Ironman92;795097 wrote:As for Cozart...I honestly don't care....I love when new heralded guys come up.....but I want him to play and if he's not a Bruce/Votto/Stubbs caliber.....he will rot like Heisey.....might even hold hands with him on the bench while others fail over, and over, and over, and over....ugh.
That ties into what I think Dusty's biggest weakness as a manager is: he puts guys in what he perceives their role to be and it take A LOT to get him to alter his thinking. I'd say that philosophy combined with how some of his "key guys" have struggled mightily in contrast to Pittsburgh's Clint Hurdle, who seems to react more quickly to hot/cold hands is why those two teams are so close in the standings.
Gomes was being trotted out there almost every day despite being clueless at the plate. After he FINALLY saw his PT diminished greatly, he started coming out of his slump and contributing again. Masset kept getting one high-leverage situation after another while in a horrible slump under the plan that "he'll work out of it eventually". It just seems that style of managing is great when you're doing good, but when guys aren't contributing and the team's muddling around .500, you have to be more proactive.
Pirates aren't anything special, but guys who have been productive in small stints like Xavier Paul and Dan McCutchen are getting more PT and in high-leverage situations. Guys like Evan Meek and Garrett Jones, who have been struggling are seeing the opposite happen. I think it prevents complacency and helps young guys because they know that if they do things right, they WILL get rewarded for it sooner or later.
