http://www.sbnation.com/users/vkut79 Posts made by vkut79 on SB Nation http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2007/11/17/14423/086 vkut79 Sat, 17 Nov 2007 19:42:03 -0000 <p><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071117&amp;content_id=2302425&amp;vkey=hotstove2007&amp;fext=.jsp">http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071117&content_id=2302425&vkey=hotstove2007&fe xt=.jsp</a></p><p>"Thinking -- and acting -- outside the box, as general manager Omar Minaya says he likes to do, the Mets are pursuing a career shortstop to play second base and provide some of the fire the team lacked last season."</p><p>"Eckstein is widely recognized as one of baseball's foremost gamers."</p><p>"The Mets may see him as source of the grit and resolve their team lacked last season and may believe Eckstein would provide some of the fire Paul Lo Duca provided in his two seasons as their catcher."</p><p>Oh, and this:</p><p>"The News said Eckstein is thought to be seeking a four-year contract worth $36 million, which, the paper said, exceeds what Castillo is expected to command."</p><p>Lol!!!</p> http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2007/8/14/45850/9191 vkut79 Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:58:50 -0000 <p>I'm sure a guy who has managed in the minors and served as a bench coach for 20 something years knows a thing or two about how to succeed in baseball. I don't think Maclaren would have the support of the organization, Hargrove, and the players if he was really as inept as posters here make him out to be. As bad as some of his moves may seem, I'm sure that he knows well what he is doing out there. Yet everyone points him out to be totally inept, day after day. What you have to realize is that he doesn't think like us fans do. He doesn't look at the same data or have the same approach to running a team that we do. For one thing, he has a great deal of faith in certain players and sticks with them despite slumps and bad results in the field. He doesn't rely on stat analysis so much - he deals with real people and with a ton more variables. Sending out Parrish in the 7th inning last night looked really dumb to everyone, and what I get from that is that Maclaren knows more about this guy than we do so he is more capable of making the right decision in that spot. There's much more to his job than we see and I think personally I'm going to get off his back for the time being. We'll see how he manages the next few games.</p>