in the batting order thing. I don’t think I have ever heard a big-league manager echo that particular bit of sabermetric thinking. The “kinda” in my subject line, however, was the hand-slap for his complete failure to realize that although it “doesn’t matter”, it does matter; if you’ve got the right (read: “wrong”) combination of players, you can cost yourself a run a game by being stupid.

w/ Willie and Jai behind him.

Yost is a traditional dumbass but where he’s writing Kila’s name has little to do with it.

Bannister had similar problems last year. He seems to have a very strict ceiling and despite doing things to try to account for it – like changing his off-season routine, adjusting his arm angle, etc – he doesn’t seem to get beyond that ceiling without overtaxing his body in some way. I think most of us are agreed that off our pitchers, he is among the bottom of the list in terms of “stuff” and whatever value he has comes from his ability to maximize his stuff, but sometimes the “stuff” just ain’t there.

And for that matter, most pitchers spend at least some time in their career on the DL. Probably because throwing a small ball at 90+ miles an hour consistently – while also adjusting your arm angle/hand grip/footwork/etc to make it react in different ways along its trajectory – is quite a stress on the human body, even one conditioned to do just that. Not to mention the fact that they have to react when the ball is hit, which can mess up their follow-through which can lead to other injuries. And of course there are normal injuries that might manifest themselves whether one played baseball or not. Most 20 & 30 year olds I’ve ever known have at times have been injured or less than their full strength causing them to restrict their usual activities, even the ones who are not professional athletes.

If anything, I’d say the new training/medical staff and the team’s improved attitude towards resting players early (rather than pushing through and causing a serious injury, ala Meche) when they have unusual pain has probably saved several careers on this list that might have been lost under the previous training staff/organizational attitude towards injuries.

Yost ruined em all!