Why I’m a Baker fan, one in a continuing series
From his latest blog entry, I just wanted to point this out:
Spoke to Jeff Weaver at length. He doesn’t think he had a problem “putting guys away” in 0-2 counts. He kept insisting that he’s not a strikeout pitcher and that it’s his job to get ground balls — which he did at times, with some of them finding holes.
That may be. Trouble is, Weaver needs to get those grounders earlier in counts. If he keeps throwing 68 pitches through three innings, he’ll have trouble getting even five frames in. It wasn’t his strikeouts, it was the fact he kept getting balls fouled off or taken for balls before they were finally put in-play.
Got the word from the player, does some cogent thinking, presents a view that’s not precisely dissent but more… illumination? Pointed expansion?
His ground/fly ration is 1.44, which is up there with his career highs back in Detroit, but yeah — Weaver’s averaging 3.9 pitches per batter faced this year, which is not good.
I know, it’s not revelatory, he’s not quoting line drive percentages, but when was the last time, pre-Baker, we saw any kind of reasonable post-comment analysis like this in M’s coverage, where there’s that next step in writing it up?
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There’s a very short list of good things that have happened to Mariners fans in the past 6 months, but the rise of Geoff Baker as the premier beat writer for the M’s is clearly #1.
I still miss Corey, but Geoff’s filling his shoes admirably well.
Now if we could get Baker to figure out why bringing in Mateo in the seventh inning against the Twins was idiotic…
We don’t have to agree with all of Baker’s analysis to appreciate the fact that he’s thinking things through. He didn’t believe Mateo was the right call just because Hargrove told him it was. That, in and of itself, is a huge step in the right direction.
He also strikes me as a guy who is pretty open to new ideas, when they’re presented well, and I’m guessing he’ll come around on some of the things we don’t agree with him on.
I have been impressed with Baker over the past few weeks. He posts regularly, has some interesting thoughts (not that I agree with all of them), and is very patient with the community. He has gotten a lot of flack, and has dealt with it very well. I just have to remember its a different perspective over there.
Great article I had written off Weaver as a sunk cost until now. Another glimmer of hope is that Betancourt has a recent uncanny number of errors. Hopefully he irons out.
I don’t know. He seemed to buy Hargrove’s excuse (can’t use Reitsma for one batter in the seventh) pretty quickly.
Nevertheless, I enjoy the fact that Baker is so involved. He’s working pretty hard at his craft, which is good to see.
I don’t think he bought Hargrove’s excuse as much as – as Dave points out – reasoned it out under the constraints of roles. Now, I totally disagree with him about the whole role thing, but he didn’t just listen to Hargrove and print it.
Is the next in the series about Baker’s declaration from the other day that he is no “Pocket Lint”?
For that, he deserves a pass on the tiresome “when I was covering the Blue Jays” references.
I totally agree that Geoff has become the premier beat writer.
(But I have to admit I was terrified when I saw this title and thought you were talking about Dusty).