According to Marc Carig, A.J. Burnett spent some time this winter learning a changeup from perennial Yankee punching bag Arthur Rhodes.
Big ups to Carig here, as this might be the first article in the mainstream media I’ve ever seen referencing FanGraphs. This is a highly encouraging sign, and perhaps the days of wOBA and FIP being introduced to a mass audience are closer than we think (first the sewers, then the world!).
But man, what the hell would make Burnett want to learn anything from Arthur Rhodes?
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9 Responses to He’s kidding, right?
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TIQ IQ
Hard to believe given Yankee fans' memories of him, but Rhodes has actually been a pretty successful reliever. The Yankees have hit him so hard that if you take out his numbers against them, his ERA/WHIP goes from 4.15/1.317 to 3.88/1.281. Considering he has only thrown 7.5% of his innings against New York (82 of 1099.2), that's huge.
Good point — I know Rhodes actually has been a fairly successful reliever, and I appreciate you bringing it up, given that Yankee fans' gut reaction is to recoil in horror at the name.
It's still pretty comical to imagine anyone on the Yanks taking advice from Rhodes.
Dave Eiland had a 76 ERA+. OH MY GOD WHY ARE WE LETTING HIM COACH OUR PITCHERS?!?!?!??!!?!?!
Additionally, Kevin Long is a career minor-leaguer with a .687 OPS. Clearly, he is teh suck and has no business being the Yankees' hitting coach.
Dave Duncan (one of the most well-regarded pitching coaches around) never pitched at all. It's amazing that no one else seems to be broadening their perspective beyond ex-pitchers (to my knowledge, Duncan is the only one)
Yeah, Larry – that was my point. You can't just say that because the guy wasn't very good at what he does (and Arthur Rhodes was a better pitcher than Eiland), he's not going to be any good at teaching others. Don't just write off Rhodes, dude.
What makes a good pitching or hitting coach, then? You wouldn't necessarily want the best of the best, either. F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote something to the extend of, "the most gifted people can't often explain why their gifted." But what makes Kevin Long so good at his job? Anyone know.
Becca,
No I know, which is why I was poking fun at myself in the 12:00pm comment.
But still, you have to admit it's fairly amusing thinking about Rhodes giving Burnett pointers.
It's funny, I guess. It's just not an "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" moment.
I have no idea what makes a good coach, but it's clear that guys who were very bad at what they did can actually be pretty good at teaching other guys.