Cohen

[Billy Ray Valentine]

With the success of our football program and the excitement generated by our basketball program the only thing we have to feel shitty about is baseball. Never thought I'd be saying that, especially 2 years removed from the national championship series. Pressure is on you Cohen. Time to shit or get off the pot

[Todd4State]

I fully expect to see some significant changes in the offseason with both the roster and the coaching staff.

Our biggest need is the bullpen. If we can fix that, we would be fine.

[msstate7]

I watched aTm-lsu a good bit tonight. Seeing those team drive the ball has convinced me Cohen is an idiot. All these singles aren't gonna cut it. We need to get hitters and power arms.

[Billy Ray Valentine]

Our approach flat out sucks. The games we win we'll have one big inning, yet we insist on sac bunting with one out

[Todd4State]

I watched aTm-lsu a good bit tonight. Seeing those team drive the ball has convinced me Cohen is an idiot. All these singles aren't gonna cut it. We need to get hitters and power arms.

We're built for a different era of college baseball that ended last year. We are building ourselves now for the current era. I don't disagree that we need more power hitters and power arms- but even with the current state of our offense, it's not the biggest problem right now. Some people may not like to watch it. That doesn't mean it's "bad". A lot of people didn't like Jackie Sherrill's offense at times- but that didn't mean we were a bad offensive team.

I believe we now have 10 losses where we scored five or more runs. We blew yet another 8th inning lead. I'm not saying that we would have won every one of those games that we scored five runs in- but I certainly believe we would have won at least half of them- if not more- if our bullpen could execute.

[Todd4State]

Our approach flat out sucks. The games we win we'll have one big inning, yet we insist on sac bunting with one out

That's how baseball works a lot of times though. Arkansas really only had one big inning tonight for example. The key is limiting those- or even better eliminating them.

[ShotgunDawg]

Since this is a negative thread, I'll add more negativity to it. Remember that Georgia commitment we got a few weeks ago, Alex Speas?

Kiley McDaniel ‏@kileymcd 6h6 hours ago
Came to see 2 hitters on Kennesaw Mtn but 2016 GA prep RHP Alex Speas stole the show. Skinny 6'5 at 93-96, touched 97 w/above avg 83-86 hook

Perfect Game USA ‏@PerfectGameUSA Apr 21
2016 Mississippi State commit RHP Alex Speas (GA) was up to 96 mph at PG Park tonight! http://www.perfectgame.org/Players/Playerprofile.aspx?ID=367672 ?

Better hope his elbow pops in the next 12 months, or he ain't showing up on campus

[Todd4State]

Since this is a negative thread, I'll add more negativity to it. Remember that Georgia commitment we got a few weeks ago, Alex Speas?

Kiley McDaniel ‏@kileymcd 6h6 hours ago
Came to see 2 hitters on Kennesaw Mtn but 2016 GA prep RHP Alex Speas stole the show. Skinny 6'5 at 93-96, touched 97 w/above avg 83-86 hook

Perfect Game USA ‏@PerfectGameUSA Apr 21
2016 Mississippi State commit RHP Alex Speas (GA) was up to 96 mph at PG Park tonight! http://www.perfectgame.org/Players/Playerprofile.aspx?ID=367672 ?

Better hope his elbow pops in the next 12 months, or he ain't showing up on campus

To me the ones that hurt more are the ones that we expect to get. Speas isn't in that category for me. He has a chance to be a first round pick IMO.

[ShotgunDawg]

To me the ones that hurt more are the ones that we expect to get. Speas isn't in that category for me. He has a chance to be a first round pick IMO.

Uh yeah.... Like maybe top 10 overall pick.

He's a high school JR. with an above average Major League heater & slider. My guess is that him and LSU commit Riley Pint will go into 2016 as the top 2 overall prep pitchers.

[War Machine Dawg]

I watched aTm-lsu a good bit tonight. Seeing those team drive the ball has convinced me Cohen is an idiot. All these singles aren't gonna cut it. We need to get hitters and power arms.

Don't you know our only problem is the bullpen? We should be able to win 2-1 every night!!!****

[dawgs]

That's how baseball works a lot of times though. Arkansas really only had one big inning tonight for example. The key is limiting those- or even better eliminating them.

You know literally ever statistical analysis says that our approach at the plate is the least efficient approach at the plate, right? Literally decades of data show that slugging has more correlation with runs scored than obp. And ops is the best indicator. Yet we seem to only focus on obp, which has the worst correlation with runs scored. Then we make it worse by bunting all the ****ing time, which decades of data show is a losing approach. In some situations (9th inning and tied or down 1), it makes sense, but to the extent we do it, it does not make sense at all. Our hitting approach is a losing approach, period. So stop trying to diminish it.

[War Machine Dawg]

You know literally ever statistical analysis says that our approach at the plate is the least efficient approach at the plate, right? Literally decades of data show that slugging has more correlation with runs scored than obp. And ops is the best indicator. Yet we seem to only focus on obp, which has the worst correlation with runs scored. Then we make it worse by bunting all the ****ing time, which decades of data show is a losing approach. In some situations (9th inning and tied or down 1), it makes sense, but to the extent we do it, it does not make sense at all. Our hitting approach is a losing approach, period. So stop trying to diminish it.

Thou shalt not question the definitive MSU Message Board Baseball Expert.****

[Smitty]

On the bright side Rea's HR puts us only 31 away from 50.

[Smitty]

Thou shalt not question the definitive MSU Message Board Baseball Expert.****

Todd's dismissal of Garner is really funny. Even more wrongheaded now that we have seen our offense this year. He can't admit I was right about him. He has the power and would have cut his K's (as we can see he has)

[berr6728]

amen Dawgs

[confucius say]

I just hope everybody realizes that Cohen is aware of the problem. He said last night we just have personnel issues and he knows it's his fault. He will get this turned around. If he doesn't, I'll join the chorus of boos. Just relax.

Eta: oh, and garner can't hit sec pitching, not unlike most of our hitters.

[War Machine Dawg]

I just hope everybody realizes that Cohen is aware of the problem. He said last night we just have personnel issues and he knows it's his fault. He will get this turned around. If he doesn't, I'll join the chorus of boos. Just relax.

Eta: oh, and garner can't hit sec pitching, not unlike most of our hitters.

Cohen could help himself in that department if he'd stop trying to prove he's God's gift to managing and construct a traditional lineup. Featuring a midget slap hitter in the cleanup spot is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. Also, we'd have better personnel if he wouldn't make ridiculous decisions like not putting Hump at 3B, sitting Rooker, and redshirting Cole Gordon. And actually being able to develop all-world hitters like Swinarski would help, too. Instead, he looks like a major bust after just two years. He'd provide us some extra pop, too.

[confucius say]

Cohen could help himself in that department if he'd stop trying to prove he's God's gift to managing and construct a traditional lineup. Featuring a midget slap hitter in the cleanup spot is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. Also, we'd have better personnel if he wouldn't make ridiculous decisions like not putting Hump at 3B, sitting Rooker, and redshirting Cole Gordon. And actually being able to develop all-world hitters like Swinarski would help, too. Instead, he looks like a major bust after just two years. He'd provide us some extra pop, too.

Agreed for most part. Hump needs to play every day. Even if he struggles, leave him in there. His confidence is crap bc he knows one bad night and he is pulled. Ridiculous.

[Billy Ray Valentine]

Cohen is in his head. And that is a problem

[Todd4State]

You know literally ever statistical analysis says that our approach at the plate is the least efficient approach at the plate, right? Literally decades of data show that slugging has more correlation with runs scored than obp. And ops is the best indicator. Yet we seem to only focus on obp, which has the worst correlation with runs scored. Then we make it worse by bunting all the ****ing time, which decades of data show is a losing approach. In some situations (9th inning and tied or down 1), it makes sense, but to the extent we do it, it does not make sense at all. Our hitting approach is a losing approach, period. So stop trying to diminish it.

I'm just stating the facts. The facts are we have 10 losses where WE SCORED FIVE RUNS or more.

You would have a point if we really were losing games 2-1. The problem is that's not what is really happening.

I have said many many times that we need to add more power. But the thing that a lot of our fans and posters don't understand is that offense is the least important of the three major facets of baseball. Pitching and defense are the most important- followed by hitting. I have seen bad hitting teams win championships. I haven't seen a team with a bad pitching staff win one yet.

[Todd4State]

Todd's dismissal of Garner is really funny. Even more wrongheaded now that we have seen our offense this year. He can't admit I was right about him. He has the power and would have cut his K's (as we can see he has)

Even more funny is your defense of Garner. I'm glad he has turned it around and is hitting better than Trent Waddell though. And I didn't even mention the fact that Garner is older than everyone else in his league with some SEC experience, so he SHOULD be dominating- but he isn't. Oh- and who has signed him to play baseball next year?

I can't fix the fact that you are too stupid to understand the difference between JUCO and SEC baseball. But when/if you do figure it out, I'm sure you will try to twist it around to try to make it look like you were right all along.

But since you insist on making an ass out of yourself- I'll say it again. EVERY JUCO recruit that we have minus Trent Waddell who is a pitcher hit better than Daniel Garner this year. Yeah- the ones that everyone bitches about. But since Garner is worse at hitting JUCO pitching, Smitty expects him to hit better than the players we have now who hit JUCO pitching better.

[maroonmania]

I'm just stating the facts. The facts are we have 10 losses where WE SCORED FIVE RUNS or more.

You would have a point if we really were losing games 2-1. The problem is that's not what is really happening.

I have said many many times that we need to add more power. But the thing that a lot of our fans and posters don't understand is that offense is the least important of the three major facets of baseball. Pitching and defense are the most important- followed by hitting. I have seen bad hitting teams win championships. I haven't seen a team with a bad pitching staff win one yet.

5 runs is not what it used to be. Even if we had better pitching its not like scoring 5 runs is always going to guarantee a win with the new baseball.

[Smitty]

But the thing that a lot of our fans and posters don't understand is that offense is the least important of the three major facets of baseball. Pitching and defense are the most important- followed by hitting.

No….. MAXIMIZING your TOTAL production is the most important. But please tell us how Miguel Cabrera isn't really good because his defense is below average.

[HancockCountyDog]

I'm just stating the facts. The facts are we have 10 losses where WE SCORED FIVE RUNS or more.
.

I don't think five runs wins many games after Saturday anymore.

[confucius say]

I don't think five runs wins many games after Saturday anymore.

Agreed. 5 runs won't win many games on Sunday.

[Todd4State]

No….. MAXIMIZING your TOTAL production is the most important. But please tell us how Miguel Cabrera isn't really good because his defense is below average.

What? I'd like to see a link where I said Miguel Cabrera isn't good. It's the WHOLE package. It's not just offense. Sabermetrics finally realizes this and that's why they are starting to analyze defensive metrics to get the total value of a player. It's like you are stuck in 2003. It's been about the whole package for awhile- you know the five tools. Would you rather have a guy that just hits for power or a guy that hits for power and average and plays good defense?

Surely you're not saying that you are right about Rea who leads us in batting average in SEC play, leads us in home runs in SEC play, and is second overall on the team in batting average and has one less home run than Garner against much better competition? But you did get me on Robson- he's only been our second best hitter on the team in SEC play- despite "his shit won't work against SEC teams." And you nailed Seth Heck being awesome- all .225 of him.

[Todd4State]

I don't think five runs wins many games after Saturday anymore.

Exactly. And that's unacceptable for any baseball team. You should win the majority of games that you score five or more runs in.

Our team ERA in SEC play is 5.48. And that includes the starters as well. They haven't been very good in general lately either.

[Todd4State]

5 runs is not what it used to be. Even if we had better pitching its not like scoring 5 runs is always going to guarantee a win with the new baseball.

The biggest thing that has gone up is home runs. I do agree that just scoring five runs won't guarantee that you win a game, old baseball or new baseball- but even in today's environment that should be enough to win a MAJORITY of the games.

I think you would agree with me that of the ten games that we have lost where we scored more than five runs, odds are pretty good that we would have won at least five with a decent bullpen. Even if it's less than that, 2-3 more wins than we have right now would have us in the regional discussion as an at large bid.

[War Machine Dawg]

Exactly. And that's unacceptable for any baseball team. You should win the majority of games that you score five or more runs in.

Our team ERA in SEC play is 5.48. And that includes the starters as well. They haven't been very good in general lately either.


The biggest thing that has gone up is home runs. I do agree that just scoring five runs won't guarantee that you win a game, old baseball or new baseball- but even in today's environment that should be enough to win a MAJORITY of the games.

I think you would agree with me that of the ten games that we have lost where we scored more than five runs, odds are pretty good that we would have won at least five with a decent bullpen. Even if it's less than that, 2-3 more wins than we have right now would have us in the regional discussion as an at large bid.

http://i.imgur.com/2lg1Ucp.gif

[confucius say]

http://i.imgur.com/2lg1Ucp.gif

That actually is pretty funny. Well played.

[Todd4State]

http://i.imgur.com/2lg1Ucp.gif

And that's why you don't know anything about baseball.

[maroonmania]

The ONLY thing that keeps me hopeful that Cohen will eventually get this fixed is that NOBODY wants to win (including any posters on this board) more than John Cohen does. In that I have no doubt. And I ALWAYS felt I wanted to win more than Ron Polk ever did. Let's just hope that the changes Cohen makes to try and get back on the winning track are the right ones. Its obvious that we've misevaluated some players or either we haven't developed them properly because, for all the bitching back and forth on this board, there is very, very little that this team does well right now. Defense is probably acceptable, but the pitching AND the offense both totally suck for the most part.

[Billy Ray Valentine]

The ONLY thing that keeps me hopeful that Cohen will eventually get this fixed is that NOBODY wants to win (including any posters on this board) more than John Cohen does. In that I have no doubt. And I ALWAYS felt I wanted to win more than Ron Polk ever did. Let's just hope that the changes Cohen makes to try and get back on the winning track are the right ones. Its obvious that we've misevaluated some players or either we haven't developed them properly because, for all the bitching back and forth on this board, there is very, very little that this team does well right now. Defense is probably acceptable, but the pitching AND the offense both totally suck for the most part.
A good look in the mirror would be a good place to start

[shannondawg]

All I know about baseball is that I picked a helluva year to really start watching it.

[RougeDawg]

Todd, I do not mean this in a disrespectful way, because you bring a lot to this board with regards to recruiting and basic baseball knowledge. I do not know to which level of baseball you played or have exposure, but it is much more in depth than you and many others on here realize. We could bring in the most talent in the country, and they would not have their potential maximized because Johnny and Co are not teaching the game, particularly hitting. From the lack of mechanics I could easily argue that we aren't teaching any hitting to our players. Their performances do not show me any proper teaching.

Most on the board are finally coming around and "Seeing" the actual downfalls of our hitting mechanics, compared to the more successful teams. Most others on this board have now come to realize that most of our downfalls are the results of lack of coaching and teaching. If you cannot comprehend it this season when it's plain as day, there really is no way for you to understand how Cohen not hiring a true hitting coach is hurting our offense. Based on our Batting Stances and Approach at the Plate, a baseball person can see that we have one of three possible issues that are putting our players in position to not succeed. 1) whoever our hitting coach is either not teaching anything at all, 2) or they are teaching our hitters the wrong mechanics for a balanced all around swing, or 3) Our hitters are simply ignoring the proper technical instruction they have received. Judging from the same thing and hitting approaches by our players during Cohen's entire tenure, it tends to suggest Cohen is the reason we struggle offensively.

It's similar to our defensive coaches playing Banks and Slay 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage allowing quick slant after quick slant against the Bears. They were not in position to succeed and the same can be said for our hitters. They are in "Hitting Positions" to slap the ball, not drive the ball. Any baseball person should be able to see this. Multiple factors are contributing to our lack of "pop" on offense and it damn sure isnt the players or their sizes. If Johnny goes out and simply hires a good "technique based" hitting coach, our current roster will put up much higher offensive numbers next year.

It is incomprehensible how some on here can still sit here and defend Cohen with a straight face, while fathoming up all of these excuses. 99% of the remainder of the board finally realizes the issue, but I guess there will always be some in denial on every issue.