2018 Phillies: Managerial Inexperience

[jon abbey]

Couldn't think of a better title, sorry, but I thought we should have a thread to follow the ups and downs of Gabe Kapler's rookie managerial season.

Today he had the RF positioned insanely close against Amed Rosario, who promptly tripled over his head (look where the ball lands!) to score two runs and go ahead 4-2, also the final score.

https://www.mlb.com/video/rosarios-two-run-triple/c-1906463083

 

[jon abbey]

Buster Olney‏Verified account @Buster_ESPN

Spoke to one rival evaluator about the Phillies' defensive positioning in RF, and he said that Williams had been stationed very shallow repeatedly, for other hitters, and the talk among some scouts before Rosario's at-bat was whether he'd get burned.

 

[Byrdbrain]

Todd Zolecki‏Verified account @ToddZolecki 4h4 hours ago
According to Statcast, Nick Williams was playing 245 feet from home plate on the Rosario triple. Average right fielder's starting position at Citi Field last year was 297 feet.

More than 50 feet closer than average is a whole bunch.

Seems like the infamous "He's calling for the lefty in the bullpen .... wait there is no lefty in the bullpen" moment should also be in here.

 

[terrynever]

My favorite Kapler move came on Opening Day when he benched his best player, Odubel Herrera, for matchup reasons.

 

[luckysox]

My favorite Kapler move came on Opening Day when he benched his best player, Odubel Herrera, for matchup reasons.

Yeah, that was when I knew this would be a fairly amusing season to watch all my Phillies fans friends. When they hired Kapler, one of my best friends, who is a Phillies die hard and really understands the game about as well as anyone I know, just hung her head. We talked about his new-agey view to baseball, or whatever the hell he thinks he's doing, and she said, "Philly is not the place to start a cult following." Truest words I've ever heard. He is beyond in over his head - in terms of the x's and o's, yes, but also in terms of just how quickly he will get turned on, how ugly it will get, and just how fast he might get run out of town. Imagine if Cora sat Mookie on Opening Day because of matchups. Except also imagine that Mookie was one of only 2 or 3 really decent players on the team the season prior, and imagine that the Sox had been WRETCHED for the last few years. Kapler made that huge, huge blunder before the team even took the field for warm ups. And my bet is he does not have buy-in from these guys on the team, and he likely lost at least half of them just by sitting Herrera that day. He probably lost the other half in Atlanta.

In good news, I'll probably be able to see quite a few Phils games from really good, suddenly cheap seats!

 

[terrynever]

Buster Olney‏Verified account @Buster_ESPN

Spoke to one rival evaluator about the Phillies' defensive positioning in RF, and he said that Williams had been stationed very shallow repeatedly, for other hitters, and the talk among some scouts before Rosario's at-bat was whether he'd get burned.

Kapler's explanation, in part, was that their analytics told them to expect weak contact, thus they were playing shallow in right field. And they will keep doing this when their pitcher is a guy who ranks high in weak contact.
Wonder if the Yanks would do this with CC, who ranks among the best in eliciting weak contact?
We should also point out that Phillies GM Matt Klentak is a heavy analytics guy and hired Kapler because of his willingness to adapt to unconventional methods. Ironically, his adviser is Larry Bowa, already on record as questioning the modern approach. Bowa and Charlie Manuel, both around the team in spring training, are Old School.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/phillies-mets-recap-final-score-gabe-kapler-nick-williams-noah-syndergaard-rain-delay-20180404.html

 

[joe dokes]

Kapler's explanation, in part, was that their analytics told them to expect weak contact, thus they were playing shallow in right field. And they will keep doing this when their pitcher is a guy who ranks high in weak contact.
Wonder if the Yanks would do this with CC, who ranks among the best in eliciting weak contact?
We should also point out that Phillies GM Matt Klentak is a heavy analytics guy and hired Kapler because of his willingness to adapt to unconventional methods. Ironically, his adviser is Larry Bowa, already on record as questioning the modern approach. Bowa and Charlie Manuel, both around the team in spring training, are Old School.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/phillies-mets-recap-final-score-gabe-kapler-nick-williams-noah-syndergaard-rain-delay-20180404.html

So, while it seems to have cost them yesterday, did the RF catch any short flies? (One game is not a sample, but I guess that's the question to ask at the end of the season).

 

[terrynever]

I'm sure it would have been reported in the story if the RF caught any shallow fly balls. Kapler's luck has been pretty bad so far and he is first to admit to SSS and how things will even out.

 

[MuzzyField]

How many singles does an outfielder have to take away to balance getting beat for a triple while playing at Williamsport depth? It can't be a 1-for-1 calculation.

Gabe is setting himself up for a summer of Santa treatment from the Phillies' faithful. Is he trying to top Bobby V's start?

He better get some wins in a hurry (not competing against the Braves and Mets isn't helping) or that clubhouse is going to flush his new age philosophy right down the toilet along with the season.

 

[jon abbey]

Phillies won this afternoon, but this is a rough quote from a Heyman piece just now:

"“We’ll be OK … We just need the manager to get out of the way,” one Phillies player asserted of their obviously improved team, and just as obviously unproven manager"

https://www.fanragsports.com/phillies/inside-baseball-kapler-to-face-toughest-critics/

 

[jon abbey]

Phillies have won 5 in a row and 7 of 8, 8-5 now.

The schedule has certainly helped (1-4 start against the Braves and Mets, then 7-1 against the Marlins, Reds and Rays), but also Kapler seems to have calmed down a bit and is learning from his early mistakes.

 

[jon abbey]

So Kapler and the Phillies seem to have turned things around as fast as Ohtani did the first week of the season. They're now 14-7, 13-3 since the 1-4 start, after sweeping 4 from the Pirates this weekend.

Also a good piece from Tom Verducci on Kapler here:

https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/04/10/gabe-kapler-philadelphia-phillies

 

[Harry Hooper]

For any Phillies fans out there. In the clearance section at Walmart:

MLB Philadelphia Phillies Hood Cover

LINK