SB Nation User Blog: elijahdukes

Mis-management

elijahdukes — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:57:57 -0000

I am, like everybody else here, really pleased with the result of tonight's game.

However, I was very disappointed with the management of Joe Maddon. Anyone who knew anything about Kaz knew that he just wasn't "on" tonight, his fastball was flat, he had no command, he could not induce a ground ball to save his life, and he couldn't throw any secondary pitch for strikes. His pitch count was already obscenely high to start the 5th inning and we had two very viable long relief options in the pen, one of which is a #1 pick hard throwing premier lefty who none of the sox had really seen before. Yes, I am talking about Price. With the lead we had, why not give Price a shot for 1-2 innings? He would not have done worse than Kaz, and the pressure would not be too high as he was entering a clean, fresh inning with a 2-run lead. Granted, he has no real MLB experience (let alone playoff experience) but very few of our pitchers have playoff experience anyway. Imagine if we put in Price for 2 innings, then Bradford/Miller combo for 1, then Wheeler to set up, and Balfour to close. I think we would have faired pretty well. Where am I wrong here?

This offseason

elijahdukes — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:22:20 -0000

Instead of hanging onto our incredible stock in minor league pitching, why not trade a Wade Davis or Jeremy Hellickson for a couple top-line minor league hitting prospect like an Angel Salome, Michael Brantley, or Matt Gamel from the absolutely LOADED Milwuakee affiliate? This would give us what we need now and we would not waste our prospects on overvalued, proven ML starters at the trade deadline next year or in this winter meetings.

incredible insight...

elijahdukes — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:41:53 -0000

...from a comment on the heater blog. makes me wanna shoot myself.

Upton has great talent, and a POTENTIAL All Star, but he's not there yet. He's still a young punk who thinks that just because he's a MLB player he should have things handed to him. Unfortunately he's playing, and talking, as if he were still in Little League. What he has been forgetting to do are the basics tenents of Little League, especially for a centerfielder. You ALWAYS hustle. You NEVER forget how many outs there are and if you do ASK someone, especially the home plate umpire. His swing is lethargic at best. He seems very lazy, as if he doesn't want to be there. If that's the case, get him out of there. I'm sure there are many others who would love to take his place. Something makes me think that when Dukes and Young were traded he began to feel lost. Oh, and by the way, did anyone notice that the "chaw" that he has in his cheek has gotten bigger throughout the season as the "I care" commercials have been played with more frequency?

ichiro in rf

elijahdukes — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:35:38 -0000

hey, now that bavasi is fired and ichiro was just moved back to right, where he is supposed to be anyway, why not make the trade for suzuki and make that rf a solid slot. we would have easily the best defensive outfield in baseball, a serious leadoff hitter in ichiro, plus Aki can hit for power now and drive in some runs in the 6 or 7 hole. it would only be a minus becuse ichiro is lefty and that would make our lineup include 5 lefties

Aybar in the OF?

elijahdukes — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:07:51 -0000

Hey, I was wondering... Aybar is not too slow and seems to have a decent arm at 3B when he plays there... why not try him in RF once or twice to see how well he does? It could really pay off offensively big time. he's hitting 293 with some HRs and a lot of 2B so he could be a nice power bat in our lineup. Defensively I know he hasnt really played the position but he's an athlete and I think he would hold his own, at least compared to Hinske and Gomes.

Two Easy Steps to Make the Playoffs This Year

elijahdukes — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:21:18 -0000

1. Trade Hellickson and Hammel for Holliday. We get a great OF (that can play RF if he needs to) and the Rockies get a high ceiling prospect in Hellickson as well as an MLB ready SP in Hammel, both of which they say they need. We could even throw in another prospect from High A or AA Montgomery if need be. After all, even though the Yanks have the most $$$, trades require prospects and players, and we are rich in those.

2. Sign Bonds. $5 million deal about right before the all start break.

Our lineup then looks like:

Iwamura

Crawford

Upton

Bonds

Holliday

Pena

Longoria

Navarro

Bartlett

Our bench is: Gomes, Hinkse, Floyd (pretty damned impressive), and they will get playing time because Bonds is a part time player anyway.

With this kind of power and speed, combined with our great pitching/defense, we would be unstoppable.