OnlyBucs

Hurdle is not the problem. The players with a few exceptions have simply under performed this year. That and the fact that Happ with his 17-4 record would surely have made a big difference in the Bucs chase of the WC

Hurdle doesn't add anything to the team. He's just a formula follower. But in MLB today, that's what all managers do. It's rare to find a manager who excels beyond the rest. When you hire a new manager, you're just getting someone else who has made a career of following formulas. There's not much to recommend one manager over another.

6E434E5F58495E1E1D2C0 wrote: Hurdle doesn't add anything to the team. He's just a formula follower. But in MLB today, that's what all managers do. It's rare to find a manager who excels beyond the rest. When you hire a new manager, you're just getting someone else who has made a career of following formulas. There's not much to recommend one manager over another. 


I really like Hurdle, thank him for the way his recent teams have made me feel as a baseball fan and respect him tremendously as a man, which makes this tough to type. But you're spot on.



For a team that's all about exploiting market inefficiencies with roster construction and defensive positioning, and thinking differently and creatively, they've essentially got a paint-by-numbers manager who simply follows "The Book" in every decision he makes. Double switch, whether it's necessary or not. 3-run lead = bring in the closer. There's very little outside-the-box thought when it comes to in-game decisions, perhaps to mitigate external criticism. It's as if you could replace Hurdle with 25 or 26 other MLB managers and get the same results because these guys are so cookie-cutter interchangeable.