With over 40 years as a major league player, manager and broadcaster, Buck Martinez has experienced baseball from all angles. Now in his role as the Toronto Blue Jays play-by-play announcer, Buck is taking your questions in his weekly blog for sportsnet.ca, Ask Buck Martinez.
Hank asks…
Dear Buck, with Blue Jays manager John Farrell out with pneumonia, it really brings the importance of the bench coach into focus. Who was your bench coach in Toronto, how much did you rely on him and what are some of the best manager/bench coach pairs you can think of?
Thanks!
Buck: Hank, the bench coach is a relatively new position on a major league coaching staff and has become a very import cog in the dugout, The bench coach is like an "assistant manager" that serves the roll of sounding board for the skipper. During managers pre-game preparation, the bench will consult on lineups and match ups for the upcoming game. Who has been hot on the opposing team and what relievers might match up best in critical situations are discussed. There is so much information available on each player and each team, one person couldn’t possibly sort it all out by himself, and so bench coaches share those duties.
During the game a bench coach sits next to the manager exchanging ideas on offensive situations that may arise and how to take advantage of an opportunity. He will also track where the team is in the batting order to keep everything in line. Most bench coaches will consult on the offence while the pitching coach will address the pitching side of things.
My bench coach in Toronto was Cookie Rojas, a former manager and my former teammate in Kansas City. Cookie helped me a ton since I had no previous coaching or managing experience. Some of the great bench coaches recently have been Don Zimmer for Joe Torre with the Yankees, Dave Martinez for Joe Maddon in Tampa Bay and John McLaren for Lou Piniella with the Mariners. Martinez has the same lineup and scouting reports on the bench as Maddon, and will offer suggestions during the game that Maddon may have overlooked but since they had discussed all of the possibilities earlier in the day, Dave feels comfortable offering up his ideas.
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Rob asks…
Hi Buck! I’m seeing a lot written about how wide open the AL MVP race is this year. Some think it’s a six-way race between Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson, three Red Sox players and Justin Verlander. How would you vote as of right now, and do you think pitchers should be eligible for the award?
Buck: Rob, you are correct in you assessment that the AL MVP race will be a close one. We see Jose Bautista every day and it’s hard not to think of him as the MVP for 2011. He leads the majors in on-base percentage, slugging, base-on-balls and OPS plus he is the best right fielder in the game with tremendous leadership skills. He should be a strong candidate for MVP. Curtis Granderson is right there with Jose in homers and he leads the majors in RBIs and is second in total bases and runs scored. He will get a lot of support.
The three Red Sox you mentioned are Adrian Gonzalez, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, I am assuming. Gonzalez has been everything the Sox hoped he would be and he is a gold glove defender. Ellsbury has had one of the best seasons in recent memories for a center fielder but I think he falls short although he will be the AL comeback player of the year. Dustin Pedroia, Boston’s heart and soul, has already won an MVP and is in the running again.
Justin Verlander makes a great case for himself becoming the first pitcher to win an MVP award since Dennis Eckersly won in 1992 with the Oakland A’s. Verlander leads the AL in wins, strikeouts and opponents batting average. He has thrown a no-hitter and has had 16 starts with five or fewer hits. He is truly the most dominant starter in the AL. That being said, there have not been many pitchers win the MVP since the Cy Young Award was established in Major League Baseball in 1956. For 10 years from 1956 to 1966 there was just one award for baseball, then in 1967 a Cy Young was awarded in each league. Most voters use the Cy Young as the pitcher MVP and have been reluctant to vote a pitcher for the MVP as well. Only seven pitchers have won a MVP award since the Cy Young was selected for both leagues. Bob Gibson and Denny McClain in 1968, Vida Blue won in 1971 with Oakland, Rollie Fingers with Milwaukee in 1981, Willie Hernandez in 1984 with the Tigers, Roger Clemens in 1986 with the Red Sox and Eck with the A’s in 1992.
I do think pitchers should be considered for the MVP award and if Justin Verlander continues to win at the same pace in the month of September leading Tigers into the playoffs, I would cast my vote for him.
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Sam asks…
Buck, I love Stephen Strasburg but I’m worried about him. Why do the Nationals seem to be in such a rush to have him pitch in the majors this year? What’s the point? Wouldn’t they be better off playing it safe and bring him back fully healthy and rested next year?
Buck: Sam that’s a very valid point and one I am sure the Nationals have asked themselves but I will give you my take on that. Strasburg has passed all of the tests in his comeback from Tommy John surgery. The rehab schedule has changed over the last several years for pitchers on the mend. The formula is now 4-7-11.
Four months after surgery a pitcher will start throwing on flat ground. Seven months he should be up on the mound and four months after that he should be ready to throw in a game. Strasburg’s surgery was early September last year and he has met all those requirements. As for pitching him in September, teams like to get the player back on the field in action before the season is over so they know where they stand heading into the off-season. If Strasburg has a good month and remains healthy and effective his mind will focus on normal off-season conditioning and the club will be able to move forward with their rotation plans for 2012.
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Kathleen asks…
Buck, I think you’re great on Jays games. I grew up listening to Vin Scully and I’m so glad he’s coming back for another season in 2012. I know you’re from California. Just wondering if you also grew up listening to him, and what you think of him as a fellow broadcaster.
Buck: Kathleen I agree with you about Vin coming back for next year. He has been the voice of baseball in Southern California since the Dodgers came to L.A. in 1958 and many fans count the days to the start of every season and the return of Vinny to the airwaves. For me personally growing up in Northern California my guys were Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges of the San Francisco Giants. I can still hear their voices in my head as I was falling asleep with my radio in bed following my favourite team.
Baseball radio voices have a special place in our hearts because we grew up listening to them bring the games into our homes. Thoughts of Tom Cheek, Dave Van Horne, Harry Caray and Ernie Harwell will always conger up great memories across North America of our childhood doing what we enjoyed so much, listening to the great game of baseball with our favorite radio announcers.
Jimmy asks…
Hey there Buck! The Jays seem to be pretty excited about their international signings yesterday. My question is how excited should the fans be? I know that Mexican kid throws 94 m.p.h. but how quickly can we reasonably expect someone that young to make the majors, if at all?
Buck: Jimmy, you should be excited about the signing because the Blue Jays have jumped back into the international talent pool with both feet. Throughout the J.P. Ricciardi years the organization ignored the international market and the effects of that have taken years to overcome. When you look at the history of the Jays success, the Latin players were a huge part of the process. George Bell, Damaso Garcia, Alfredo Griffin, Tony Fernandez, Juan Guzman, Kelvim Escobar and we all know about Hall of Famer Robbie Alomar. Adeiny Hechavarria was signed to a big contract out of Cuba and is just months away from having an impact with the team. Henderson Alvarez and Joel Carreno are here now making a name for themselves and more are on the way.
As for a time frame don’t look for the 16-year-olds announced Tuesday to show up at Rogers Centre for a while. Although they are among the top non-drafted free agents available and the Jays did a good job of signing them, it will be at least five years before we see them in Toronto, if we see them at all. This is such a long process that you never know who is going to develop into a big-leaguer and who will fall by the wayside.
The encouraging aspect of what Alex Anthopoulos and the organization is doing on this front, is the number of players coming into the system. By increasing the talent pool in the minors you improve your chances of getting top notch performers through the process of development to the big leagues and the Jays are loading up. Looking at the last two June free agent drafts and the past two years of international signings, the cupboard is well-stocked.
I haven’t felt as confident about the future of the Jays as I do right now with all the teams in the low minors loaded with players plus the staff of managers and coaches they have in place to help with their development. The Jays have had four managers named "manager of the year" in their respective leagues and that bodes well for the instruction the youngsters are receiving. You should be encouraged by the recent events yet patient enough to let the system work.
Thanks a lot.