SB Nation User Blog: Hegenberger Road

Creative Thinking Needed to Fix A's Coaching Staff

Hegenberger Road — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:40:49 -0000

Iglew's post got me thinking about the A's manager situation. In the poll, I voted for Rickey for manager. But the more I thought about it, the problem is really a lot bigger than the manager. In fact, a large part of the problem is that the traditional staffing structure of an MLB coaching staff just doesn't fit with the philosophy/DNA/je nous se que that is the A's. We're the team that zigs when everyone else zags. It's high time the coaching staff reflected that.

My humble proposal...

The Manager is responsible for in game decisions (e.g. Pulling a pitcher, pinch hitter/runner, etc).

Nomination: David Forst's Laptop. Seriously folks. Quit with this 2nd guessing which reliever should we have used in that situation BS. Just run the numbers and let it go. Also, when the wrong decision gets made, I would very much enjoy reading “FIRE LAPTOP NOW!!!” comments on AN (and yes, from my laptop).

The Head Coach is responsible for motivating the team, giving Eric Chavez “heart” and “grit,” fighting with umpires, etc.

Nomination: This man has been the namesake of my fantasy football team for years. He is one of this nation's premiere motivational speaker. I say we let him motivate our staff to personal excellence.

The Assistant Coach plays “bad cop” to the Head Coach's “good cop.” When players slack off, or get out of line, and the positive approach doesn't work, someone's gotta bring the hammer down.

Nomination: Dave Stewart. Would you fail to run out a grounder, or mess up routine plays if you knew that “The Stare” would be waiting for you back in the dugout? Yeah, me neither.

The Assistant Coach for Special Cases (ACSC) is brought in only in desperate times. When both the good cop and bad cop have failed to inspire heart and grit the ACSC comes in to unify the team against a common enemy: himself. This individual's job is to create an atmosphere so wretched that the players rise up and overthrow him, and in the process somehow find their inner power animal and start playing better baseball.

Nomination: Jose Canseco. When it comes to clubhouse cancers, nobody tops Jose. I can't think of any one individual more universally reviled among baseball players, and coaches (especially when his accusations end up being right). Barry Bonds can't even sniff this throne. His hiring would have the added bonus of assuring us that the team was steroid free, as Jose would surely out any users immediately upon his arrival.

After all the in game management and motivation is done, someone needs to actually teach people how to play better baseball. The Fielding Instructor takes on this task for defense.

Nomination: Scott Hatteberg. Instructors aren't there for the good athletes; they're there for the screw ups. And no one is better at teaching others how to overcome defensive suckitude than someone who has once done it himself. Hatte will be all over this job like bad smell on ballony.

Pitching Instructor

Nomination: Actually, seems like Curt Young is doing alright here. Perhaps because of reasons cited in Mr Hatteberg's nomination. I guess he can keep his job.

Hitting Instructor. The A's, for a long time now, have sucked at hitting. Even good hitters from other teams come to the A's and learn how to suck.I know batting average is a useless stat, blahblahblah, but the fact that we haven't had a .300 hitter on this time in eons is a sign of real futility. It's embarrassing.

Nomination: Tony Gwynn. I don't know if anyone in baseball knows hitting better than Gwynn. In putting his name here, I'm really just hoping some of his ability gets absorbed through osmosis. That's at least as valid a reason as any other coaching decision.

Other coaching positions? Other nominations? Have at it in the comments!

Poll

The A's coaching staff needs...

More laptops!

21 votes

An infusion 1980s 49er glory

6 votes

to learn how to "be scary"

15 votes

a ride on the Jose Canseco crazy train

6 votes

to teach hitting through osmosis

14 votes

62 votes | Poll has closed

Hanley wants to be traded... go get him, Billy!

Hegenberger Road — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:28:36 -0000

Hanley wants to be traded... go get him, Billy!

His current contract is 6 yr/$70M.

I hardly even care what it takes, there just arent many opportunities to get that kind of power from the SS position, gotta go for it

Mixed emotions on a former A

Hegenberger Road — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:55:41 -0000

Mixed emotions on a former A

Much as I love the man, I am really glad that it is some other team having that conversation this year.

Ziggy on Yahoo main page! Buzz up the story!

Hegenberger Road — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:22:41 -0000

I don't know if the Yahoo main page is the same all over. But I just clicked over and there's Ziggy front and center for breaking a 101 year old record!!

Go to this link and buzz up the story so our man stays on top!

I know this is an insanely short diary, but with the season looking grim, these are the kinds of moments we gotta celebrate.

I also think it's awesome that there is no other place on the internet more excited about this than AN!

Dodgers Acquire Casey Blake. LaRouche on the block?

Hegenberger Road — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:44:04 -0000

Dodgers Acquire Casey Blake. LaRouche on the block?

Here's hoping we can swing a LaRouche deal now.

Top 10 Transition A's of the New Millenium

Hegenberger Road — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:51:24 -0000

One of the great things about being a A's fan is that almost every year we pick up some completely under-the-radar guy who goes on to play pretty darn well. Sure, there are plenty who don't work out (Eric Karros and Keiichi Yabu), but enough of them play well that it is usually one of my favorite storylines of the season.

Sometimes these players are such a good fit that they end up sticking around for quite a while (like Scott Hatteberg and Marco Scutaro). Others, for a variety of reasons (like money, retirement, or the fact the weren't really that good but had a string of luck in the green and gold) go on their way after a year or two. Those guys, I call Transition A's.

In honor of Big Frank's return, I present my Top 10 rental A's from 2000-2007. It is not a list based on stats or anything attempting an objective analysis of which Transition A's performed the best over that span. It's just my favorites, and though I thought about who I might want to put in each spot, I could probably change my mind. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments.

10. John Mabry (2002): Mabry was acquired from the Phillies for Jeremy Giambi during the great Purge of 2002. I'm pretty sure Beane would have traded Jeremy for a pack of bubble gum (and at the time many accused him of doing exactly that), but instead he snagged a man who, to my mind, was the best pinch hitter we'd had in a long time. Despite only a 322 OBP, he managed to slug 523 (leading the team in SLG, I just looked it up!) and get stuck in my mind as a man who always made big hits in the great summer of '02.

8(t). Shannon Stewart (2007): For the second year in a row, Billy picks up an outfielder who can hit close to .300

8(t). Jay Payton (2006): Ditto Shannon Stewart. Except for that "second year in a row" bit, this was the first one. If forced to, I'd put Jay over Shannon because of his defense. I LOVED having 3 CF quality outfielders that year.

7. Ray Durham (2002): We picked Ray up at the trading deadline looking for a strong leadoff hitter. I don't know that Ray fulfilled that wish, but he did hit an inside-the-park homerun in the playoffs. I love inside the park homeruns. And Rental A's with standout playoff performances are big on this list.

6. Billy Koch (2002): Well his playoff performance certainly wasn't standout, but I can't overlook the fact that his overall 2002 performance really was remarkable. 11-4, 44 SV, 3.27 ERA, and nearly a strikeout an inning. And having a rubber arm, going out day after day with the A's continually in close games. I don't really like him, but I have to admit: somehow he got the job done and then some.

5. Steve Sparks (2003): Steve Sparks?? Who the heck is Steve Sparks ? Maybe the fact that he is #5 on this list means that the A's really haven't had many jems in the rental player department. Sparks is a journeyman knuckelballer who stepped up in one of the most tension filled moments for me as A's fan. 2003 playoffs, game 4 , the A's coming off a walk-off loss the night before, and we all feel the dread of another early exit from the post-season. Early in the game we are filled with despair as Tim Hudson leaves after the first inning with a mysterious injury. While I consider ritual suicide, enter Steve Sparks. His line was not remarkable (2 ER on 2 H and 3 BB in 4 IP), but then Sparks was not a remarkable pitcher. He was 0-6 that year with an ERA north of 5.00. In 12 months he would be out of baseball. He had no business being thrust into this moment. But in a game where panic ran wild, the A's managed to score 4 runs and Sparks, outmatched and outgunned against an imposing Red Sox lineup, for that day turned himself into an effective pitcher. It was vintage David vs. Goliath, and enough to earn him my #5 spot on this list.

4. Ted Lilly (2002 & 2003): Lilly, a mediocre back end starter for most of time in Oakland, turned on the gas at the end of 2003, going 7-3 with a 3.45 ERA after the break. But, like Sparks, it is his playoff performance that earns him his spot here. With the A's in their familiar 2-0 series lead, Lilly went into game 3 in Boston determined to slam the door. In a game mostly remembered for its baserunning blunders, I can't overlook Lilly's standout performance. With all of Fenway taunting him, he shut down a powerful Sox lineup that had its season on the line. 7.0 IP, 1 R (unearned), 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K. The A's lost in extras, but damn if Lilly didn't give us every chance to get over that hump.

3. Keith Foulke (2003): Here we are again in the 2003 playoffs, though Foulke did not win any kudos from me for his performance there. Much like Koch, I have to overlook the playoffs, and see the remarkable regular season effort for what it was. And unlike Koch, in Foulke's case it is probably the greatest season performance by an Oakland closer not named Eckersley or Fingers. 9-1, 2.08 ERA, 43 SV, 86.2 IP, 88 K, and a 0.89 WHIP.

2. Cory Lidle (2001 & 2002): The late Cory Lidle was an average back-of-the-rotation starter for the A's for most of 2001 and 2002. But in August 2002, Lidle turned in the greatest one month pitching performance I have ever seen. 5-0, 45 IP, 1 ER for an ERA of 0.20 and a WHIP of 0.68. All of a sudden, no one could score off this guy. His performance, likely more than any other one player at the time, propelled the A's to the 20 game win streak that is still one of my favorite fan memories.

1. Frank Thomas (2006): After a less than ideal departure from Chicago (White Sox GM Kenny Williams declared: "He's the Oakland A's problem now"), Thomas came to Oakland and after a slow April, some wondered if his career was over. They were, to put it mildly, wrong. Frank picked up his trusty on-deck circle rebar on a road trip to Chicago in May and never looked back. He was the big bat we'd been searching for all these years. In September, he hit 10 HR, had 31 RBI, slugged 602, practically willed the team into the playoffs and caused Nico to repeatedly say "I really like Frank Thomas-- a lot." At first I really didn't believe it was true that we finally had a bat that would consistently win games for us. I kept expecting him to cool off. But by the middle of that September I felt like a Bulls fan from the early 90s must have felt. It doesn't matter if the team is down a few points and the game is getting late. Chill man, Frank's got it.

Welcome back, big guy.

Musical Interlude: Your 2008 Athletics: Kings of the Road

Hegenberger Road — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:13:16 -0000

In honor of the A's 4-0 road record to start 2008...

Players for sale or rent
Team rebuilds, gets prospects
No Danny, Kots, or Nick
We sure miss ol' Scooter's hits
Ah, but three weeks in the desert groom
Some new kids who might be true
We're a team of means by no means
Kings of the road

Third boxscore, late night plane
Destination: Cleveland games
Can you hear those road fan boos?
Against CC we can't lose!
We smoke 9 runs and bat around
Then the crowd don't make a sound
We're a team of means by no means
Kings of the road

We get every clutch out in every game
All of the starters, tossing good frames
Our offense can score runs and we have found
that even Bobby Crosby is coming around

Players for sale or rent
Team rebuilds, gets prospects
No Danny, Kots, or Nick
We sure miss ol' Scooter's hits
Ah, but three weeks in the desert groom
Some new kids who might be true
We're a team of means by no means
Kings of the road

[In the video, this song starts at about 3:15, before that is some banter between Roger and Johnny that I found entertaining]

Silver Lining Patrol

Hegenberger Road — Mon, 16 May 2005 00:00:33 -0000

These are dark times, indeed. We've had bad Mays before, but this one seems worse.

Looking at the team now is frustrating and painful.

But in an effort to listen to my inner optimist (not blindly follow the guy, mind you, just hear what he has to say), here are some silver linings I see from today's game and other recent events:

-Danny Haren was not awful today (wow, Dave, is "not awful" the best your inner optimist can do?). He was bad, but not awful. 6 IP, 4 ER, Progress, Improvement.

-We're trying new things. New lineup. Scooter stole a base. Trying to move runners over. And the result: 4 runs when the Unit start. Not shabby.

-That Kielty for Lilly deal is starting to look really good. Kielty's been hitting, not great of course, but hitting. But Lilly's been positively awful. 10.41 ERA and 2.13 WHIP. Glad we don't have that on our hands.

-Harden's feeling better already.

Okay, my well's dry. Anything else on that silver lining?

If the A's and the Giants were to morph into one team...

Hegenberger Road — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 00:31:17 -0000

...what would be my starting lineup?

I asked myself that question during the countless hours of boredom in school. And now, as a way of escaping from the ton of work I have to do, I'd like to revisit the question again.

Catcher (Kendall/Matheny): This is a no brainer. Kendall's OBP is at least .100 higher than Matheny's. Kendall

1st Base (Hatteberg/Snow): Tempted to put Snow in for defense, but it is first base. I love Hatter when he's hot, but as long as I don't care about defense at first (and I don't), I've got a better option. Durazo

2nd Base (Ellis/Ginter/Durham): Ellis has defense. Ginter has a bat. Durham has both. Durham

3rd Base (Chavez/Alfonzo): Not worth explaining. Chavez

Short Stop (Crosby/Vizquel): Hmm.. power or average? youth or experience? Given that this team will have plenty of power, I'll go for average. Vizquel

Left Field (Bonds/Byrnes): 'roids and my love for Capt. America aside, I just have to. Bonds

Center Field (Kotsay/Grissom): Kots hit .314 last year and is a stud on defense. 'nuff said. Kotsay

Right Field (Swisher/Alou): So Alou seems like an obvious choice, but I just hate the idea of having a huge defensive liability in the outfield. I could put up with it at first, but here I get nightmares about Candy Maldonado. So, what to do? Go with the rookie?? Eh, I'm hesitant. If I open this up to all other outfielders, I have some more options. Byrnes? Well, considering I scrapped Alou, I'd be putting in Byrnes for his defense. No, can't do that; it's just weird. Never been high on Grissom (who's gotta be pushing 40). What the heck? I want a good defensive outfield, and somebody on this team will have to hit last. Might as well make it obvious: Charles Thomas

DH: I decided to play this game, so I can have my cake and eat it too. Alou

Put those 5 A's and 4 Giants together and I get a batting order that'd look something like

Kotsay L
Kendall R
Bonds L
Alou R
Chavez L
Durazo L
Vizquel S
Durham S
Thomas L

So what do you think? In the past, when I was really bored, I added a bench and a pitching staff, but I don't have that in me right now.

Time for new coaching?

Hegenberger Road — Sun, 19 Dec 2004 21:36:56 -0000

With all these young players, managing and coaching become a lot more important. So should we try to go after a new manager or pitching coach?

I'm not down on Macha and Young, I think they're alright, but nothing special.

We are a promising rebuilding project for an ambitious manager or PC, so we could possibly attract somebody.

Any chance Rick Peterson gets fed up w/ the Mets incompetence (or Pedro pisses him off)?

Dave Stewart has considerable PC experience (for the Padres when they won the NL, 2003 Olympic Qualifying Team, and the Blue Jays)

Other ideas out there?