bleach168 wrote:It's really a shame Dusty doesn't want to stick with Hawkins. Latroy is by far their best arm in the pen and whether he likes it or not, he should be in the closer's role. His performance so far isn't that bad. Of his 6 save opps, 4 of them came with a 1 run cushion and the other 2 were 2 run cushions. For him to blow two save out of six isn't that bad. His ERA and WHIP stands at a very solid 3.60 and 0.90.
A better manager would have set Latroy straight with a good talkin' and wouldn't be having these problems right now. Unless Hawkins went into Dusty's office and demanded to be taken out of the closer's role, I see this whole situation as Dusty's fault.
Hawkins has said on multiple occasions he dislikes the closer role and much prefers set-up work. So in this instance (and only this instance) it's not dusty's fault.
Of course Hawkins doesn't want to close because he has no confidence in himself. How can you when your own manager has no confidence in you.
Dusty put his confidence in him last year, and everything I've read makes it sound like Dusty does indeed want Hawkins to close...but Hawkins doesn't want to, and that's all there really is to it.
I think he should leave him in the role for another week until Borowski returns...see how Joe pitches, and if it's bad then give the job to Dempster in a couple of weeks. There's no need to make the change now IMO.
bleach168 wrote:It's really a shame Dusty doesn't want to stick with Hawkins. Latroy is by far their best arm in the pen and whether he likes it or not, he should be in the closer's role. His performance so far isn't that bad. Of his 6 save opps, 4 of them came with a 1 run cushion and the other 2 were 2 run cushions. For him to blow two save out of six isn't that bad. His ERA and WHIP stands at a very solid 3.60 and 0.90.
A better manager would have set Latroy straight with a good talkin' and wouldn't be having these problems right now. Unless Hawkins went into Dusty's office and demanded to be taken out of the closer's role, I see this whole situation as Dusty's fault.
Hawkins has said on multiple occasions he dislikes the closer role and much prefers set-up work. So in this instance (and only this instance) it's not dusty's fault.
Of course Hawkins doesn't want to close because he has no confidence in himself. How can you when your own manager has no confidence in you.
Dusty put his confidence in him last year, and everything I've read makes it sound like Dusty does indeed want Hawkins to close...but Hawkins doesn't want to, and that's all there really is to it.
I think he should leave him in the role for another week until Borowski returns...see how Joe pitches, and if it's bad then give the job to Dempster in a couple of weeks. There's no need to make the change now IMO.
Agreed. But since I don't own JoBo, and just picked up Dempster...I hope this sticks. But I won't hold my breath.
bleach168 wrote:It's really a shame Dusty doesn't want to stick with Hawkins. Latroy is by far their best arm in the pen and whether he likes it or not, he should be in the closer's role. His performance so far isn't that bad. Of his 6 save opps, 4 of them came with a 1 run cushion and the other 2 were 2 run cushions. For him to blow two save out of six isn't that bad. His ERA and WHIP stands at a very solid 3.60 and 0.90.
A better manager would have set Latroy straight with a good talkin' and wouldn't be having these problems right now. Unless Hawkins went into Dusty's office and demanded to be taken out of the closer's role, I see this whole situation as Dusty's fault.
Hawkins has said on multiple occasions he dislikes the closer role and much prefers set-up work. So in this instance (and only this instance) it's not dusty's fault.
Of course Hawkins doesn't want to close because he has no confidence in himself. How can you when your own manager has no confidence in you.
Dusty put his confidence in him last year, and everything I've read makes it sound like Dusty does indeed want Hawkins to close...but Hawkins doesn't want to, and that's all there really is to it.
I think he should leave him in the role for another week until Borowski returns...see how Joe pitches, and if it's bad then give the job to Dempster in a couple of weeks. There's no need to make the change now IMO.
Players have mental problems all the time. If a player has the physical ability to do something, but there is a mental block holding him back, it is the manager's job to fix that. How many players have the ability to close, but don't because they don't have that "mentality"?
bleach168 wrote:It's really a shame Dusty doesn't want to stick with Hawkins. Latroy is by far their best arm in the pen and whether he likes it or not, he should be in the closer's role. His performance so far isn't that bad. Of his 6 save opps, 4 of them came with a 1 run cushion and the other 2 were 2 run cushions. For him to blow two save out of six isn't that bad. His ERA and WHIP stands at a very solid 3.60 and 0.90.
A better manager would have set Latroy straight with a good talkin' and wouldn't be having these problems right now. Unless Hawkins went into Dusty's office and demanded to be taken out of the closer's role, I see this whole situation as Dusty's fault.
Hawkins has said on multiple occasions he dislikes the closer role and much prefers set-up work. So in this instance (and only this instance) it's not dusty's fault.
Of course Hawkins doesn't want to close because he has no confidence in himself. How can you when your own manager has no confidence in you.
Dusty put his confidence in him last year, and everything I've read makes it sound like Dusty does indeed want Hawkins to close...but Hawkins doesn't want to, and that's all there really is to it.
I think he should leave him in the role for another week until Borowski returns...see how Joe pitches, and if it's bad then give the job to Dempster in a couple of weeks. There's no need to make the change now IMO.
Players have mental problems all the time. If a player has the physical ability to do something, but there is a mental block holding him back, it is the manager's job to fix that. How many players have the ability to close, but don't because they don't have that "mentality"?
I don't think it's the managers job to talk a player in to switching roles for the team. And this is coming from a Cubs hater. That would be like telling Griffey that he HAS to play RF rather than CF to prevent further injuries. When a player has said repeatedly that he doesn't want to change roles/positions, he shouldn't have to. If he volunteers to do so, then by all means, make the switch, but make it a permanent one...not one where each week a new closer is named (Hawkins, Wuertz, Fox, Hawkins, Dempster). He should have stuck with Hawkins as soon as Borowski got injured in the Spring...but it should definitely be Borowski's job to lose upon his return.
I really don't know if you can teach confidence. I would imagine he has tried...but then again, it's Dusty so I guess you never know.
NY Yankees Fan 2004 wrote:I could really use saves since I only have Lidge and Izzy (on the DL)
But a carreer ERA over 5, no thank you. I will pass
As a starter. As a reliever, he's been pretty good. A lot of failed starters convert to a good closer and the same thing could happen to Dempster. Worth watching for sure.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." ~George Carlin
I don't see Dumpster being the closer. Especially now that Borowski will beat Wood back from the DL. As a Hawkins owner I'm still holding out hope that JoBo has a setback and Hawkins sticks.
NY Yankees Fan 2004 wrote:I could really use saves since I only have Lidge and Izzy (on the DL)
But a carreer ERA over 5, no thank you. I will pass
As a starter. As a reliever, he's been pretty good. A lot of failed starters convert to a good closer and the same thing could happen to Dempster. Worth watching for sure.
maybe its just me but i dont consider a 1.40 whip out of the bullpen to be pretty good. it was a small sample and he was recovering from injury but those numbers last year werent anything to be proud of. sure it is possible he could do well but i wouldnt count on.
wood going on the DL might prevent the cubs from putting dumpster in the pen anyway. none of their minor league starters are really doing all that well so dumpster may get to stay in the rotation until wood gets back.
Heard an interesting stat regarding Hawkins and his "poor" closing abilities on the cubs broadcast the other night. Since 1995, 1 run games in the 9th inning in MLB have been saved 48% of the time. Hawkins career in closing 1 run games is 49%.
Dmville wrote:Heard an interesting stat regarding Hawkins and his "poor" closing abilities on the cubs broadcast the other night. Since 1995, 1 run games in the 9th inning in MLB have been saved 48% of the time. Hawkins career in closing 1 run games is 49%.
Interesting post. What a horrible conversion rate!
I think this shows that closing out games in pressure situations isn't the easiest thing in the world.
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by slomo007 » Mon May 02, 2005 6:15 pm 
