We hope that Lloyd McClendon finds all comfort and peace in his bereavement leave.  The Shout Box is also filled with well-wishing.  

Some professions, when a disaster happens in your life they give you lots of time.  Other professions, no matter what happens, you're back on the job two days later.  All careers have some plusses and minuses, and you take the good with the bad.  But I'm sorry that McClendon can't spend some more time away from pressure.

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MoeDawg sez, in the post one carousel horse to the right,

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#1.  LoMo needs 1B help.  He's hitting .439 vs. lefties.  Uh.....that's his OPS, not his BA.  He has 2 XB hits in 79 AB's vL.  Man, lets get a vL bashing bat in here to help him.  

As it turns out, we have two in Tacoma.  Montero is hitting .357-.414-.643 vs. lefties this year.  He's ALWAYS hit lefties.  He would probably OPS .800 vs. Carlton, for goodness sake.  What the heck are we wasting him in Tacoma for???  James Jones might be able to be his caddy when it comes to helping a MLB team win.....but that is about it.  Dump Jones right now.  Get Montero here to whallop southpaws.  Morrison needs the help.  You don't like Montero becasue he isn't very flexible??? Then bring up Romero.  He's hitting .320-.349-.544 vs. lefties this year. Over the past month his hit .340-.359-.526 vs. everybody.   But Jesus Montero is an established vL MLB weapon:  .318-.369-.459 over his career.  

But, oh goody,  we get to have James Jones?  Oh my goodness!!!  Morrison is a career .249-.321-.369 vL guy.  Montero is a HUGE upgrade in that regard.  When we have Ackley/Guti/Miller/Smith/Cruz/Jackson in the OF....and a gaping hole vL at 1B, do you think Billy Beane would bring up his mashing farmhand? Of course,he would.......'Nuff said. - See more at: http://seattlesportsinsider.com/blogs/this-for-that#sthash.5HlGH5iM.dpuf

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This point is so compelling that --- > here's a rare case where I'd really like to ask Zduriencik (so to speak) what his reasoning is.

Maybe LoMo's hidden metrics -- eg batted ball velo off LHP -- play in.  Maybe there's some non-baseball reason to freeze Montero out.  If there isn't something along these lines, then it's an inexplicable decision along the lines of batting Zunino cleanup or something.

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Logan Morrison has a 25:30 EYE with 10 homers off RHB this year in 71 games; against LHB it is 3:18 with 0 homers in 44 games.  Odds are 10-to-1 that no proprietary data trump those stats.  An 0.16 EYE means you are getting slaughtered; nobody* stays in the lineup with that EYE ratio, much less a first baseman.

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Q.  Maybe it's because Morrison has been decent against LHB in past years?

A.  Maybe, but that has nothing to do with advance scouting, exposure to the sun, and the constant "adjustments" game.  Lefties are deep-frying LoMo in peanut oil and in a long three months' worth of McClendon twisting in the wind, LoMo is no closer to adjusting back.

What's the downside to giving Montero his platoon AB's at first base?  Why is Montero even in the organization, if he's going to do everything right (lose 40 lbs., surprise with the glove at 1B, etc) and then you're going to tell him you decided against him?

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Q.  Why is Trumbo the fascination, as opposed to Montero?

A.  Can only assume this is a case of Zduriencik's scouting eye.  He is entitled to this, obviously.  But we've talked about his Milwaukee scouting eye on pre-majors players vs his "scouting eye" on established ML veterans.

In terms of position players -- not pitchers -- in terms of hitters, there has been no Cheney Carousel this year.  Taylor/Miller is a special case, and catchers are a special case.  But James Jones seems to be the only Rainier to get a callup, and he's got 12 AB's on the season.

For third-line hitting support, Jack Z has gone with with Rickie Weeks, Justin Ruggiano, Wellington Castillo and now Mark Trumbo.  Together with the LoMo/Montero situation, it's a pretty extreme case of turning to veterans.  In general terms, you can sympathize.  We just noted that Pat Gillick overhauled teams by picking a bunch of 30-year-olds that other org's didn't appreciate.  Does Jack Z have an impressive track record of doing this, however?

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Q.  Does Zduriencik "reluctantly" hold his people accountable?

A.  This is an interesting point.  At Boeing, when a 3rd-level program Director is under pressure, he will churn through his underlings every 90 days.  You could certainly argue that Zduriencik has hired-and-fired more slowly than he could have.

Tony Blengino charged that the entire M's org is demoralized because of Zduriencik's management style, and the Seattle Times followed up on this strongly.  His public statements, when he fires somebody, hit me as being pretty cold.  Compared to what a Pat Gillick or Bill Steinman might say.  But yeah.

There's another strong argument that changing managers usually doesn't produce results.  This is true.  It's also true that most Cinderella turnarounds in baseball history, on those occasions they do happen, are turnarounds that follow the change of the field manager.

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Good post Moe,

Dr D