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Al Cohn: A Fan's View

Mark Healey Nov 09 2006 07:28 PM

He worked for 35 years as a reporter and editor for Newsday, and now he's working for us...but you know, I feel so privileged to have him at GBM, I wanted to tell everyone... I figured of all the places and people atht read us (or mention us), the CPF might be the one group that really appreciate Al's work... So, in the spirit of goodwill, I'd like to start an All-Purpose Al Cohn thread, where I'll post his words every week. He's written three columns alone this week, so I'll start you off with these: Glavine Redux? http://www.gothambaseball.com/news/1162501727.php Soriano's a No-No http://www.gothambaseball.com/news/1162843244.php Behind the "Stripes http://www.gothambaseball.com/news/1163117939.php

TheOldMole Nov 09 2006 08:16 PM

Good stuff.

metirish Nov 09 2006 08:25 PM

Yeah,I liked it...

Frayed Knot Nov 09 2006 11:22 PM

I don't recognize the name. What/when did he cover while at Newsday?

Nymr83 Nov 10 2006 01:54 AM

]...and Jose Valentin (who earned at least a shot as a starter in '07)... i dont think a team can automatically hold a spot for someone just because they had one good year, if he's the best option then sure resign him, but if you dont honestly think he'll do it again don't just sign him beacuse he did it last year. ]...This is no knock on Soriano, a genuine star who hits, steals bases and racks up assists in the outfield... easy to rack up assists when everyone runs on you, how many extra bases were taken on him, is there a way to find out?

Edgy DC Nov 10 2006 09:53 AM

="Nymr83"] ]...and Jose Valentin (who earned at least a shot as a starter in '07)... i dont think a team can automatically hold a spot for someone just because they had one good year, if he's the best option then sure resign him, but if you dont honestly think he'll do it again don't just sign him beacuse he did it last year. I don't think he's suggesting that it be held. ="Nymr83"] ]...This is no knock on Soriano, a genuine star who hits, steals bases and racks up assists in the outfield... easy to rack up assists when everyone runs on you, how many extra bases were taken on him, is there a way to find out? Yes, but it's hard. You're right that assist totals would be more meaningful if normalized against assist opportunities. It's been a great breakthrough in defensive analysis to see double play totals in recent years more and more normalized against double play opportunites. It turned out that Tinker, Evers, and Chance, were pretty great at it after all.

Mark Healey Nov 10 2006 08:34 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: I don't recognize the name. What/when did he cover while at Newsday? He was there for more than 35 years...covering the Mets, Yanks in the late 60's-early 70's before starting Newsday's Sunday Sports Seciton as editor...later moving to Features Editor. I recently spent two hours with him, eating breakfast in the Pantry Diner in Rockville Center...what a joy to listen to his stories! I told him about how much I loved being a sportswriter, and how I wished I had been younger to cover the game back when he did, andI talked of the romance of the "way it used to be" He replied (and I paraphrase) "Well, it wasn't so romantic when -- in my first year covering baseball -- that I was outise the Houston ballpark, about an hour fromk deadline, trying to finish my story by the streetlights...with Dick Young nearby laughing." I actually laughed and said, "Well, hell, that is romantic to me." He grinned and said, "Well, it wasn't so romantic at the time, I can tell you that." I love this guy...and feel so lucky that he has joined us.

Frayed Knot Nov 11 2006 04:50 PM

]covering the Mets, Yanks in the late 60's-early 70's Explains why it didn't ring a bell.

Yancy Street Gang Nov 11 2006 05:06 PM

I get the sense that he'd rather write about today, but there are a lot of people writing about today. Hopefully you can coax him into writing a few columns where he looks back and shares memories of the Mets and Yankees of the 60's and 70's.

Mark Healey Nov 14 2006 02:48 PM

I think he will, Yankcy, once he gets going...he's got some amazing stories... in the meantime, here's another http://www.gothambaseball.com/news/1163530074.php

Edgy DC Nov 14 2006 02:56 PM

="Mark Healey"]I recently spent two hours with him, eating breakfast in the Pantry Diner in Rockville Center...what a joy to listen to his stories! And really, can you have a bad time having a two-hour breakfast at the Rockville Centre Pantry Diner? I move for our next forum meetup to be Sunday brunch at the Pantry.

Yancy Street Gang Nov 14 2006 03:00 PM

Yankcy??? I think I've been dissed! (I hope that K is silent!)

Mark Healey Nov 14 2006 03:46 PM

="Yancy Street Gang"]Yankcy??? I think I've been dissed! (I hope that K is silent!) or just the victim of bad copy editor :-)

Willets Point Nov 14 2006 05:27 PM

That's the term for the two-headed monster that results when KC & Yancy merge, kind of like Doublepon.

Johnny Dickshot Nov 14 2006 05:53 PM

I'm not sure I follow Al's POV I can't imagine a manager working today who gives more lip service to 'small ball' than Willie, and lack of hit-and-runs aside (a straight steal with JR is the more aggressive small-play anyhow and probably a better idea many times) Willie also probably uses too much small ball anyway. IMO Reyes shouldn't be under orders to do anything different than he did this year. He hit better than .300 at 0-0 and better than .400 at 0-1. If he wants to swing let him swing. And he bunts about as often as I'd like to see already. If you have a lineup full of prolific HR hitters as argued, then hitting them wouldn't be "lucky" relative to the alternative, and certainly wouldn't be any more lucky to hit one out in the 8th than the 1st, ahead or behind.

Frayed Knot Nov 14 2006 10:15 PM

The other problem with wanting Reyes to bunt more ... is that he's not really very good at it. He'll beat out the occasional one on pure speed alone, but it's a bad pct move unless he improves on it in the future. It is something he should work on IMO just to have as another weapon if nothing else. Bring in those infielders an extra step and grab a handful of extra hits by smacking it by them. But lacing pitches into the gap and running forever is still better.

iramets Nov 15 2006 06:46 AM

One problem with that is that the infielders may not want to take a step in, and just concede the occasional bunt hit to Reyes. Mickey Mantle had this problem, as I recall. He expressed frustration that 3b men weren't playing in for his bunt attempts, and was told, "Anytime you want to bunt for a hit, Mick, we'll give you first base." If Reyes isn't very good at bunting anyway, 3b men will do better to guard against the line drive over the bag. I'd like to see him get so good at bunting that he'll be a .400 hitter bunting and they'll have to play in against him.

MFS62 Nov 15 2006 08:40 AM

Ira, do you also remember that Mantle beat out a lot of bunt hits by pushing the bunt past the pitcher toward the second baseman? I wonder why the faster players these days don't try that. Later

Edgy DC Nov 15 2006 09:23 AM

It's not a bad problem to have. If they're not cheating in a bit (and they do against Reyes), bunt until they do. They will. He's not Mantle.

Frayed Knot Nov 15 2006 09:25 AM

]One problem with that is that the infielders may not want to take a step in, and just concede the occasional bunt hit to Reyes. That's not a problem. Anytime someone wants to give Reyes 1st base is A-OK with me. My point is that imploring him to bunt more won't be an improvement unless and until he gets better at it.

Edgy DC Nov 15 2006 09:38 AM

Taveras was a pushbunter. Backman switched between the push and the drag. The push worked on astroturf because the key was getting it past the pitcher.