May 04
I do not want to place a number on how many wins Papa Joe needed in order to earn an extension. Obviously Stuart Sternberg and Andrew Friedman will judge a number of factors before making a decision. Each week I will take a look at how Maddon is performing in each of five categories. While this list is likely not complete, I do believe these are the most important factors in determining whether or not Joe Maddon can be a winning baseball manager.
- Wins: 16-14, 2 games behind Boston and tied for 2nd in AL East, 1 game ahead of the Yankees and 1 game behind Oakland in the Wild Card race.
- Fundamentals on the field: Offensively, the Rays are only tied for 8th in AL with 106 walks. While they are 4th in steals in the AL, they have been caught stealing a league leading 14 times. Not to mention the 437 times BJ Upton has been thrown out at third base. On the mound they are only 9th in Ks, and they are starting to walk batters, moving up to the 8th most walks in the AL. Defensively the Rays are 2nd in the AL in Defensive Efficiency Rating but catchers have thrown out only 5 of 25 base stealers.
- Consistently competitive: At one point the Rays won 10 of 13 and possesed first place all by themselves.
- Avoid prolonged slumps: Have lost at least 3 in a row twice this season, but in the last 16 games, they have only once have they lost back-to-back games.
- Control the clubhouse: No reports of problems.
- Summary: There are problems. The team seems to still make several mental mistakes every night, but I can’t ignore the record. If the season ended today, Papa Joe would be given an extension.
Apr 20
I do not want to place a number on how many wins Papa Joe needed in order to earn an extension. Obviously Stuart Sternberg and Andrew Friedman will judge a number of factors before making a decision. Each week I will take a look at how Maddon is performing in each of five categories. While this list is likely not complete, I do believe these are the most important factors in determining whether or not Joe Maddon can be a winning baseball manager.
- Wins: 8-10, 3.5 games behind, last place in AL East
- Fundamentals on the field: This is the one spot that the Rays have shown absolutely no improvement from last year to this year. I can’t even count how many times a player has been thrown out on the base paths. The Rays are third in the AL in steals, but lead the league in caught stealing. Things are not much better at the plate. The Rays are 3rd in the AL with 118 strikeouts, but only have 60 walks (11th in AL). Things are a little better on the mound where only two teams in the AL have given up fewer walks than the Rays’ 54. Only 3 teams in the AL have committed more errors, but the Rays are 2nd in the AL with a .724 Defensive Efficiency Rating. Rays catchers have yet to have a passed ball, but they have only thrown out 3 of 18 base stealers.
- Consistently competetive: Only 4 losses have been by more than 2 runs, so the Rays have been in 14 of the 18 games so far this year.
- Avoid prolonged slumps: The Rays already have a 4-game losing streak and a 3-game skid. They have yet to win more than 2 in a row.
- Control the clubhouse:No stories have surfaced
- Summary: I love the patience of the Rays even if we have to deal with stories like this. But I have to wonder how much patience they will have if the Rays finish in last place again after spending as much money as they have and with the new stadium still awaiting approval. To me it just seems fitting that Maddon’s Chernoff Face is frowning. And while the Rays have dealt with a slew of injuries including to two of the top three pitchers, the Rays are underperforming. Keep in mind that the Rays have won one of Jason Hammel’s three starts. How many of those would Scott Kazmir won? Two? So the injury has cost the Rays 1 win. There are just still way too many blunders in the field from the entire team. When the Rays start getting healthy in the next few weeks, they better start winning games or Maddon’s career in blue will be a short one.
Mar 23
Last year the Tampa Bay Rays picked up Joe Maddon‘s two-year option. In reality it was a one-year deal as few teams are willing to enter a season with a manager that only has one year left on his contract. In 2008, Papa Joe and the Rays will either take Two Steps forward, earning Maddon an extension…or he will be fired.
I do not want to place a number on how many wins Papa Joe needed in order to earn an extension. Obviously Stuart Sternberg and Andrew Friedman will judge a number of factors before making a decision. Each week I will take a look at how Maddon is performing in each of five categories. While this list is likely not complete, I do believe these are the most important factors in determining whether or not Joe Maddon can be a winning baseball manager.
- Wins: The Rays still boast the best record in spring training. Maddon says he doesn’t put much stock in spring numbers. Still, as Carl Crawford said there is some importance in spring success for a team like the Rays. However, with a starting rotation that includes Edwin Jackson and Jason Hammel and with Willy Aybar likely starting at third base and no scheduled return of either Scott Kazmir or Evan Longoria I have to believe that wins are going to be rare early in the season.
- Fundamentals on the field: The offense is starting to slump a little at the wrong time. The Rays OBP has slipped to 5th in the spring at .364 after being at .386 a week ago. The Rays have committed only 18 errors in 21 games. Only 9 teams have fewer errors. Behind the plate, opponents are only 11-18 in steals. Only two teams have allowed fewer stolen bases. The Rays also have the 6th best Defensive Efficiency Rating (.715). In 2007 the Rays had the worst DER in baseball at .669.
- Consistently competetive: N/A
- Avoid prolonged slumps: N/A
- Control the clubhouse: Maddon will have a big task on his hands if/when the team decides to demote Longoria who has been one of the team’s top performers in the spring. Other players will start to question the team’s commitment to winning.
- Summary: Let’s face it. Maddon has a tall task until Kazmir returns and there is no sign that is going to happen anytime soon. And even when he does return, he will be on a strict pitch limit. And that is not the only problem with this roster. The bullpen is no longer one of the worst in history, but is it really any good? I would say average at best. And that is assuming everybody can stay healthy. The Rays need to win this year for Madden to come back and right now, he does not have a roster to win more than 75 games. Will that be enough? A bad start and the needle will drop below 50%
Mar 16
Last year the Tampa Bay Rays picked up Joe Maddon‘s two-year option. In reality it was a one-year deal as few teams are willing to enter a season with a manager that only has one year left on his contract. In 2008, Papa Joe and the Rays will either take Two Steps forward, earning Maddon an extension…or he will be fired.
I do not want to place a number on how many wins Papa Joe needed in order to earn an extension. Obviously Stuart Sternberg and Andrew Friedman will judge a number of factors before making a decision. Each week I will take a look at how Maddon is performing in each of five categories. While this list is likely not complete, I do believe these are the most important factors in determining whether or not Joe Maddon can be a winning baseball manager.
- Wins: 12-3 in spring training, the best record in baseball. In the past 5 years, 9 teams have won 20 games in spring training. 6 of those teams went on to win at least 88 games in the regular season.
- Fundamentals on the field: In 2007 the Rays led the AL in strikeouts by hitters with 8.2 per game and had a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.4-to-1. In spring training, the Rays have cut their strikeout rate to 6.3 per game and the ratio is down to 1.4-to-1. This has been reflected in the teams ability to get on base also. The Rays posted a .336 OBP in 2007. That number is .386 in spring training, which trails only the A’s. Unfortunately, the pitching staff is still struggling to throw strikes. The staff as a whole allowed 3.6 walks per 9 innings in 2007. That number is 3.8 in spring training. Granted, this includes a number of pitchers that won’t see the light of day after march. The Rays ranked 4th in baseball in errors. In the spring the Rays have committed only 14 in 15 games. Only 5 teams have committed fewer. The Rays are 22-28 in steals. Opponents are only 9-14 in steals.
- Consistently competetive: N/A
- Avoid prolonged slumps: N/A
- Control the clubhouse: Ask the Yankees if Joe Maddon is in control of his clubhouse.
- Summary: It is only spring training, but the Andrew Friedman filled most of the holes in the off-season and the Rays are making all the necessary changes on the field. This will all mean nothing if the Rays don’t win more regular season games, but if this keeps up in the spring training, we will probably hear about a contract extension sooner rather than later.
Mar 09
Last year the Tampa Bay Rays picked up Joe Maddon‘s two-year option. In reality it was a one-year deal as few teams are willing to enter a season with a manager that only has one year left on his contract. In 2008, Papa Joe and the Rays will either take Two Steps forward, earning Maddon an extension…or he will be fired.
I do not want to place a number on how many wins Papa Joe needed in order to earn an extension. Obviously Stuart Sternberg and Andrew Friedman will judge a number of factors before making a decision. Each week I will take a look at how Maddon is performing in each of five categories. While this list is likely not complete, I do believe these are the most important factors in determining whether or not Joe Maddon can be a winning baseball manager.
- Wins: 7-1 (spring training)
- Fundamentals on the field: Through 8 games. 18-22 in stolen bases. Opponents are only 3-5 in steals. The Rays have committed only 2 errors, have no passed balls, have turned 9 double plays and have the highest fielding percentage (.993) in spring training.
- Consistently competetive: N/A
- Avoid prolonged slumps: N/A
- Control the clubhouse: Nothing to report
- Summary: Nobody wants to place too much emphasis on spring games, but 7-1 is 7-1 and for a team that is trying to build a winning mentality, that sure beats the hell out of 1-14 like the Rays were in 2007. The Rays now have the best record in all baseball and people are starting to notice as it usually takes the Rays a month to reach 7 victories. The Bradenton Herald has a story this morning on Maddon and how he has always played to win but for the first time he feels like he has a lineup he can compete with. There is almost a sense of relief in the voice of Maddon while reading the article. The confidence is finally there. Will it mean more wins in 2008? We’ll see. In the meantime though, we have to believe that if the team had to make a decision on Maddon’s contract now, they would renew him. So the meter goes up one notch.
