.

that the decision is based on an intimate knowledge of the various players and who would be more positively affected by such a move? Or perhaps the difference in ages and experience which affects how a manager deals with a player?

I think we easily fall into the same error that many players do in considering changes a demotion or a slap in the face. It need not be; it may simply be a means of helping a player improve, not a sign of dissatisfaction or lack of confidence. When Maddon sat Longoria earlier in the year, for example, the obvious object was to give him time out to collect himself, not a statement that he did not belong in the majors.

I think the more important issue is how the change was made. In this case, it appears that Maddon spoke to Upton privately and explained the reasoning. And apparently Upton bought into it. If so, that is a sign that Upton is quite mature and also that Maddon has the confidence of his players.

Two other quibbles. One, we have not all commented on Upton’s “lazy” play. Quite the contrary, some of us have vehemently denied that he is playing lazy at all, considering that a misperception on the part of others.

And two, it is possible that some players would not benefit from a change in the lineup, not necessarily because they are selfish or immature, but simply because that is not the best approach for them. Part of Maddon’s job is to assess how best to get the most out of each player.

The idea that everyone should be treated the same is a pleasant fantasy, but not very meaningful, and for that matter not necessarily fair, in the real world.

The times has Upton’s quotes concerning the move:

“It’s his call,” Upton said. “Obviously, I’m not swinging the bat well right now. Just not hitting the ball, period. That’s it.”

That’s a mature way of handling it. He places the blame on himself and moves on.

He has adjustments to make and it is probably easier to work with at #7 than at #3.

i deal with bossman on an almost daily basis and i will let you know that he was incredibly pissed about the lineup thing last night but he knows better than to mouth off to the media about it… hes the kind of guy that understands and can read thru bs

Upton
Aki
Longoria
Pena
Crawford
Navi
Hinske
Gross or a right handed bat not named Gomes
Bartlett

I think Maddon is scared to move Evan up. The dude can handle it and he is our best hitter.

that we get so exercised over lineup construction when there is some evidence that it is minimally important in terms of wins and losses. Perhaps it is because it allows us to fantasize that we are really managers, sort of like the energetic responses to in-game moves. The problem is that it distracts us from the really important aspects of managing, the part that we fans cannot simulate.

The manager’s fundamental job is not making lineup decisions or even determining when to pinch hit or bring in a particular reliever. It is not managing the game but managing the players. His fundamental job(s) are to figure how to get the best out of his players, how to use their skills to help the team, get them to learn and develop their talents. These and other skills are the real factors in a manager’s success; the rest is tangential at most and could just as easily be done by a bench coach or one of the players-or even by a vote of the fans.

I don’t mean to diminish the importance of tactical decisions completely. But even there, the real issue is more patterns than specific decisions. If a manager does not like the sacrifice bunt, there is little point in criticizing not using it to get a run in the 3rd inning. Certainly stubborn adherence to some pre-determined tactics is not admirable, but barring evidence of such absolute rigidity, the issue is whether you think the team is better off focusing on small ball, not whether in a particular case you think it should be used.

In this case, the factor in Maddon’s decision is almost certainly the improvement of Upton’s performance, and the effect of the lineup on wins is almost negligible. I know he has tinkered with the lineup to maximize his players’ impact, but in the end that is probably the least important issue he has faced.

I am not a Rays fan, but as Upton is one of my favorite young players in all of baseball, I have been paying close attention to him and I can’t say that his recent slump is all that surprising, at least from a pure statistical standpoint. Upton, for all his success, has never posted underlying/peripheral stats strong enough to support his HR and Average output. He has only been in the league for a little over a year, but he has outperformed his expected BABIP by plenty and his recently plummeting average seems like more of a statistical correction than a slump. With his current contact and line drive rates, it is a bit surprising that he managed to hit for such a high average dating from the beginning of his call up last year up until about a month ago, and I think that as long as he maintains his current skill set he will be more of a .275ish hitter than the .300+ guy h had been for the better part of the last year and a half. When you factor in his high OBP and great speed, logic dictates that he should be the Rays leadoff hitter for the long and future, but Maddon seems to enjoy having Iwamura and his mediocre skill set bat leadoff.

Fair enough, but he is still is not a .300 hitter. Also, I said it is more of a statistical correction than a slump, not purely a correction. There is some of both going on right now.

How can you say that the last 800 Ab’s or so are the norm when he outperformed his expected BABIP by seventy-nine points last season? Through July 15th,( the last update I have on BABIP) he has outperformed his expected BABIP by twenty-one points. He has only improved on last year’s LD rate by nine points and his FB’s have dropped by seventy points. He (currently)doesn’t seem to possess the skills necessary to hit .300 and I don’t see how you came to the conclusion that the last .800 AB’s, not his 2008 line, are the norm.

After reading your last post i think we have both been saying the same thing but in much different words. I was not trying to say that Upton is as bad as he has been over the last 150 AB’s or so. What I have been trying to get it(albeit in a bit of an awkward fashion) is that his line AFTER his recent rough stretch, .271/.380/.394/774, is more in line with his ability than his line from last season, although his power numbers should be a little better than they are now.
An interesting note is that in Ron Shandler’s most recent Forecaster, the 2008 edition, it was noted that Upton’s numbers will most likely regress despite an overall growth in skills, that being because of how lucky he was last season. Whichever author said that was right on the mark. He has raised his contact rate significantly, cut down on strikeouts, vastly improved his walk rate and has upped his line drive rate to boot. He has hit less fly balls and therefore has experienced a precipitous dip in HR’s, but even if he hit the same number of fly balls this season as he did last he still would have less HR’s as it would be highly unlikely that he would be as lucky this year as he was last, and so far he hasn’t, and his numbers have regressed somewhat accordingly.