How Does Ned Yost Use His Bench?

by Connor Moylan on Dec 21, 2011 8:02 PM EST

In regards to the Yuniesky Betancourt signing, I am seeing a lot of people talk about how Ned Yost does not use his bench very much. On the surface, this fact seems plausible. Mitch Maier was laughably buried last season and most of the Royals regulars seemed to start almost everyday. When Aviles and Getz were on the roster at the same time, both seemed to play an adequate amount, and Yost has a larger sample size for using bench players than last season. I think how Yost uses his bench is not definitively known, but is being discussed as it is set in stone.

Sadly, I do not know the answer to how Yost uses his bench either, but I would be willing to put the work in and figure it out over my Winter Break. I also know very little about manger tendencies in general, other than some of the more recent posts at Beyond the Box Score. A quick Google search did not provide any answers. So my questions to the crowd are: Does anyone have solid evidence on how Yost uses his bench? If not, are their any studies on previous managers that show bench use tendencies that I could mimic? If no studies have been done, what does everyone think a valid study of bench use tendencies would consist of?

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Not sure where he got the data:

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/12/21/2650437/pinch-hitters-stats-nl-al

But the Royals had the lowest number of PH

For the differences in managers, you could get the yearly split data from B-Ref for each team on various categories:
Number of relievers used, IP per reilivers, defensive substitutions, hitting subs, IBB, SB vs CS, SH

Doubting Thomas, the patron saint of sabermetrics

by Jeff Zimmerman on Dec 21, 2011 10:20 PM EST reply actions

I just noticed the writer of both articles was Wendy Thrum.

I write with her at FG. She may just let me have the data she collected.

Doubting Thomas, the patron saint of sabermetrics

by Jeff Zimmerman on Dec 21, 2011 10:21 PM EST up reply actions

Thank you, that would be very helpful

by Connor Moylan on Dec 22, 2011 12:06 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

sample size and evaluation of the lineup

after briefly browsing through baseball-ref’s history of the royal’s defensive lineups, I think that it’s important to get at as large a sample size as possible. Looking back on last year specifically, I realized that once our prospects hit the majors they were essentially set in the line up unless they needed a day off. If you were going to study yost specifically, I think his time in Milwaukee would also have to be evaluated

by mmiller9 on Dec 22, 2011 2:14 AM EST reply actions

It is just a little time consuming to do all the work. It took me may too long to do this work on Bobby V

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-to-expect-from-bobby-v-when-it-is-finally-game-time/

Doubting Thomas, the patron saint of sabermetrics

by Jeff Zimmerman on Dec 22, 2011 9:47 AM EST up reply actions

"What do you mean bench players don't really have to stay on the bench?"

I am probably the only Royals fan in Hong Kong?

by Yamfun Cheng Kamfun on Dec 22, 2011 3:51 AM EST reply actions 3 recs

I think

I could have told you without looking that Yost used the fewest pinch hitters. I remember being frustrated in many close games early in the season as Yost left Betemit or Mitch on the bench while letting Getz or Escobar hit in game situations.

The article Jeff referenced above says that there were 840 PH used in AL vs. AL games. It later goes on to say that Yost used the least pinch hitters with 36. What it does not say is that only 15 of those 36 were in AL vs. AL games, the other 21 were in interleague play.

That means Yost only used a pinch hitter in 1 out of every 9.6 AL games. The other 13 teams used one every 2.27 AL games. That is a significant difference.

Yost came with the reputation as a “set it and forget it” type of manager. It was one of the reasons he was fired with the Brewers in a slide while in a pennant race. (tied for wild card after losing a doubleheader to their main competition) Not only were they sliding, but management thought Yost was not showing a sense of urgency. This is something we will have to worry about if he is still the manager when we find ourselves in that position again.

"Trying is the first step to sucking" -Jimmy Chance

by KHAZAD on Dec 22, 2011 9:09 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

FWIW

I like that style.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Dec 22, 2011 10:03 AM EST up reply actions

platoons

i think it’d also be cool to at least try and get an idea of how much yost likes to give his starters days off or how willing he is to platoon players. that’d be somewhat useful to know, especially with the betancourt/moose platoon a huge possibility against lefties

by mmiller9 on Dec 22, 2011 12:41 PM EST reply actions