Author Topic: Fire Matt Williams! (2015) - Standard Decision. (Read 160599 times)

...You have to have breaks, and be smart to win it all, right now I have no problem with virtually anything Rizzo has done other than Werth and Matt Williams. Williams should have been fired after his interviews with the press following last fall's choke job. As a GM that would signify to me that Williams had learned nothing from the catastrophic series of stupid decisions and failures he personally had a hand in, and was unlikely to grow in the job (show's all the traits of a concrete/inflexible personality who firmly believes he's learned everything he needs to know, playing the game in the eighties, nineties, and aughts, and has nothing to learn from numbers geeks, or, you know, intelligent strategists)...

This is exactly what I posted on WNFF last fall, except that I advocated TRADING Williams to Arizona, who had just fired its manager, and loved Williams more than Rizzo. We could have gotten a Diamondbacks player in a trade. My thread was moved by The Chief to The Red Loft section. coward. (He must have been pressured by the Nationals front office to tow the line.)

varoadking · « **Reply #1359 on:** August 27, 2015, 12:04:51 am »

I would love to see a montage of 5-10 second clips of Williams pressers after each loss saying essentially the same garbage each time...

...though I do recall him saying "It's still early" back in April and May...and maybe June...

HattoriHanzo · « **Reply #1360 on:** August 27, 2015, 04:01:59 am »

He should just quit. I'd have more respect for him if he quit right now. I bet if he was the manager of the dbacks and he stunk this bad, la russa would have fired him a long time ago.

rileyn · « **Reply #1361 on:** August 27, 2015, 06:54:07 am »

That's the way we play. We are not going to change. It's in our DNA. Standard decision.

How about use your freaking instincts every once in a while you jack ass? You absolutely CAN change the way you play when the situation dictates it. There is no rule that states you must declare a style of play and then you may never change it.

OldChelsea · « **Reply #1362 on:** August 27, 2015, 07:58:14 am »

Quote from: PC on August 26, 2015, 11:11:47 pm

Watch the beginning of this and tell we why he's not fired yet.

Fortunately in listening to many recent matches I've fallen asleep by the time his post-match talk-in-spasms session begins.

mitlen · « **Reply #1363 on:** August 27, 2015, 08:04:05 am »

Quote from: skippy1999 on August 26, 2015, 11:39:40 pm

Yep, question is how long will it take for him to admit Williams is not manager material?

Rizzo hired Williams because of their connections. Plus, Rizzo thought this team was a juggernaut and Williams couldn't f*** it up. All he had to do was show up. Win win .... Williams gets a job, looks good and the Nats win the pennant. Mr. Lerner's wondering how he got sold this bill of goods.

spidernat · « **Reply #1364 on:** August 27, 2015, 08:20:08 am »

Quote from: varoadking on August 27, 2015, 12:04:51 am

...though I do recall him saying "It's still early" back in April and May...and maybe June...

Williams is a Shiner.

aussienatsfan · « **Reply #1365 on:** August 27, 2015, 08:29:32 am »

Quote from: PC on August 26, 2015, 11:11:47 pm

Watch the beginning of this and tell we why he's not fired yet.

Sickening, if you can keep a straight face through that you are not stupid you are just plain incompetent. I honestly was waiting for him to say standard decision

HalfSmokes · « **Reply #1366 on:** August 27, 2015, 08:31:30 am »

he looks nervous as hell

rileyn · « **Reply #1367 on:** August 27, 2015, 08:34:17 am »

He keeps saying, "we are not going to change the way we play," as if it is insane to even consider that. You are .500 team. You SHOULD change the way you play. The entire lineup tries to hit 5 run home runs. We play shoddy defense, and we don't manufacture runs. He should be saying, "We need to change the way we play." Since when did our style become the best approach? What has it gotten us? Man, I can't wait until he is his gum are out of here.

HalfSmokes · « **Reply #1368 on:** August 27, 2015, 08:36:34 am »

Quote from: rileyn on August 27, 2015, 08:34:17 am

He keeps saying, "we are not going to change the way we play," as if it is insane to even consider that. You are .500 team. You SHOULD change the way you play. The entire lineup tries to hit 5 run home runs. We play shoddy defense, and we don't manufacture runs. He should be saying, "We need to change the way we play." Since when did our style become the best approach? What has it gotten us? Man, I can't wait until he is his gum are out of here.

does long term steroid use impair cognitive abilities?

mitlen · « **Reply #1369 on:** August 27, 2015, 08:36:46 am »

Quote from: HalfSmokes on August 27, 2015, 08:31:30 am

he looks nervous as hell

He has a very uneasy manner. When he doesn't know what to say or is finagling, he starts rubbing his arms and/or neck.

NJ Ave · « **Reply #1370 on:** August 27, 2015, 09:14:34 am »

Again, I go back to the Fangraphs article where almost every guy mentions how Bochy puts guys in positions to succeed and keeps them out of situations where they're uncomfortable and might fail.

I think it's possible Williams is TRYING to do the same thing, but just has a completely erroneous sense of how likely guys are to succeed or fail in certain spots. Like he would think the ultimate thing to do would be to put up a rookie with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the World Series - because how could you "succeed" more than that? - and have a complete failure to understand that if the situation overwhelms the person they are far less likely to succeed at all.

Here's the situation as a GOOD manager would have seen it:

1. We're struggling to stay in the division race, and that's our only way into the playoffs.
2. We've scratched and clawed our way back into the game, but we're still down by one.
3. 1st and 3rd, 1 out. The runner on 1st WILL score from 2nd on a base hit.
4. In 1,357 plate appearances with a 3-0 count in the NL this season, there have been 1,240 walks (91.4%) but only a .345 average on non-walks.
5. Your hitter has no power, is 8TH in the league in GB%, and is 6TH in the league in GIDP.
6. With the bases loaded and 1 out (the situation if Yunel walks) NL hitters this year have an OPS 36% better than average and have averaged .81 RBI per PA. By situational OPS, it's the 5th best situation to be in as a hitter this season, out of 37 hitting situations.

I don't think there's a second option in that situation. Matt Williams clearly wants to give Yunel the "chance to succeed" and it's clearly not the right situation to do it in. You take the walk against a pitcher who has already given up two runs, you load the bases, and you use your two batters to try to get a game-tying base hit. Stop trying to outsmart everyone, you big dummy. You have the WORST instincts of any manager in baseball.

mitlen · « **Reply #1371 on:** August 27, 2015, 09:20:36 am »

Quote from: NJ Ave on August 27, 2015, 09:14:34 am

Matt Williams clearly wants to give Yunel the "chance to succeed" and it's clearly not the right situation to do it in. You take the walk against a pitcher who has already given up two runs, you load the bases, and you use your two batters to try to get a game-tying base hit. Stop trying to outsmart everyone, you big dummy. You have the WORST instincts of any manager in baseball.

The walk is a chance to succeed but Williams' philosophy seems to be "If you ain't beatin' the crap out of the ball and swinging away, you ain't succeeding". Worst instincts is damn close to the nub of the matter. There is no nuance in Williams. It's 100% full steam ahead. I often joked about my dad, "He may be wrong but he's never in doubt." That's Williams as well.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #1372 on:** August 27, 2015, 09:36:54 am »

Quote from: NJ Ave on August 27, 2015, 09:14:34 am

Again, I go back to the Fangraphs article where almost every guy mentions how Bochy puts guys in positions to succeed and keeps them out of situations where they're uncomfortable and might fail.

I think it's possible Williams is TRYING to do the same thing, but just has a completely erroneous sense of how likely guys are to succeed or fail in certain spots. Like he would think the ultimate thing to do would be to put up a rookie with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the World Series - because how could you "succeed" more than that? - and have a complete failure to understand that if the situation overwhelms the person they are far less likely to succeed at all.

Here's the situation as a GOOD manager would have seen it:

1. We're struggling to stay in the division race, and that's our only way into the playoffs.
2. We've scratched and clawed our way back into the game, but we're still down by one.
3. 1st and 3rd, 1 out. The runner on 1st WILL score from 2nd on a base hit.
4. In 1,357 plate appearances with a 3-0 count in the NL this season, there have been 1,240 walks (91.4%) but only a .345 average on non-walks.
5. Your hitter has no power, is 8TH in the league in GB%, and is 6TH in the league in GIDP.
6. With the bases loaded and 1 out (the situation if Yunel walks) NL hitters this year have an OPS 36% better than average and have averaged .81 RBI per PA. By situational OPS, it's the 5th best situation to be in as a hitter this season, out of 37 hitting situations.

I don't think there's a second option in that situation. Matt Williams clearly wants to give Yunel the "chance to succeed" and it's clearly not the right situation to do it in. You take the walk against a pitcher who has already given up two runs, you load the bases, and you use your two batters to try to get a game-tying base hit. Stop trying to outsmart everyone, you big dummy. You have the WORST instincts of any manager in baseball.

Add in the fact that Yunel had not had a hit on 3-0 all year (8 PAs, 8 BBs), and that he was only 1 for 7 after a 3-0 count (with 13 BBs, IIRC - quoted above). To say we do it all the time, .308, good RBI guy, 5th hitter is a smoke screen. To say "we do this with just about everybody" may be true (we don't know, maybe most of these guys who walk had green lights but decided to take), but then the ".308, good RBI guy, hitting 5th" is just BS smoke. It's the old, "when were you lying to me, what you first said or what you now?"

Minty Fresh · « **Reply #1373 on:** August 27, 2015, 09:40:35 am »

It's a lot of angst over one call. Is it possible he's falling on the sword here and he didn't give Escobar the green light? Escobar swung on his own and Williams is covering?

mitlen · « **Reply #1374 on:** August 27, 2015, 09:44:20 am »

Quote from: Minty Fresh on August 27, 2015, 09:40:35 am

It's a lot of angst over one call. Is it possible he's falling on the sword here and he didn't give Escobar the green light? Escobar swung on his own and Williams is covering?

Thought about that during the conference. He immediately took the fall. But there's no fun in this point of view.