This is the best post I’ve read on a baseball thread this year.
The Cajuns have played the 15th toughest schedule in the country to this point according to warrennolan.com, and are above .500
Way too many Cajun fans think this program should be 2000 or 2014 every year. That’s not how it works.
My how we forget some of the bad times between 2000 and 2014. Care to discuss those “Purveyor of Truth” ? No questionable coaching decisions ? No bad base-running ? That 2012 team couldn’t have beaten some high school teams. Let’s hear it. Since things are so bad right now. Let’s hear the wisdom.
My quote was more about the program in general, not Deggs specifically.
I’ve had quite a few moments of head scratching with some decisions. And I also agree with some of the posters about “pitchability” concerns. We have a bunch of guys with strikeout stuff but issues with command. Hopefully some of that will work itself out, although I think this team is a couple good arms short of being what we all want. We don’t have a legit Friday guy, and could definitely use another reliable guy in the pen.
The offense is coming around though. Last night was an example of facing a good Friday guy of a good team. I expect the Cajuns to score some runs the rest of the weekend.
Everybody always wants to schedule for RPI. Thats what was done this year. Rarely, outside of the elite conferences and programs, will you schedule that way and still have a great OOC record. We are 4-4 against Q1 teams right now. That’s REALLY good.
All of the overly negative fans (in my opinion) may turn out to be exactly right if the team continues to hover around .500 the rest of the way. And it’s possible that may happen. But there’s a lot of games to be played, and against some teams that aren’t near as good as a lot of the ones we have played so far.
This team has its flaws, no doubt, but there’s also quite a bit to like about it.
This is a 3 (full seasons) rebuild. Maybe (Maybe) by 2024 we’ll see some more positive results. That’s just how it is.
He was pretty much solely responsible for turning around a 22 win team with no talent in 2012 to a 43 win team in 2013 and a 58 win team in 2014 at this university as the assistant coach. The team he “inherited” 3 years ago was not near as bad as what he took over in 2012. We in year 3 of this project and the trend is mostly the same…we are a .500 ball club. Nobody expected things to happen overnight, but most expected a positive increase in wins by year 3. This is not a regional team. This is not a pitching staff that compete 4-5 nights in a week. Yes the hitters are getting closer but they will not score 10 runs a night like the 2014 team.
Excellent post. We lack an ace and consistent hands in the pen. That’s a fact.
I think there’s a lot to like about this club otherwise.
As far as Deggs: im not saying his style can’t be successful. I just personally do not like it. Too many fundamentally unsound practices for my taste. I find him to be reactionary, compulsive and cheesy with the “let’s send a message” crap. Analytics has its place in sports, but it should not drive 100% of the decision making, in my opinion.
I do like his attitude toward toughness. I like the mentality he tries to instill in the players and I like the trust that he shows some guys. Still question his ability to build a team. We’ll see.
I agree with a lot of what you are saying.
I think the games are (at times) managed too much like MLB instead of college baseball. My opinion. I’m not big on lefty/lefty and righty/righty “matchups” when making pitching decisions, especially with a thin staff.
I also find it extremely hard to believe that there is enough information available at this level to “shift” on defense as much as we do. Wilson’s start last Sunday was a perfect example. He gave up two hits in the first inning, both of which were ground balls that went right to where the SS and then the 2B would normally be aligned. And by right handed hitters.
Maybe shift against a LH power hitter some, but shifting against RH hitters, and lefty singles and doubles hitters is WAY overthinking things…again, in my opinion.
We are also in agreement with the “message” sending stuff. And on the flip side, with the mentality being instilled. Maybe one is the product of the other, but it’s just not my preference. That said, I’m not the coach. Deggs is the guy with his job on the line, so those decisions are his to make. And I also don’t have a seat in the clubhouse or dugout, so there are a lot of things that go on that most of us are not privy to.
All of that said, I like the direction the program is heading. Yes, the staff walks (and hits) too many guys. And yes, the fielding hasn’t been great. But they are still moving guys around trying to find the right mix. It’s not shocking to me that TR would make an error playing 2B last night. But I get why he was there when you factor in trying to field a lineup when you know that you will need as much offense as you can get, due to not be able to match up with your Friday guy against theirs. Hopefully Marusak is back soon to settle the lineup.
The rest of this weekend and then next weekend should tell us a lot about what the rest of this season will be.
That’s another thing. Conference play has started. Whyyyyy are we still tinkering with the defensive infield? I get that Max’s injury changes some things, and I like JBo as a utility guy, but he’s at least our 4th best option at 1st base. TR at second makes even less sense when you consider both Warner and Bobby have started to barrel up balls lately. When you know runs will be at a premium and coming off of Tommy’s last start, why would you not put your best possible defensive lineup out there? I’m pretty sure we can guess the answer to that question, but that’s some frustrating @ss shì+…
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