"Brooksy" Conrad's Trifecta

[jhay610]

I have no words for what I just witnessed. Wow.

I have no words for what I just witnessed. Wow.

Sorry mods, got a little out of control and created a new thread when I added a poll.

[CBAreject]

I have no words for what I just witnessed. Wow.

Been meaning to say something about this before tonight's debacle. Conrad is a third baseman. Infante is a more natural second baseman or shortstop. Infante played extremely well at second, but conrad made a couple of errors at the end of the season at third, so Cox reasoned that the best way to rectify that was to move both Infante and Conrad to something other than their more natural positions. The early returns were awful, as Conrad made even more errors at the higher-volume second base. Cox is not one to admit he made a bad decision, though. He stuck with this into the postseason where Conrad made even more errors, and where Infante's misplay at third cost the Braves game 1 (Ross's grounder). Some call this "stubbornness" and others call it "sticking with his guys". I call it stupidity, and he should've had the brains to pull the plug on that awful experiment after game 1 if not during the regular season.

This brings back a lot of memories of similar stubborn Cox decisions. Namely, I'm recalling the 2002 NLDS where Cox decided to keep going with Robert Fick at first base, in spite of the fact that Franco was a far superior fielder there AND a better hitter. The thing is, Fick had "been his first baseman" for a long time, so he just reasoned that he should keep plugging him in. Fick had been horrible in the 2nd half, hitting .220. Franco had been red hot since his acquisition. Franco hit .500 that series in the at-bats he was allowed to take. Fick was 0 for 12 with a couple of GIDP's.

[jhay610]

Been meaning to say something about this before tonight's debacle. Conrad is a third baseman. Infante is a more natural second baseman or shortstop. Infante played extremely well at second, but conrad made a couple of errors at the end of the season at third, so Cox reasoned that the best way to rectify that was to move both Infante and Conrad to something other than their more natural positions. The early returns were awful, as Conrad made even more errors at the higher-volume second base. Cox is not one to admit he made a bad decision, though. He stuck with this into the postseason where Conrad made even more errors, and where Infante's misplay at third cost the Braves game 1 (Ross's grounder). Some call this "stubbornness" and others call it "sticking with his guys". I call it stupidity, and he should've had the brains to pull the plug on that awful experiment after game 1 if not during the regular season.

This brings back a lot of memories of similar stubborn Cox decisions. Namely, I'm recalling the 2002 NLDS where Cox decided to keep going with Robert Fick at first base, in spite of the fact that Franco was a far superior fielder there AND a better hitter. The thing is, Fick had "been his first baseman" for a long time, so he just reasoned that he should keep plugging him in. Fick had been horrible in the 2nd half, hitting .220. Franco had been red hot since his acquisition. Franco hit .500 that series in the at-bats he was allowed to take. Fick was 0 for 12 with a couple of GIDP's.

I am a Bobby fan but he does deserve some heat for this. You are correct in pointing out that once he makes a decision he is pretty much set on it -- he won't budge on it even if a mountain of evidence is collecting suggesting it is the wrong play.