Terry Collins Wants The Mets To Lead The League In Sacrifice Bunts For Some Reason

shit……….

The team was abysmal at getting bunts down last year, so I could totally believe their were like 45 failed sacs by pitchers in there somewhere. That is what I am going to continue to believe he meant.

lalalalalalalalalalalala

Be afraid… be very afraid. I remember some truly awful bunt calls down the stretch.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets put up a threat when Willie Harris doubled over Bruce’s head, and Wright took first after sustaining a scary-looking hit-by-pitch. (“Shades of Matt Cain,” as Gary Cohen.) Of course, this was the time for BUNTZ! With your #5 hitter! Even when he’s ahead in the count 2-0!. Nick Evans laid down a perfect bunt toward third, so perfect that the Reds easily got the force at third. Josh Thole proceeded to bounce into a double play, and that’s all she wrote.

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/9/26/2451594/reds-6-mets-5-living-in-oblivion

The Terry Collins elevator doesn’t go to the top floor.

Hate the bunts

Maybe he was just talking about Lent, and how he gave up bundt cake until Easter.

If you look at this chart from BtBS, it looks like Collins doesn’t actually do the sacbuntz that often. His practice does not match his rhetoric. Maybe this is all just talk to get a certain mentality out of his players. Yet, he seems like a straightforward guy. Odd.

Everyone wants in on the sabermetric discussion. It’s “cool” now, as is the perception. Following in Sandy’s footsteps before immediately taking a sharp left turn, Terry combines old philosophies (his own) with new ones, and decides to improve the team’s BntEff, XBnt and FIBnt stats* (after learning that the Bnt+ stat wasn’t quite up to par). He defers all the technical chart work, analysis and tabulation of data over to an unnamed source, and then gets to experiment with his hokey new toys. Rumor has it that he has the physics of the bunt down – the only problem is that they’re not practical at all. (i.e. the batter has to first find out where the ball will go over home plate, then must patiently and consciously tap the ball, so as to place it on the right trajectory and path speed, almost like in billiards.)

* I have no idea how the heck they come up with these stats, but I’m sure SSS is sometimes involved.

One of my biggest issues with the Mets last season with their lack of execution, especially when it comes to sacrifice bunting. As a National League team, the inability to bunt is embarassing. I think TC’s “lead the league leader by at least 10” is a little bit extreme, but i don’t see a problem with trying to improve the team’s fundamentals.

Boooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! Booooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Terry needs to learn how to use sarcasm font so we can all stop having strokes.

BR doesn’t count bunt attempts early in the count. We don’t have stats for those times when the pitcher tried 3 times to bunt and failed every time.

Att — Sacrifice Bunts Attempted
Only includes unsuccessful bunts made and bunt strikeouts.
Failing to bunt early in the count and then swinging away later are not included.

Mets Pitchers = 37/44 = 84%
Mets Position = 28/46 = 61%

The 5 SP are within the top 6 in attempts, no surprise there. The position players who attempted the bunt the most:
Pagan 4/9
Reyes 2/5
Tejada 4/5
Pridie 3/4
Thole 1/4
Turner 2/4

Both Pagan and Reyes are fast and proficient bunters, to a lesser degree Tejada and Pridie too, so they can attempt to bunt for a hit, disrupt the defense and do some game theory (they fill the requirements listed by The Book). Turner and Thole are not that great hitters, so depending on the situation, it’s not outrageous that they bunted (and they only tried 4 times each). I’ll try to compile the non-pitchers bunt attempts by NL teams later, but if they keep up last year’s pattern, it’ll be much better than the Jerryball era.

Dear Terry,
You started off last year looking like hell. You made countless bad move after bad move – PINCH HITTING HU FFS – that directly led to numerous losses. You broke out of that nonsense in the middle of the year and stopped making bad processes for a while, but you got back to it in the end of the year. The Mets are going to be facing enough hurdles without you screwing around. Sit back, shut up and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.

then i’m not that worried, since its a valid point. If we see the 2-5 hitters regularly bunting, then I"ll be a bit more concerned.

they are RINGZ shaped

Ike Davis or Lucas Duda or David Wright to bunt, he should be fired that instant.

Mets position players attempted to bunt less than league average. They also decreased bunting attempts compared to the Jerryball era. 69 and 55 bunting attempts by position players in 2009/10, while only 46 in 2011.

The roster composition matters since Castillo was one of the main culprits during 2009/10. However, players like Pagan also decreased their bunting attempts (per PA). For 2012, the roster has less players who typically bunted in previous years (Pagan, Reyes, Pridie).

Alternative, conspiracy/powerplay theory:
SM Sandy: Look TC, you need to reduce the bunting attempts even more in 2012. The game currency is outs and …
Terry Howe: Are you really trying to teach me how to manage?
SM Sandy: When you bunt, you’re just giving away free outs. Sure there are situations when it’s ok to bunt with position players, depending on defense positioning, ….
Terry Howe: You know what, I know how to Play the Game the Right Way™.

Terry Howe to the press: This year, we’ll lead the league in bunting!
SM Sandy in the shadows: Goodbye 2013 option!