Manufacturing Runs or Home Runs????

[Brewers101]

In my opinion, the Brewers have had a very good trade deadline for themselves, but I also think that they have made it so that they are more of a team that will manufacture runs than home runs. They have added seasoned players in Graffanino and Bell who know how to make contact.

I like the idea of manufacturing runs more than waiting for a yarder that may never come at the needed time.

How do you think the adition of these two in the infield while Weeks and Koskie are injured will help/hurt the Brewers in the hunt of a wild card.

[KCGHOST]

Bell is a decent fielding 3B, but is a below average bat. Not good at an offensive position. Graffanino is a nice utility player, but if he's playing a lot you're losing a lot as he is another below average bat. Having them in place of Weeks and Koskie is a decided drop off.

A team of mashers will outscore a team of manufacturers by a wide margin so be careful what you wish for. Really good teams can do both. The skills to manufacture runs really come to the fore when you just need a run to tie or win the game.

[Thunder John]

I like the idea of manufacturing runs more than waiting for a yarder that may never come at the needed time.

Amen.

I love that style. I loved the days in St. Louis with Coleman and McGee atop the lineup. Tommy Herr drove in 100 runs one year and only hit EIGHT home runs.

Let the flaming begin, but I miss artificial turf and game it produced. It gets boring watching guys swing from their ass trying to hit the ball out of the park.

And a bomber team may score more runs than a manufacturing team, but it will be in bunches. They'll have a bunch of seven, eight and ten-run games, but then nothing for a week or ten days. I think the team that plays small ball, bunts, hits-and-runs and steals bases scores more consistently.

Besides, speed doesn't slump.


Thunder John
Kind of young, kind of wow

[KCGHOST]

And a bomber team may score more runs than a manufacturing team, but it will be in bunches. They'll have a bunch of seven, eight and ten-run games, but then nothing for a week or ten days. I think the team that plays small ball, bunts, hits-and-runs and steals bases scores more consistently.


I understand your love of small ball, but you are wrong if you think it is the way to score runs. First, your have no data that backs up your position on how the runs will be scored. Second, While you are probably right that a small ball team scores more consistently, it is a consistency of scoring just 1, 2, or 3 runs. Third, If small ball is the way to go then why aren't the Willie Tavares' of the world making the big bucks and the David Ortiz's the chump change.

The Yankees didn't win 26 championships playing small ball.

[Thunder John]

OK, KC, I'll sketch a season that should be near and dear to your heart. It is mine.

1985.

KC over St. Louis in the World Series.


The '85 Cards, one of my favorite teams:
747 runs (6th overall/1st in NL)
87 HR (25th of 26 teams in MLB)
314 SB (1st overall)
.335 team OBP (4th overall)
70 Sacrifices (8th overall)
41 Sac Flies (21st overall)

The big slugging teams of '85 were Baltimore and the Yankees.

The Yankees:
839 runs (1st overall)
176 HR (3rd overall)

Baltimore:
818 runs (2nd overall)
214 HR (1st overall)

Kansas City
.313 OBP (22nd overall)
154 HR (8th)
687 Runs (16th)
128 SB (10th)

W-L Records:
NYY 97-64 .602
BAL 83-78 .516
STL 101-61 .623
KC 91-71 .562

Leading your league in scoring is nothing to sneeze at. No, I don't have any data to back up how runs were scored. However, one can pretty accurately surmise that 87 home runs accounted for perhaps 40 percent of St. Louis' run scoring. I'd be willing to bet that the 314 stolen bases figured into many, many more runs than the 87 bombs did. And KC's 8th overall finish in home runs translated into only the 16th most runs scored.

And let's not fool ourselves on the Yankees 26 World Championships. When September/October rolls around, those flags are the results of the Whitey Fords, Ron Guidrys, Don Larsens and the great pitching of the Bronx. Sure, it helped to have some big time power hitters, but there's also no way in the world that the big bats hit home runs in the World Series at the same pace they did in the regular season. Reggie Jackson excepted, of course. He was just silly.


Thunder John