Are Speed & Defense That Important?
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After the recent trade of Nomar to the Cubs, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding the need for the Sox to improve the speed and defense on the team. But is it really important? I decided to take a look at a team that had both those things and the worst infield in baseball as well. The 1981 Oakland A’s.
The 1981 A’s are an interesting case. They had probably the best defensive outfield at the time. Rickey Henderson could run down anything (as well as steal on anybody- 56 SB in 108 games). Dwayne Murphy was a perennial Gold Glover in center. Tony Armas had a very good arm in right and great instincts. All could hit for power. The only one that couldn’t run was Armas, but his game was power anyway. He ended up tied for the league lead in HR. The infield, though, was a far different story.
Their infield of 1B Jeff Newman, 2B Shooty Babitt, SS Rob Picciolo, and 3B Wayne Gross would make any manager resort to drinking. Luckily, they had Billy Martin for a manager, so that part was tragically already covered. What wasn’t covered was the infield. Talk about 4 stone gloves. The funny thing is that their catcher, Mike Heath, was solid defensively. It’s funny because he didn’t really play catcher until he got to the majors. The only one of the four that could remotely hit was Gross. Picciolo has the worst walk rate in baseball at the time. Anyone who saw Newman play for the Sox later knows what he could do (very little). And Babitt? He hit a whopping .256 that year.
How did this all translate? It translated into the playoffs. As many may remember, 1981 was a strike year. The strike was mid-year, going from June 10th to August 10th. The season ended up being broken down into two halves. The team with the best record in the first half would play the team with the best record in the second half within the division. The A’s finished with the best record in the first half and played Kansas City in the playoff. They not only won the series, but with a sweep and held KC to only 2 runs. They then were swept by our pals the Yanks in the ALCS.
They were able to get that far for two reasons. One was their starting pitching, which was Rick Langford, Mike Norris, Steve McCatty, and Matt Keough. Those guys were rock solid all year. The other reason was Billy Martin. He was to MLB what Bill Parcells is to the NFL. He was a master of utilizing what he had and generating great results. He was a motivator, master strategist, and leader. Think the Ortiz suspension was big? Try having your manager suspended for 7 games for throwing dirt on an umpire. That happened on 5/29/81. Did they fall apart? Not even close. They even experienced an 8 game losing streak after starting 25-8. How did they respond? With a 5 game win streak to stay in first place. Rollie Fingers won the AL CY Young and the AL MVP that year. Two A’s, Rickey Henderson and Steve McCatty, finshed in second place for those two awards. We all know Rickey, but who was Steve McCatty? My point exactly.
The fact is that I would gladly take a week of a drunk Billy Martin over a season of Terry Francona any day. Don’t believe me? Read Kevin Millar’s comments in the newest Sunday Globe. I think he shares my sentiments. The two games on 8/4 and 8/6 were the definition of ugly. Two one run losses that could have been avoided if the manager had a clue on how to handle a pitching staff and generate runs. So the problem isn’t so much the speed and defense. It’s about having someone to guide the $120 million ship and keep it from sinking.
Sources:
Big Book of Baseball Lineups – Rob Neyer
Baseballlibrary.com
Baseball-reference.com
