Idea for the team. Please read and contribute.

[brewerjamie15]

We're having a good season so far and I'm proud of the team. This is of course, a social league, but it's nice to win.

 

I'd like to throw out an idea for discussion.

 

Our batting lineup remains the same from game to game, but will probably get a tweak or two after the half way point.

 

What if we were to keep the same defense for the season as well?

Other teams do it. Switching guys around to different positions all the time makes for tough transitions I think. This would mean that defensive playing time would be cut down for most of the team. We have 16 guys and only 10 positions to fill.

Would some people be willing to DH all the time (and full time base coach)? Keep score and stats?

We have to figure something out defensively. Outfield is tough for late games, I know.

We as a team, need to shore up the defense for the outfield and consider shifting guys more to the left, or moving RC into a rover type position.

Perhaps a full time DH could help direct outfielders?

 

What do you guys think? If you don't feel comfortable answering here, PM me. I'd really like to get some ideas from the team.

[colbyjack]

Do you view the defense in the OF as a problem? Have we missed and/or dropped too many balls? I can't think of too many.

 

There were a lot of flares in tonight's game that fell in between the SS and LCF, I do know that. I know Matt/valpo yelled out something about this about how they were seemingly hitting the ball in the exact same spot time after time. I don't know if that is bad defense or just the luck of the draw. If you play against that you never know when they're going to hit them over your head. If it's the same couple of opposing batters that keep doing it, if someone notices that, speak up, but I know I have a hard time keeping track of the game-to-game tendencies of the opposing batters. Otherwise It's a little tough to defense against that.

 

Late in the game I yelled that we needed to play up with the tieing/winning run on third base, as a few others did as well, as everyone seemed to be on the same page in those situations.

 

Houlie and AJAY have been rock solid in LF and LCF. nullbyte catches anything that is hit to him that I've seen, and Jimbo, radman and I really haven't had too many balls hit to RCF and RF. I try to back up every single play I can. I'm not sure if tonight's collision could have been avoided, as I thought one of either nullbyte or Jimbo was going to make the catch.

 

I noticed tonight that both middle infielders were coming out to serve as the cut-off man, with no one covering second base on a couple of occasions. Also, I think it needs to be determined who has the stronger arms of the outfielders. I like to think that I can get it back to second from intermediate to shallow reads. We don't have to cut off every single ball that goes to the OF as long as we're confident/familiar with who can make the throws and who can't.

 

Just a few thoughts. I will say that I am getting more comfortable tracking fly balls at night, which I expressed as a concern just a couple of weeks ago.

[BrewerFanMatt]

I do agree that there were A LOT of balls hit to short center in the game...there was nothing we could do about it though...We had them played like we should and I am sure if we moved positions and made some sort of short center position we would get equally screwed over. Again, no one's fault, just bad luck. Hopefully next game they will hit the ball at us more instead of the bloopers. As for no one being at second when the ball is landing in short center, I take the blame for that...Sorry, and I will do my best to be there in the future. Let's not dwell on the unlucky plays though...GREAT GAME GUYS! A total team effort...everyone picking everyone else up and such. Let's get them next week.

[Houlie24x]

The positions thing is tough. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable being in either role. I wouldn't want to drive all that way and just sit on the bench. I also wouldn't feel comfortable playing a full game while others are wanting to get in as well. Like you said, this is a social league and winning is of course more fun. We are right now the second best team in the league with what we are doing at this point. I can be happy with that. Maybe if anything we can put together our best defense for a full game against Bay Street. No matter what happens I think every person needs to be 100% happy with their role.

 

It did seem like a lot of bloopers were getting in today. I think that is mainly because this team probably only had one power hitter and he was the lefty. For the most part it seemed like we were playing them too deep. This is probably the only team we can really afford to move in on though. I really hate the rover idea. A good hitter/team will find a way to beat the rover and it would usually result in a homerun. It's so hard to place the rover in the right place anyways.

 

I don't think the cut off thing is an issue. I like that Valpo gets out there right away and he is always in the right place to take the throw. I think it is pretty much up to the outfielder to make the decision anyways because nobody can physically stop them. You just better be 100% sure your throw is on target and that no other runners will advance if you can't get the lead runner out.

 

Great game today guys and I will be looking forward to next week.

[bball123h2]

Jamie, I agree to a point. When we're playing a big game (Bay Street, I'm looking your direction), it would be nice to put our best team out there for the whole game.

 

Conversely, since this is a social league, it would also be nice to have some of the better defensive players take a back seat in the easier games (teams to remain anonymous). Everyone spent money to be on the team, and everyone has to make the drive down, so everyone should get some PT.

 

Of course, this could be up to the individual as well. If some of our team members would rather not play defense, thats fine too. But they do deserve the opportunity to play, should they desire it.

[brewerjamie15]

I can't seem to sleep for some reason so I'm at the computer.

I was not really referring to tonight's game as much as in general.

 

Maybe the rover thing is not good. I know we tried it and didn't like it too much. We may very well have played a bit too deep on them which is where the rover idea came from.

 

Against some teams, stacking up the defense seems like a good idea to me. Bay Street is full of big hitters who should be in a competitive league. If they feel great about having all softball heads out there and winning a social league so be it I guess.

 

Perhaps the past few weeks have been skewing my ideas a bit. It just seems that 2 of the past 3 teams have been hitting little stuff that falls in front of us.

 

Should we consider employing a left field heavy outfield? Nobody really seems to go to right all that often (still happens though) having the RC more behind second base? Should second base play closer to the bag? Should SS play deeper and 3B a bit more towards second base?

 

Should we assign positions to guys and that's it? One week a guy splits time with a partner in RF, then they switch halves the next week. Something like that? These two RF partners would then stay at that position all season. Is that an idea to consider? Our outfield is good but sometimes guys express concerns to me about different things. I am starting to think that assigned positions would be a good idea.

 

What do you all think?

[RightFieldCoder]

Should second base play closer to the bag?

 

Yes. When I'm out at 2nd, I make them show me they can hit it to the hole on my left. Then I'll play straight up only against the batters that have shown me they can hit it there. It will give up some extra base hits, but may take away from some of the flares. Creating a rover may take away some base hits but could result in more HRs.

 

Should we assign positions to guys and that's it?

 

I personally like being a utility play anywhere guy. It helps keep my head in the game. I'm sorry about my defense, I'm taking my offensive woes with me to the field. I hope to break out of it soon.

 

I don't like the idea of people sitting the whole game, except occasionally when they feel like doing so. Everyone should get the chance to play half a game if they want to. I can understand if we want to stack the D against a certain team to battle for first, but not every week.

[colbyjack]

I didn't comment on this before, but I too like getting everyone in the game. If we want to assign a set defensive alignment for one of the bigger games (Bay Street has been brought up by a few people), I think everyone would be cool with that.

 

Overall I thought our defense has been pretty solid. From the OF, I have enjoyed watching the plays the IF has made, and I think we do a good job limiting extra bases by getting the ball back where it needs to be.

[nullbyte]

I've given this some thought the past few days, and I'm not really crazy about the idea of an all-time defense (except, as others have mentioned, in a critical game -- and only then if everyone is on board). Here's why...

 

-- Most of the plays where batters are reaching base have been legitimate hits, and the best fielder in the world isn't going to reach them. The way I see it, if there are defensive adjustments to be made, they need to lie more in positioning than personnel. (See below for one possible alignment.)

 

-- As far as equity of playing time, we're in pretty good shape right now. Currently the bottom part of the order sees a bit less action at the plate, but the only practical improvement would be to start the lineup where it left off the prior week, as we did for much of last year. But if we did move to an all-time defense, no doubt (statistically speaking) some of the 6 permanent DHs would be the ones at the bottom of the lineup, meaning they'd get shorted on playing time on offense and defense.

 

-- I haven't seen any problems with switching people around in the middle of the game. That said, it would probably be good to keep it to the halfway point, and not have any more three-man, two-inning-apiece platoons.

 

-- What other teams are doing is a non-issue to me. I think we have an identity as a friendly, inclusive team, while (I like to think) bringing a little additional baseball sense as well. In my mind, having permanent bench players goes counter to that.

 

-- Last but not least, I think our defense has actually been quite good; it's definitely improved over last year. Also, to this point, we have 10 credited errors, compared to 19 for our opponents. I simply don't see any need for a major overhaul.

 

That being said, I would have no issues with players sharing ownership over each position, for those that are interested. Speaking for myself, it's been good to stick to two positions -- I wouldn't want to get bounced around to four or five.

 

Regarding alignments, it seems that a high percentage of hits are either grounders between 3B/SS or fliners into short left field. Here's one possible alignment that, I think, would help us get an extra out or two each game on the fly balls, and might save a base on some of the grounders:

 

http://www.brewerfansoftball.net/alignment.png

 

Definitely a big clump on that left side, but I'd bet a scatter plot would show that that's where all the action is...

[razzzorsharp]

I would be a little iffy about this as well as we would be going down a path where winning seems to be our main goal. I know that's not mine. For me, in my situation where I drive a little longer to get there, I wouldn't mind playing a full game and then being out the next as this would save on gas on the days where I am off.

[Jimbo]

Quote:

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We may very well have played a bit too deep on them which is where the rover idea came from.

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Keep in mind we were tipped off to the fact the ball was carrying well in the 8:00 game. Also, by playing deep we were conceeding the nickel-and-dime stuff and preventing the three-run jack. Looking at the scoresheet, their first four hitters did most of the damage. Next time play deep for the first 4 or 5 and cheat in for the bottom of the order.

 

 

Quote:

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Have we missed and/or dropped too many balls?

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I haven't played in 20 years, so I'm still re-learning everything - hitting/fielding. I just need someone to fungo about 20 or 30 balls my way just so I can get the hang of it again. I think I can still make a positive contribution to the team.