FORT MYERS, Fla. -- OPS, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, player-value ratings ... here now with an opposing viewpoint to baseball's current trend, we present Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire:
"Those numbers lie a lot."
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| Ron Gardenhire doesn't waste his mental energy pouring over stats analysis.(AP) |
As far as offensively....
"I think when you start telling your kids, 'Let's be more patient at the plate', you're going to screw them up," Gardenhire said passionately earlier this spring. "I have a hard time with that. All year long, I get numbers -- this guy is 0-for-8 against this pitcher, so I shouldn't play him today.
"Hell, if (you used that as a rule), I shouldn't have ever played. How do you know a guy doesn't have seven line-drive outs? What if a guy is 2-for-22 against a pitcher with 17 line-drive outs? It doesn't say that.
"What about if it's 2-for-22 with 20 strikeouts? Then you probably can't hit him."
With a stable full of either Gold Glovers or potential Gold Glovers, and a pitching staff led by Brad Radke, Joe Mays and, now, Kenny Rogers with Eric Milton out for most of the season, Gardenhire has the luxury of not having to be overly concerned with things such as on-base percentage.
"Our defense is what we're all about," Gardenhire said. "We talk about pitching and defense. That's all we talk about. I know some people talk offense. We don't. We talk pitching and defense. It's like a broken record around here. We know if you don't catch the ball, you're going to lose. You start giving up more than 27 outs, you're going to lose.
"(Doug) Mientkiewicz may have only hit .260, but he saved a lot of runs at first base. I have him as a 100-RBI guy -- you hit .260 and play defense like that, that's 100 RBIs."
In reality, Mientkiewicz batted .261 with 64 RBI last year. But you know what they say about statistics -- make 'em work for you.
"Our scouts do it all the time, they're always showing me those numbers," Gardenhire said of things such as on-base percentages. "I show 'em the door. You start talking about just numbers, a lot of guys wouldn't play. ...
"I like to trust my heart to see what a quality player brings to the table."
Gardenhire mentioned Kirby Puckett, who, in addition to his numbers, taught those around him how to win. He mentioned Torii Hunter as being in a similar category, too.
"Everybody looks at statistics," Gardenhire said. "You go into a meeting in our organization, you look at slugging percentage and on-base percentage. I have a hard time with that. I have a really hard time with that. I might be wrong, but I have a hard time with it.
"You talk about someone like Barry Bonds. His numbers weren't all superstar numbers at one time. Barry was talking to Jacque Jones, and he said he used to swing at everything. Jones was hitting something like .180 against left-handed pitchers, and we kept playing him against left-handed pitchers.
"And by the end of the season, he was hitting better."
Jones wound up batting .213 against lefties in 2002, so let's just say there is room for improvement. But Gardenhire made his point -- and he did it in a way he usually does, with plenty of humor and chuckling as he's getting there.
"When I was with Davey Johnson on the Mets (when Gardenhire was utility infielder there in the mid-1980s), he was a numbers guy," Gardenhire said. "We'd come to the park and I'd be in there against Nolan Ryan. I'd say, 'What are you, drunk?' And he'd say I was hitting .180 against Nolan and had a better chance than Jose Oquendo.
"So I'm facing Nolan Ryan, Mike LaCoss and Steve Carlton, and sliders are hitting me in the foot when I swung at 'em ..."
