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Dr. D QWIBBLES with the notion that the M's hawked up a deep one and loogy'ed at Jesus Montero when they sent him down.  For one thing, McClendon specifically said that it was because Montero was "rusty."  Nowadays you'd say out of rhythm, or out of synch, or you're iced.  Back in the 1960's and 1970's you'd say somebody was rusty.  In the '20' and 30's you'd say they were stale.  Call it what you will, on SSI the Think Tank advised Dr. D that this was the problemo, not the other way around.  Just a few days later, yer fergot yer own sage advice.  :- )

So why the Think Tank denizens would fret about this move ... well, true this doesn't happen often.  But if Montero is NOT back in a week, that's when such arguments would apply.

Bill James said about Theo Epstein, he's got a dozen key decisions a year, and those determine his fate.  The next GM will have to make the right selections on the batting order around Cruz, Cano, and Seager.  Like with the NFL draft, it will NOT be about process; it will be about results.  

Let me read that sentence again.  Self-justification, after the fact, the conceit that "I was right, whatever happened," that is a luxury for bloggers.  Shot-callers don't get that luxury.  They've got to see things lesser mortals do not.  The hard, fair, just battle, that's what weeds out petted favorites and breeds heroes.

Pulling the string here:  the next GM will have to decide whether Jesus Montero is part of the batting order in 2016, and he will need to be right.

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IT IS A BIT odd that some relievers do not like to "close."  But Carson Smith, the moment he went back to the 8th inning, became unhittable again.

This idea of "closing" has become the ultimate "Perception Becomes Reality" phenomenon that I've ever seen in sports.  In the 1970's writers invented a statistic called the Save.  :: allen iverson voice :: We talkin' about a STATISTIC.  In the 1980's, that 40-save stat created a concept, the Closer.  In the 1990's we had the big controversy about whether the 9th inning was different.  Now the pressure put on the "Closer" is Atlantic-Trench crushing, and the entire institution of the major league bullpen rotates around this statistic.

Unbelievable.  A funky little stat changed the whole sport.

Jeff Nelson and Arthur Rhodes hated pitching the ninth.  At this stage of his career, that is the first 5% of his career, Carson Smith does too.  But now that he's back in the 8th, he's back to fanning 11 men per game.  Wednesday night's clutch whiff of Jose Altuve ... Altuve never saw that slider he waved at.

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Dr. D QWIBBLES with the idea of spending time on Shawn O'Malley.  What's the upside here?  Endy Chavez?

James also said that it was a big part of Earl Weaver's success, that he never had the empty .240 hitter who could play eight positions.  Rather, Earl put pressure on himself to put specialty players on his bench, and then time the in-game switches so he didn't get in trouble.

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IT'S A BIT OF COOL NEWS THAT NELSON CRUZ is now sitting on +5.3 wins above average, actual production on the green grass of AL baseball fields.  That's not WAR, and it's not 5 theoretical wins more than Shawn O'Malley, or a waiver grab, or some other "replacement level" Rainier.  That is 5.3 wins hard on the barrelhead of the standings, above and beyond that which a quality AL regular provides.  So, in terms of WAR full season a hundred fifty-five games, it's more like 8 WAR.

Cruz had 1.3, 1.1, and 1.3 WAR in the three years from 2011-13.  Strict sabertistas will wonder how he suddenly became a 4-5 WAR player, well after age 30.  You, the discerning SSI reader, are not as bamboozled.  You know that home-park adjustments are overrated, and you know that WAR undervalues bases that are produced from the batter's box against tough pitching.  Cruz turned out to be a ginormously happy match for Safeco Field.

Cruz is a hitter who happens to be awesomely strong.  He's one of the few big bubbas who can smack a hard RBI single to RF.  He's one of about three ML players who can decide when to pull the ball in the air, and when he does decide that the ball stays pulled.

How good will he be in 2016?  Dunno, but as of late 2015 he was at the height of his powers.  Nelson Cruz:  ballplayer or apex predator?  You make the call.

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Dr. D QWIBBLES WITH KETEL MARTE's position switch.  The recommended one, as in.  In Tuesday's game he had two marginal plays in which he had to throw a fastball.  When he did, that cotton-pickin' baseball had so much hair on it you could hear the sizzle through the TV.

Marte is +3 plays per Dewan.  But what's hilarious is that he is -3 on fly balls, which is just one of those things, and +7 on ground balls.  That's versus the average ML shortstop, who is really really good, and that's in two-three weeks.

What is even crazier:  the +7 plays are all to his right, in the hole.  The acid test for shortstops, the backhand.  Marte is acing his bikini test, and that on Waikiki Beach here.  Who was it who was telling us that Marte needed a position switch, and what are they telling us now?

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ANOTHER BIT of whimsy was the KO of Scott Kazmir after 4.1 innings.  It's not like he was having an off game or anything like that.  We're just that tough now.  We held our own in the bar fight between Taijuan and Kazmir, and we got to the 8th even steven.  Then we broke a bottle over Good Old Mr. Bar Edge and ended the argument in a rather gruesome way.

Where was this in April?  Is it going to be here NEXT April, do you think?  ... well, hopefully Edgar will be :- )

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THERE IS A BIT ON TONY ZYCH at my second site, drdetectovision.wordpress.com.  As y'know, we live to serve.

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WE QWIBBLE with the construct that a baseball General Manager doesn't have to be that good with the 25-man roster.  He just has to spread a cheery culture, right?

As with so many nice ideas, this one has gone much too far.  

Jack Zduriencik's dour, Thorin Oakenshield persona wound up permeating everything the M's did.  But that doesn't mean that 31 other teams stand or fall based on differences in the GM's personality.  The Achilles' Heel factor that sinks one manager may be unique to him, and a much lesser factor for other managers.  Bobby Valentine sunk himself because of his massive ego, but that doesn't mean that you hire all field managers based on humility, right?

Pat Gillick isn't going to make the Hall of Fame because he can draft a company mission statement.  Dr. D wants the guy who can point his finger at a reliever and say, THAT one.  

BABVA,

Dr D