re: Some LSU fans are either joking or they apparently have never played baseball.

quote:

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So you have no solutions? Just CPM sucks?

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The solution for Hellmers would have been to bench him after game 1 when everyone knew it wasn't a good fit. We eventually got to Thompson and he has looked great so far. That play he made yesterday was smooth and he swung it well. We got to the solution, it just took an extra game than it should have. And yes, CPM sucks.

And that's not a new opinion of mine. His aggressive, flat swing approach to hitting turns guys like bregman into players who hit ground balls instead of HRs like he could have been doing. His hit and runs meant to get guys out of slumps or to create movement backfire 75% of the time because he uses them at the wrong time with the wrong pieces. His approach to the bullpen is going to lose us games because guys are always going to be a batter or two late getting ready because he's so afraid of them warming up without using them that he delays for too long (See Sunday when George had already walked in the tying and go-ahead run before anyone ran down to the pen). I have lots of examples over the years of him going against the statistically correct call to go with his gut. Deichmann swinging away vs Kentucky and Ole Miss as a freshman... Godfrey in the game vs TCU before Bugg and others in an elimination game of the CWS...

But don't think I don't defend him either. 2017 was a great year for him and I think he did a great job handling the Walker injury (although I think what helped Paul most that year was 3 best friends returning for their senior seasons to play one more time with each other). And when he started Poche game 1 in 2015, that was the right call too and I defended it here with plenty of backlash.