble, if only occasionally. If you get too lax with these guys, they can do what Miguel Olivo does when he manages to “square it up”. So for a pitcher whose secondary stuff isn’t sufficient to get through the nether parts of the order — someone who will get into trouble unless he “gives everything he has” — then yes, it’s stupid.

I would say that Bannister is a guy who has to be at his best all the time to stay out of trouble, and I would say that Meche when he’s limited by a physical problems, as he clearly was from the start of spring training, is another. Hochevar is a guy who’s apt to lose his focus even when he’s in huge trouble, so encouraging him to think longer term is a terrible idea. You have to coach him to remember there’s a game going on. Davies? You’re lucky when an effective Davies shows up; take the good innings he can give you and get get him out of there as soon as he looks like he’s losing it.

But for any pitcher, regardless of ability, it’s totally stupid to combine coaching like this with the practice of gauging the appropriateness of keeping a pitcher in the game primarily on what he says himself, as the Royals do. Of course he’s going to say “Yes, I can go out for another inning, yes, I can get the next guy,” because you’ve told him that’s what you expect from him. You need to make up your mind about whether he’s reached or exceeded his limit based on other observations, because you’ve completely corrupted the information you’re going to get from the pitcher himself.

So, anyway: horrible job handling the starters this year, Royals. I recommend rethinking that philosophy for 2010.