After tonight?s game, I thought this might be of interest

[FriarsPoint]

Last weekend I met a good dude that used to pitch for auburn. This was during PolkII while Butch was at UAB. He did the farm league thing for a few years after auburn and decided it just wasn?t his thing.

Anyway, how this pertains to tonight. He told me, yes it?s great having a Tim Hudson on staff. And he hesitated. Then said there is a difference in philosophy between Butch and Tim. Tim thinks this is the A?s and you just run another one out there. Butch is the opposite(as we all know). This guy basically said if Butch puts his foot down and takes over the staff, they could have a special year. If Tim gets his way, they?ll blow up.

I give you tonight ladies and gentlemen.

[FriarsPoint]

Last weekend I met a good dude that used to pitch for auburn. This was during PolkII while Butch was at UAB. He did the farm league thing for a few years after auburn and decided it just wasn?t his thing.

Anyway, how this pertains to tonight. He told me, yes it?s great having a Tim Hudson on staff. And he hesitated. Then said there is a difference in philosophy between Butch and Tim. Tim thinks this is the A?s and you just run another one out there. Butch is the opposite(as we all know). This guy basically said if Butch puts his foot down and takes over the staff, they could have a special year. If Tim gets his way, they?ll blow up.

I give you tonight ladies and gentlemen.

ETA. This was a former starting pitcher. No I’m not going to tell you who it was.

[Homedawg]

Last weekend I met a good dude that used to pitch for auburn. This was during PolkII while Butch was at UAB. He did the farm league thing for a few years after auburn and decided it just wasn?t his thing.

Anyway, how this pertains to tonight. He told me, yes it?s great having a Tim Hudson on staff. And he hesitated. Then said there is a difference in philosophy between Butch and Tim. Tim thinks this is the A?s and you just run another one out there. Butch is the opposite(as we all know). This guy basically said if Butch puts his foot down and takes over the staff, they could have a special year. If Tim gets his way, they?ll blow up.

I give you tonight ladies and gentlemen.

They pitched their best 2 relievers. What did he do wrong?? Besides having a second baseman that butchered a dp. Amazing how one play changes thoughts.

[FriarsPoint]

It wasn’t one play we were talking about last weekend. It’s the mindset of Hudson running next best up thinking it’s a 160 game schedule. You can’t do that. Not with 60-70 games. You’ve got to win and save the pen for a stretch run. Butch gets it. Tim doesn’t.

[Homedawg]

It wasn’t one play we were talking about last weekend. It’s the mindset of Hudson running next best up thinking it’s a 160 game schedule. You can’t do that. Not with 60-70 games. You’ve got to win and save the pen for a stretch run. Butch gets it. Tim doesn’t.

Your last sentence said I give you tonight ladies and gentlemen... thus it seemed to me you're blaming Hudson.

[Todd4State]

If this is true it's a tough situation for Butch because Hudson at Auburn is probably held in about the same esteem as one of our greats like a Rooker or someone like that.

His best hope is for Hudson to go try pro baseball.

MLB guys going back to college typically doesn't work out. I could see what you're talking about being an issue. Huge difference between managing a staff for 162 games with people who are adults and fully developed vs college kids. Usually it's the recruiting that trips them up though.

[Captain Falcon]

I don?t see how they mismanaged the situation last night. They went with their two best arms out of the pen and neither of them could hold the lead. It happens. If the second baseman doesn?t boot the double play ball then they probably win.

[Irondawg]

What's interesting in this seems another example of the pitching coach making the decisions of bullpen choices. Is that more common that I thought. I know the PC has the best insight and his opinion should carry a lot of weight but if I was the manager I'd still want to sometimes pick who I throw and when in situations.

Cohen, maybe via Butch, did some weird things sometimes with relievers but they often worked out ok. He tended to have a super short hook and Foxhall/Lem seem to have too long a hook in comparison.

[Todd4State]

What's interesting in this seems another example of the pitching coach making the decisions of bullpen choices. Is that more common that I thought. I know the PC has the best insight and his opinion should carry a lot of weight but if I was the manager I'd still want to sometimes pick who I throw and when in situations.

Cohen, maybe via Butch, did some weird things sometimes with relievers but they often worked out ok. He tended to have a super short hook and Foxhall/Lem seem to have too long a hook in comparison.

I think in general it depends on the set-up. Mostly whether or not the manager has an offensive background or pitching background.

But it's like football- most coaches need a coordinator to run or manage that side of the ball for them.

A baseball manager has to be able to manage a lot more than his side of the ball so to speak. Butch has to worry about the lineup, what's going with the offense during the game as far as subbing out, has to make decisions on whether to steal or not. In addition to the bullpen and making sure that pitching is good to go as well. Among many other things.

It seems like to me if a manager has more of an offensive background they're going to defer to the pitching coach a majority of the time with pitching decisions. Although they have the overrule power if a pitching coach just wants to keep running a struggling pitcher out there.

I would imagine it's vice versa for hitting with someone like Butch.

I think most managers strive to have a level of trust and not micromanage things if at all possible. But it helps if the head coach has someone that he trusts.

After Butch left we stopped doing the piggyback stuff with Wes. I agree with your assessment about the short hook/vs. long hook too.

[Schultzy]

I like the short hook with this pen but KC should’ve pitched the 9th last weekend.

[Thrill1]

Butch was at Birmingham-Southern under Brian Shoop, not UAB. Confusing because later Shoop took over UAB & had Polk as asst.