Fire Todd Butler

[WSUwatcher]

Hey, SB -- I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the 1%-3% improvement per year: are you saying that a guy who hit .300 and improves 1% would then hit .303 after the improvement?

In any case, the Boyd Nation conclusion isn't surprising; Bill James and the sabermetrics gang have made essentially the same discovery in pro ball, namely that players' minor league hitting from one year to the next is in general actually pretty stable and steady, as well as a reasonably good predictor of potential major league performance. Thus it shouldn't exactly shock anyone that the same would apply to guys who are the same age as young, or youngish, minor leaguers but just chose to go to college instead.

[WstateU]

It's official. We have hit rock bottom:

Bark in the Park - Saturday, May 7th.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2016/5/5/baseball-bark-in-the-park-scheduled-for-may-7.aspx

No doubt they will count the dogs in their attendance numbers and it is a way to add a little noice to the proceedings.

Never hurts to have some defense assistance... :)

"• Dogs will be allowed to check-in and play in the left field area."

[Veritas]

It's official. We have hit rock bottom:

Bark in the Park - Saturday, May 7th.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2016/5/5/baseball-bark-in-the-park-scheduled-for-may-7.aspx

No doubt they will count the dogs in their attendance numbers and it is a way to add a little noice to the proceedings.

Seems like a piss poor and crappy promotion to me. However, we can now say the Butler program has officially gone to the dogs.

[shockfan89_]

We have the opportunity to do something this week we haven't done all year and that is to finish a week above .500. We usually only have 4 games per week and that requires us to win 3 of 4 to finish above .500 which just hasn't been possible, but having 5 games this week (due to the rain out last week) we actually have a chance to go 3-2 and have a positive week for the first time this season.

4 of the 5 games are also home games so this is our best chance!!! Our opponents are also average at best with 2 games against K-State (21 - 23, RPI 130) and 3 games against ISU Blue (27-16, RPI 82). The down side is this also means we have to find the pitching for 45 innings this week which could make this task more difficult than it should be. Hopefully we can continue to get good starting pitching and somehow piece together 3 good games.

Oh well never mind. We blew another opportunity.

[mjbaker84]

Seems like a piss poor and crappy promotion to me. However, we can now say the Butler program has officially gone to the dogs.

The sf giants and other mlb teams do similar promotions and it is always packed. I salute them for trying new things.

[Speed]

WSU baseball just sucks right now. That's a position we aren't accustomed to. Money has been provided to facilities to make WSU a national power. We can't even compete in our league right now. I don't understand how we had a nationally prominent pitching coach. Now we give up 15 runs, the bullpen is in trouble. With this product, we could kill baseball, fund football & get a better conference.

[Veritas]

The sf giants and other mlb teams do similar promotions and it is always packed. I salute them for trying new things.

Lol... "For trying new things" in order to get fans AND their dogs to a WSU baseball game. That is what I call desperation!

You're right though. It's not the marketing department's fault for trying to come up with gimmicks to sell tickets to watch a badly coached team.

What's next? Camel races?

[shock10]

In the Valley we are better than 2 teams lol

[shockfan89_]

In the Valley we are better than 2 teams lol

Thank god MSU was way overrated and self-destructed or it could just be 1.

[im4wsu]

Lol... "For trying new things" in order to get fans AND their dogs to a WSU baseball game. That is what I call desperation!

You're right though. It's not the marketing department's fault for trying to come up with gimmicks to sell tickets to watch a badly coached team.

What's next? Camel races?

Charles O Finley had sheep in the grass on the hill!

[KC Shox]

We'll definitely won't surpass the 26 wins from last season, do I have any takers that we'll eclipse 20 wins this season?

Anyway, I've got two "Superbowl" games left this season, Creighton and KU both at home. Butler better pull out all the stops to get wins in these two games, or I'm boycotting the rest of the season. Oh wait, I'm already doing that.

[Veritas]

Charles O Finley had sheep in the grass on the hill!

Was that Charles O Finley? Maybe for the rest of the year the team should wear green and gold rather than black and yellow.
Maybe the marketing department should give away paper bags for fans to wear over the head.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I know that many believe Coach Butler gets one more year.

But, but, but....

I am a box score guy. I love to look at box scores. When I look at the Shocker e.r.a.'s in the box score, it is so ugly.

I just do not know how Coach Butler can avoid employment termination, after this season.

[THam]

When I look at the Shocker e.r.a.'s in the box score, it is so ugly.

I just do not know how Coach Butler can avoid employment termination, after this season.

By throwing Kemnitz under the bus and positing that his own hand-picked pitching coach would've been better at turning Butler's throwers into pitchers. Oh, and the injuries. Because, you know, no other program has to deal with arm trouble.

[shockerofandover0943]

The scary thing is that not only have they not shown any development, in quite a few cases we have seen regression.

The other thing that needs to be critically reviewed and evaluated is the training and condition aspects of this program. Maybe it is just a matter of bad luck but it seems to me (and I could be all wet) that injuries under HCTB have been above trend and expectations as well. Of course, that is probably mostly on Kerry Rosenboom and he has been doing this a long time and petty successfully. But that doesn't mean the injury situation should not be studied and evaluated.

Update: After I posted this I see that Willie Schwanke may very well be out for the season. I wonder how much this rash of injuries will play into an excuse for retaining HCTB another season (or two). Of course, IMHO, the elephant in the room is the big buyout number.

At this point FADES is wearing a very poor hire and and even worse contract and there really doesn't appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel at this point either.

Based on my understanding of the situation, Kerry has only worked with the position players the last two years. I'm not a fan of the direction the baseball program is headed, but I don't think Kerry is to blame for the pitching injuries.

I did just start reading Jeff Passan's "The Arm", which is a great book trying to get to the heart of the UCL (Tommy John) problems in baseball. I'd recommend any coach/player/parent to pick that up and give it a read.