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.
Kev asks…
Given all the talk about how the next collective bargaining agreement might affect how much money future draft picks might be able to sign for, how surprised were you that Tyler Beede didn’t accept the Jays offer, and did the Jays make a mistake drafting him when they knew he might not sign?
Buck: I was very surprised that Tyler Beede was the only first round draft pick not to sign given the fact that the CBA between the players and the owners will expire this December and most people believe there will be a new draft slotting agreement in place by next June.
With that uncertainty and the solid offer made by the Jays reported to be in the neighborhood of $2.3 million, I was surprised to see him turn that down. That is a lot of money on the table with the possibility of rule changes and the risk of injury during the next three baseball seasons for a young pitcher.
Everything I heard in the conversations I had with other organizations’ scouts suggested Beede is a legitimate major league prospect, along the lines of former Blue Jay Todd Stottlemyre, but he and his family made their decision and I am sure they are happy with that.
Vanderbilt University has had a lot of success lately developing pitchers, such as former No. 1 overall pick David Price of the Rays and young Mike Minor of the Braves, so I am sure Beede will grow as a pitcher in their program, but if it was my son, given the way the Blue Jays are pushing young pitching to the big leagues, I may have signed on the dotted line.
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James asks…
Hey Buck,
I have been amazed by the second half turnarounds by both Edwin Encarnacio and Dan Uggla. Both of them were terrible in the first half but have been completely different players since the break. Just wondering if you can remember any other similar cases of players enjoying such a second-half turnaround?
Thanks.
Buck: James, there are many guys that have gotten off to terrible starts in the past and bounced back with strong post all-star break seasons, especially if they have a few years of service under their belt to have built up a track record.
Edwin was so worried about hitting home runs early he went 38 games before he hit his first one. All he was thinking about was the long ball, which had him swinging at everything. After the first homer he relaxed and the stroke came around. As you know, he also carried his hitting woes onto the field and had a horrible time on defense at first and third base.
Everything has settled down and not only has he come around with the bat, but he has been pretty darn good with the glove as well.
As for Uggla, I saw him in Atlanta during interleague play and he was a mess. The weight of trying to prove his worth after signing the nice contract with the Braves had him tied in knots at the plate.
Finally, because of his track record and the relationship he had with Fredi Gonzalez, he became Dan Uggla again.
As for others bouncing back from slow starts, I think you could look at Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, and Albert Pujols as guys who will finish strong given their career numbers. Historically, I am sure there are many players that have had slow starts as Encarnacion and Uggla that have salvaged the season with good surges in the second half, but no one really jumps to mind.
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David asks…
Hi Buck,
Recently I heard about a team firing their hitting coach. What is the difference between and good hitting coach and a bad hitting coach, and how much difference can a hitting coach make to a team?
Thanks.
Buck: Good hitters David.
I know there have been three hitting coaches replaced this season, John Mallee of the Marlins, Jon Nunnally of the Indians and Thad Bosley of the Rangers.
When you think about this, the Rangers, the Indians and Marlins were off to great starts and all of a sudden when things went south, two guys lost their jobs.
The manager has to have confidence in what is being taught to his hitters and if he doesn’t like the approach, most managers will address it with the hitting coach, then if changes aren’t made, someone else will get the job. With the Rangers I spoke with Ron Washington about his change he said he wasn’t seeing the grinding at the plate the Rangers used so well in 2010.
Remember, Clint Hurdle took over for the long-time Rangers hitting guru Rudy Jaramillo last year and Hurdle’s laid back, "you-can-do-this" approached really click in Arlington.
Coaching anything in the big leagues is all about getting players into a good mechanical position to start with, whether it is hitting, fielding or pitching, then gaining the trust as the coach that what you are selling works.
All big league hitters have the physical ability to hit. The most successful coaches, such as Dwayne Murphy, Kevin Long of the Yankees, Lou Piniella (when he was a coach), Hal McRae and the late Charlie Lau made the hitters believe they could hit.
The mental approach to hitting is as important as the mechanical approach and the good coaches have earned the trust of their hitters.
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Ron asks…
Hi Buck,
First I want to compliment you on being such a great broadcaster for the Jays. Since I’m 52-years-old, I remember when the Blue Jays came into the league.
This 2011 team reminds me so much of the mid 1980s teams, with the difference being weaker pitching but a stronger offensive and defensive team compared to the stronger pitching and less defence and offence of the ‘80s team.
You played on those teams so can you compare the differences between them please?
Buck: Ron, the teams of the early ‘80s had a lot of good pitching with Stieb, Clancy, Leal, Gott and Doyle Alexander, but we also had great defence with Upshaw, Garcia and Griffin in the infield and Moseby and Barfield in the outfield.
What we didn’t have was a closer until early in 1985 when Tom Henke came up and things changed dramatically. But it truly was the strength of the starting pitching that allowed those early teams to compete. This Blue Jays team looks like it is really going to be a good offensive team for a while with Bautista as the force and Lind right there with him. Escobar and Encarnacion are developing consistency and the additions of Colby Rasmus, Eric Thames and Brett Lawrie have added depth to the lineup.
They are all good defenders and good athletes. Runs won’t be a problem. What this team needs is a couple of stud starters at the front end like CC Sabathia, Jered Weaver, Felix Hernandez or Justin Verlander. Shutdown, impact starters.
We have watched this team hover around .500 all year long and the reason for the inconsistency is the starting pitching. When you compare the Jays to the playoff contending teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox Rangers and Tigers, that is where the difference is most dramatic.
Now, Romero, Morrow Cecil and maybe Alvarez and Drabek, may turn into those front line types, but it will take at least another year or two to get to that point.
In the meantime, I am sure Alex Anthopoulos is thinking about the last two draft classes and wondering how long before we see McGwire, Nicolino, Hutchinson, Carreno, or some other yet undeveloped horses, show up on the radar screen.
The thing to remember is that free agency is an option, but only when the player or two you bring in are the last two pieces to the puzzle to a championship club.
They aren’t quite there yet, but I can see just down the road where free agency will play a big role in the final process.
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Tony asks…
Buck, great work in the booth again this year!
With all the talk about sign stealing at the Rogers Centre, I’m just curious about how it was perceived as a player in your day.
Were you concerned about it? Didn’t care? Did it take place much, or is this being totally blown out of proportion?
Buck: Tony "stealing signs" has been in the game forever.
As a catcher, it was my responsibility to protect those signs and change them up whenever I thought the other team might be picking something up. As long as the sign stealing was taking place on the field and limited to the players and coaches, I have no problem with it at all.
My teams in Milwaukee were great at it. Before the game would start Sal Bando or Don Money would announce, "OK, let’s get someone to second and get the signs."
Bando was deadly when he knew what was coming. One day I was at second and flashed the wrong message to Captain Sal and he had a terrible swing because he was expecting a fastball but got a slider and hit a weak grounder for the third out.
As I was putting on my shin guards in the dugout, I apologized to Sal for the wrong sign. He didn’t even hesitate, "Hey kid, don’t worry about that, I’d rather have you guessing at second than me guessing at the plate."
In today’s game there is so much video available from the center field camera position it would take no time to break down a catcher’s signs, so you better be aware and constantly change things up.
As for the accusations of stealing signs from the seats, that’s another thing all together and totally out of bounds.
We used to think the White Sox had lights in the scoreboard at Old Comiskey Park that would flash for the home team but we never had any proof. There have been legends forever about teams having extra eyes on the game, but not many cases have ever been solved.
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Stacy asks…
Buck, thanks for taking my question!
The Blue Jays said last week that Travis d’Arnaud will finish the year in double-A and not get a September callup.
Did this surprise you given how good a season he’s having, and is there a chance he could be major-league ready by next spring?
Buck: Stacy, Travis has had a great season, but I like what they are doing with him keeping him on the double-A team and letting him get a taste of winning.
Sooner or later, your players have to learn how to win and the New Hampshire team has that going for them this year.
Travis can really hit, but his catching needs to be more consistent as well as his throwing. After the season d’Arnaud will play for team USA in a world qualifying tournament in October as the No. 1 catcher.
This will be a great learning experience as he will be catching the best minor league pitchers in the game which will only help him sharpen his defensive skills.
The Jays are in pretty good shape with young catchers with d’Arnaud and A.J. Jimenez in Dunedin both fast tracking to the big leagues.