Waste of Time?

I see in the Sun-Times today that White Sox GM Chris Getz hired a director of hitting. Both the position and its initial occupant are mysteries to me. Getz went on to say, “We’ve tasked our analysts to be more specialized, and we’re beginning to build some really cool stuff that’s going to help create competitive advantages in a lot of areas.” Oh, boy. Kids and their gizmos. The thing I like about Will Venable, Getz’s new hire for manager, is that he was a nine-year MLB veteran. A successful manager doesn’t have to have played in the big leagues, but it helps. For every Joe Maddon and Earl Weaver, there seem to be a whole lot more Mickey-Mouse types. I don’t want to see an organizational approach to hitting based on tech alone. For the umpteenth time, let me offer the best approach to hitting, as articulated by hitting coach extraordinaire—and sixteen-year MLB vet—Bill Robinson: “A good hitting instructor is able to mold his teachings to the individual. If a guy stands on his head, you perfect that.” Anything else is a waste of time.

He Gone Soon

The NFL has created this 24/7/365 behemoth that keeps football on every fan’s mind, which is a great thing for any team .500 or above. But it gets dicey when a team stinks. All the NFL hype-cycle does then is to remind people just how bad their team is, and the Bears are stinky bad. They showed it again yesterday with a 29-9 loss to the Cardinals. The Munsters have no offensive line and, basically, haven’t had one for the past five seasons. Stick a rookie quarterback like Caleb Williams behind a bunch of doormen who make way for the opponent’s pass rush, and you’ve got trouble. The Chicago media keeps reminding people 24/7 that Williams has been regressing the past two weeks and losses. Not so head coach Matt “Mickey” Eberflus; there’s no there there, no demonstration of talent from which to recede. Mickey’s record in two-plus seasons is a woeful 14-28, and a pathetically woeful 3-18 on the road. Veterans went public last week with doubts about coaching decisions made in the 18-15 “Hail Mary” debacle against the Commanders while 24/7 coverage stoked speculation over how or if Eberflus would discipline Tyrique Stevenson for being out of position on the Hail Mary. The answer to that question is Mickey held out Stevenson for the first two defensive series and then brought him in. The Munsters are all about pride in legacy—Halas, Ditka, Butkus, etc. The slap on the wrist is not going to play well in Soldier Field come Sunday when the Bears face the Patriots. If Eberflus and co. can’t beat a 2-7 team, it’s going to get really ugly. And it may get ugly because of another bonehead decision by the coach, to keep his quarterback in for the entire game even when he was down by twenty points late in the game. With the clock winding down and Williams scrambling to avoid a seventh sack, an Arizona defender landed on his ankle. After the game, Coach Mickey said he had Williams in to work on the two-minute drill. Right. Thanks to the NFL creation of an all-football, all-the-time environment, Bears’ fans will be reminded again and again just how bad their head coach is. He gone soon.

Stupid Is...

Has anyone seen a Bulls’ or Blackhawks’ game recently? Odds are, No, unless you’ve got the right streaming service or, get this, an antenna to pick up the TV signal. Welcome to Jerry Reinsdorf’s latest genius idea, the Chicago Sports Network. Just try finding it. Reinsdorf walked away from NBC Spors Chicago, taking not only the Sad Sox and Bulls with him, but getting Danny Wirtz to follow along with the Blackhawks. Only the greatest mind ever in all Chicago sports didn’t bother securing a carrying agreement with Comcast, with its 4.7 million Chicago-area subscribers. Oops. So, no facetime via Comcast with new Sox manager Will Venable to go with no games for Blackhawks’ and Bulls’ fans. I can’t speak about the Hawks, but at least the 3-3 Bulls look interesting—in the box scores, that is—with a run-and-gun offense made possible by the team moving on from DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. Rumor has it that any agreement between Reinsdorf’s Folly and Comcast will involve putting the sports’ channel in a more expensive package. No, thanks. If and when it comes time to watch baseball come spring, I’ll go buy an antenna. Thanks, Jerry.

Tiny, Baby Steps

The White Sox hired a new manager yesterday in the person of Will Venable, a nine-year major league veteran and Princeton graduate with a degree in anthropology. I’m guessing Mickey Mouse didn’t do his senior thesis comparing baseball in the U.S. and Japan. Right now, the only certain positive here is that the odds are Venable won’t be Mouse 2.0. What will he be? We’re about to find out. I’m guessing GM Chris Getz wants to keep pitching coach Ethan Katz. We’ll get a better sense of who Venable is and wants to be when the rest of the coaching staff is announced.

Goodbye to 2024

Some Fall Classic—Aaron Judge dropped a ball hit right at him; Gerrit Cole couldn’t be bothered to cover first base on a groundball; Austin Wells got called for catcher’s interference. Plus the Yankees blew a five-run lead to lose game five and the Series to the Dodgers, 7-6. Shohei Ohtani Series MVP? Judge? Nope. Freddie Freeman with his twelve RBIs was. Ohtani went 2-for-19, Judge 4-for-18. So, big teams, big stage, pop-gun results. Bring on 2025 with two different participants, please. Oh, and Aaron Boone will be out as Yankees’ manager. It’s never good to remind people of Mickey Mouse.

Class Act

After watching last night’s World Series’ game, I’m coming to the conclusion that all athletic contests should be played without fans present. Take Yankee Stadium, please. Two morons in right field challenged Mookie Betts in the bottom of the first inning as he leaned into the stands for a foul fly by Gleyber Torres. One fan pried the ball out of Betts’ glove while the other held onto Betts’ throwing arm, to give the other clown more time. The umpire ruled fan interference, and, for all I know, that bad behavior fueled the Yankees to a 11-4 win. The ball-prying clown told ESPN, “I patrol that wall, and they know that.” No, buddy, you’re entitled to watch a game and try to catch a ball that comes your way. If you’re so deluded as to think you’re part of the team (roving thug, maybe), you need help.

They Asked

Clare called last night to ask if I saw Aaron Judge strike out, which he’s done twenty times this postseason. My daughter is proving how spot-on that Progressive Insurance ad campaign is, the one about turning into your parents. She saw a Yankee go fishing for an outside pitch, and she caught herself saying, “And where would that ball have gone had he managed to hit it?” I’m flattered by the imitation. Afterward, Michele asked, “What’s wrong with Aaron Judge? He looks terrible.” I told my wife that, when a hitter goes bad like this, it’s likely one of three things—age, injury, or a slump, something no player can avoid. Judge is 32 and coming off a season where he hit 58 homeruns to go with 144 RBIs, so I’d say it’s not age. An injury? It’s possible the Yankees are trying to keep one secret, but I doubt it. That leaves a slump, which can happen anytime. Unfortunately for Judge, it’s in a World Series where he’s being paired against Shohei Ohtani. Ironically, Ohtani is hitting .091 to Judge’s .083. Freddie Freeman is lapping them both with three homers and a .333 BA, but I digress. My wife also asked, “How can he get out of a slump?” to which I answered, “By getting some hits.” This is where the mental part of the game comes in. Judge has to control the urge to swing at everything and, instead, stay small. Some singles to the opposite field could lead to an avalanche of homers. A slump can turn that quickly. Judge has had pretty decent stats in the postseason until this year, which coincides with his first World Series’ appearance. Some guys have all the luck. Right now, Aaron Judge is not one of them.