tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post7908196443796813566..comments2024-02-23T20:49:09.057-08:00Comments on obsessivegiantscompulsive: Angel on the Fieldobsessivegiantscompulsivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11362706004246875823noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post-921053349985696412012-06-16T23:31:43.738-07:002012-06-16T23:31:43.738-07:00Yeah, by definition, but I am would guess that the...Yeah, by definition, but I am would guess that the paper pushers took one look at Villalona's physique and said, "Elite athlete my ass." <br /><br />If so, with a little research, very little, they could have found out that he was among the elite of the elite, part of BA's Top 50, not just Top 100, not that long ago, and that his body type was never elite.<br /><br />Also, probably not a baseball fan, though I would think the person probably was old enough to have been aware of a lot of unfit baseball players like Boog Powell, Luis Tiant, and there was even Rod Beck among recent fatties who were good baseball players.<br /><br />Yeah, I've learned to appreciate Bochy more and more over the years, I wasn't enamored with him early on, but he won me over by making tough decisions leading up to the playoffs in 2010, then made one of the toughest ever, leaving Zito off the roster and STILL capable of getting him to perform well for him to start the next season, before injuries made a car wreck of his season.<br /><br />Then my research found out that he is probably THE elite manager of his era, at least within the NL (never researched AL side of the 1-run phenomenon), which endeared him to me even more. I mean, his machinations with the lineups and pitching together nets his team 4 extra wins every season over the average manager. On the free agent market that is worth over $20M (don't know what a replacement level manager is, but that would be additional value on top of that) for a player. I'm really glad that Sabean jumped on him when he became available. <br /><br />I can't remember the sequence of how that happened, I'm not sure if Alou was moved on first or if that was part of the move to Bochy.obsessivegiantscompulsivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11362706004246875823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735245.post-6793760754522857202012-06-16T20:44:07.651-07:002012-06-16T20:44:07.651-07:00That seems a bit odd - I know it's for Rule 5 ...That seems a bit odd - I know it's for Rule 5 reasons, but being on a 40 man roster would seem "elite".... roughly in theory, one of the top 1200 ballplayers in the world? But then again, he hasn't played baseball in a while, has he.<br /><br />I am really enjoying Bochy's lineup machinations, by the way. Love that mini top of the order in the 5-6-7 spots tonight. He's a smart man.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com