Yost's Nationally Televised Record?

[Invader3K]

Actually, I was listening to WSSP on Saturday afternoon, before the Brewers game, and they were talking to an Atlanta sports writer (or he may have been an announcer, I'm not totally sure). They asked him about Yost and he seemed a little surprised that Yost was viewed mainly in a negative light. Made it sound like it would be a popular move if the Braves brought him back down the line.

 

I think it just shows that most fan bases tend to hate their team's manager.

[rluzinski]

As my previous post attempted to explain, as fans, we don't know:

 

A: Whether Yost has certain character traits that cause his players to have less confidence in pressure situations

 

B: If having less confidence has an impact on the players' performance.

 

We can blindly speculate all we want and I'm not trying to stop anyone from doing that. And if this was all just brought up as an interesting observation, I'm all for it. I like trivia as much as the next guy.

 

But if you actually want to find evidence of A. or B., simply looking looking at the Brewer's record in nationally televised games isn't going to get you anywhere. Even if you make all the necessary adjustments for Brewer and opponent strength, starting pitcher, home/away, etc... sure, you'll get an expected record. We'll say that the Brewers' expected record was 12.6 - 15.4 but they really only won 9 games. Now what? You only proved that the Brewers did worse in a small sample than expected. You have no idea why and are forced to assume it was dumb luck.

 

And if anyone thinks I'm wrong, I can use the same methodology to prove that Yost can will his team to play better below the cotton belt, or something else along those lines.

[bucks2281]

The more I think about this, the more unrealistic I think it is. I bet the Brewers hitters freeze up when they think "oh wow, this game is being viewed by 8% of the nation! I better hit 2 homers with Matt Vasgersian and Eric Karros calling this game!" I couldn't find a way to pin this on Yost -- plus, the record is pretty close to .500.

[yount19.u]

I guess it all boils down to preparation of a team before a big series or game and how they cope with the pressure of these game. As we saw in the Cubs series this year and the Cardinals series last year, the entire team seemed to choke under the pressure and did not seem to be prepared for their opponents. Is that Yost's fault? Maybe it is or maybe he only has a little to do with it. I threw this post out there as games on the national networks (even though some games are only shown regionally) are generally against better teams at important times during the season. I'm positive the team knows when the important series and games are, and some of these are likely televised by a national network, which may also add some pressure to perform well. Seeing the stats on these games, although a small sample size, can give some more insight on a manager's potential impact on managing pressure games, or at least the response a team has to pressure games. So far the numbers given are better than I expected as it felt as though the Brewers lost many more of these games than they won. It would be interesting to compare the big game tv numbers of the so called greats like LaRussa, Sparkey Anderson, Lasorda, etc., to the average of all managers to see if it even makes a difference.

[bucks2281]

The Houston @ Milwaukee game on Monday, August 18 has been added to the ESPN schedule

[owbc]

I'm not going to go as far as rluzinski and say that Yost has no impact on the clubhouse. Ozzie Guillen's clubhouse is certainly going to have a different vibe about it and his players are held to different expectations. Also, when Willie Randolph was fired, I remember reading comments from Mets players that Manuel brought with him a much more relaxed attitude, which seemed to rub off differently on the clubhouse. So, it seems to me like managers can affect the clubhouse--obviously the Brewers clubhouse would be different if Yost called out players and benched them after they made mistakes, as some here suggest he should.

 

However, what impact does any of that have on the field? Is there any evidence of a certain team personality being more conductive to winning?

 

I don't think it makes much of a difference at all. The Mets brought in a new manager, but it doesn't get rid of any of their flaws. If the Brewers got rid of Yost and company, the players wouldn't magically "learn" how to hit with RISP or not swing at breaking balls in the dirt. These guys have all been playing baseball since they were 5. They are paid professionals. I'm not saying that coaching has no impact at all, if it did, what would be the point of all the work they did in spring training on baserunning and defense? I'm sure that made a difference.

 

However, what we're trying to say here is that there is no way to statistically prove that Yost an company's attitude/demeanor/coaching styles/personalities have any impact whatsoever on the players' performances. The Brewers have "learned" to win on the road this year, but there are so many factors that go into that success that there is absolutely no possible way to pinpoint it. You don't have to write a novel to realize that. Maybe it's because their defense is better--but how much of that is because of Yost's staff and how much of that is just because we brought in players that play better defense? Most players are going to follow the same curves--they get better as the years go on until their bodies catch up with them. Unfortunately, there is no way to credit the coaches with any of that.

[rluzinski]

I'm not going to go as far as rluzinski and say that Yost has no impact on the clubhouse.

 

Please don't misquote me. This is my stance:

"as fans, we don't know:

 

A: Whether Yost has certain character traits that cause his players to have less confidence in pressure situations

 

B: If having less confidence has an impact on the players' performance. "

 

as fans, we don't know:

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/search.php?keywords=419802/t/Yost-s-Nationally-Televised-Record-.html

 

It's all blind speculation. You could as easily proclaim that Yost is the reason why the Brewers are a good road team this year.

[owbc]

Sorry about the misquote.

 

I essentially agree with you, I'm just trying to add to the argument.

 

I guess we could do a study of years of managerial experience or even individual managers vs. team road record. I suspect it wouldn't yield anything useful, though, as there are just too many other factors involved.

[razzzorsharp]

Joe Madden on tonights Sportscenter said this (paraphrased), "The more your group wants to win the better the chance of winning." Now the question is do you believe in that and if so does Ned Yost and his staff create the type of atmosphere that breeds confidence and success. I believe that a Coach's pep talk means squat but the demeanor that he brings to the locker room does have an impact. Again, these can be opinions only as their could never be statistical evidence to hback any of it up.

[rluzinski]

I'll never be one to claim that lack of statistical evidence disproves the existence of something. It does suggest an upper limit for the effect it might have, however.

[Ennder]

Joe Madden on tonights Sportscenter said this (paraphrased), "The more your group wants to win the better the chance of winning." Now the question is do you believe in that and if so does Ned Yost and his staff create the type of atmosphere that breeds confidence and success. I believe that a Coach's pep talk means squat but the demeanor that he brings to the locker room does have an impact. Again, these can be opinions only as their could never be statistical evidence to hback any of it up.

 

Joe Madden is managing a heavy underdog team and is downplaying things as much as he can. I disagree with him, wanting it more might help a little but not enough to suddenly turn things from a loss to a win in comparison to overall talent.