Harold Ramírez y su nueva mecánica de bateo
Harold Ramírez hace un recuento de lo que ha sido su primer año con los Marlins de Miami, con los altibajos individuales y colectivos, y haciendo énfasis en los cambios en su mecánica de bateo:
Five takeaways from Hurricanes coaches press conference
On the Monday of every regular season week, Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz and his coordinators give a State of the U type press conference recapping the previous game and previewing the upcoming one. Having attended it, here are my takeaways from what they said.
1) Diaz’s approach to recruiting
When Manny Diaz became the head coach, one of the first things he did was establish “The New Miami” rebrand in an effort to excite the base and modernize a throwback identity. That rebranding is at the forefront of recruiting, which Miami should have a natural advantage given it is in the apex of prime talent real estate. It hasn’t been easy, however. Miami has led the nation with 19 decommitments in the last recruiting cycle and has lost 13 this time around. A majority of those decommitments came from prospects that gave a verbal pledge to Miami early in the process only to later change their minds and put out a statement on twitter via notes app that ends with some combination of “PLEASE RESPECT MY DECISION!” and “NO INTERVIEWS!” That has led to a new approach from Diaz.
“What I will tell you broadly is that there’s some things we are changing in terms of what we will do to take a commitment,” Diaz said. “Not all of those things are necessarily grandfathered, but there are some things going forward. What it means to be committed to Miami and a series of criteria that has to happen for that happen. There’s a series of criteria of what happens once you are committed to Miami that’s never been in place in the past.”
He compared recruiting to sales during the presser, using his podium microphone as a metaphoric example.
“I have to create value and I have to make you want this, but before you value it, I have to value it,” Diaz said.” Part of that is not tolerating people not respecting the University of Miami, not respecting their hometown team. That’s something very personal to me. I want it to be personal to our staff and I want it to personal to our players. And that’s OK. Other people can go other places and that’s why there are 130 schools, but the University of Miami is going to get back where it needs to get back to with players that love the University of Miami. They love what it means to be a Miami Hurricane and they understand that value.”
Diaz had a little more polished version of Mike Singletary’s “I want winners!” speech during his first game as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
2) Moneyball Manny
Diaz went for it on a 4th-and-1 in the third quarter against North Carolina. While it came up short and the Hurricanes turned the ball over on downs, Diaz did not second guess his decision because it was backed up by data, which is an important element to his coaching style.
“I’m big into data,” Diaz said. “The Moneyball effect has filtered into football. I equate it to playing blackjack. We know we want a team that wants to be aggressive and go for it on fourth down. Once you understand the data, you trust you’ve made the right decision. It’s been calculated.”
That’s not to say that he’ll go for it in every fourth-and-short situation. Diaz said that those decisions “depends on score, time of game, depends on the opponent.”
“Your kicking game has to factor in as well,” Diaz said. “How often does any college kicker make a kick from 37 yards? All of that goes into the science of it.”
3) The quickest way from point A to point B is…
The Hurricanes gained 179 rushing yards against North Carolina and DeeJay Dallas looks to be a future NFL running back after back-to-back impressive performances this season. Enos mentioned where the Canes offense want to go on the ground during his press conference.
“We’re gonna run north,” Enos said. “When we get the ball, we’re not gonna be an east/west team. We’re gonna run the ball downhill.”
Cam’Ron Harris gained 60 yards and a touchdown in 10 carries against UNC, giving Miami a one-two punch to Enos’ liking.
“One thing that happens with running back in my experience, have been around some really, really, good ones, is when one’s on the sideline watching the other one run hard, he kind of realizes ‘when I get out there, I better run as determined and just as hard.'” Enos said. “That’s what we tell the guys. If you want more carries, you got to earn more carries.”
4) The more the merrier for Dan Enos
Against North Carolina, nine different Canes players recorded a reception and two running backs received double digit carries. Miami offensive coordinator Dan Enos emphasized playing a large amount of players on offense during the first two games. With the home opener against Bethune-Cookman expected to be a blowout early, plenty of players can expect to see the field on Saturday.
“It’s a lot better for your moral when you have more guys playing from a mental standpoint,” Enos said. “Coming over to practice for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, they all come over with maybe a little bit of jump to their step, knowing that they’re gonna have a chance to play.”
5) Why you should go to the Bethune-Cookman game
After a neutral site game and road game to start the season, Miami will be home for the next five games. In fact, from now until the last game of the season, the Hurricanes only game outside of the state of Florida is on Oct. 26 at Pittsburgh. The home opener against Bethune-Cookman and the Central Michigan matchup afterwards are expected to be a anti-climatic blowout where the fans would naturally leave once the tailgate buzz wears off. Diaz offered some valid reasons to come to game despite the expected outcome.
“These next five weeks are going to say a lot in terms of where this team is and what happens in our season in the ACC Costal,” Diaz said. “I would come just to watch Cam Harris and DeeJay Dallas run the ball. I’d come to watch Jarren Williams play and I know for a fact, I’d come watch Shaquille Quarterman, Mike Pinckney and Zach McCloud play their last run of games at home because those are guys that you want to say five years from now, ten years ago, that every time I had a chance to watch Shaq Quarterman play, I watched him play. And if it happens, come watch Lou Hedley punt. That might be worth a ticket too.”
Honorable mention: UM defensive coordinator Blake Baker on his defensive personnel
“Talent is not going to be out issue, I think experience is our issue and there’s going to be some growing pains.”
5 Live: Has the Dolphins’ Tank Already Gone Too Far?
After the Dolphins’ franchise-worst 59-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, fans are showing more fight on Twitter than their team showed in the game.
So it raises a question:
Has the Dolphins’ tank already gone too far?
Time for 5 Live.
Chris Kouffman (@CKParrot) of Three Yards Per Carry: “The Dolphins are spending 67% of the average league AAV this season, which is $27 million worse than the next cheapest team out there. They’re spending $36 million less than the next cheapest team out there in cash payroll. They have the 3rd most salary cap space in the league at $38 million. They flushed Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, Kiko Alonso, TJ McDonald, Tank Carradine, and 26% of the roster days before the season began. The entire right side of the offensive line (Danny Isidora & Julie’n Davenport) didn’t even have their parking space yet, and they had a career right guard playing left tackle. They had a slow 5’9” experimental career slot corner manning the last line of defense at free safety, a coverage linebacker from the CFL playing Edge defender, and a defensive lineman that similarly hasn’t found his parking space Avery Moss playing 46 snaps (poorly). None of this has anything to do with Nick Foles, nor will it be helpful in any way to the effort in 2020+. All of it could’ve been prevented with basic roster management. Choosing this resulted in the worst home loss in franchise history, a fan base that will probably not go to any more home games, and (evidently) multiple players complaining they want out. This was a choice, it had nothing to do with Nick Foles, and we shouldn’t pretend there was only one way to do a rebuild, or even one way to tank. They chose THIS way, and they’re gonna have to live with the consequences, and I’d just assume stop playing holier than thou with the people that are upset about it.”
Luis Sung (@LuisDSung), Dolphins writer for 5 Reasons and Dolphin Maven: “As someone who despised the idea of tanking from the very beginning, the Miami Dolphins have indeed gone too far with their tanking process. And in some ways, they also haven’t gone far enough. If the goal is to be back on their feet by 2020, they can’t go so far as to completely remove any and all talent that’s found throughout the offseason. Cutting Nate Orchard, their top pass rusher in the preseason, serves what purpose other than to make sure they fail? Could he not have played an Andre Branch role when Miami decided to contend again? By the same token, if tanking is the goal, why are the young players not playing? Isaiah Prince was inactive against Baltimore, as was guard Shaq Calhoun. Why are they not giving them that experience? Let’s not even discuss the Josh Rosen angle. Miami has done too well in removing talent that can contribute, and seems unwilling to develop the raw talent that can potentially help in the future. That’s the worst of both worlds.”
Alfredo Arteaga (@UptownReport) of Three Yards Per Carry: “The Goldilocks principle. Not too far, not far enough, just right. Where did they probably” go too far? I would say that the Tunsil/Stills trade was an opportunity that fell into their lap and they took advantage of it. The purge that started with allowing Cameron Wake to walk and trading Tannehill was necessary for a rebuild. So are we at the point where it’s the cuts of Tank Carradine and Nate Orchard as the last straws? No. Although those two cuts bother me because I thought the point of a tank is to of course, lose enough, but also attempt to add some cheap useful talent, which those two were. Where they did go too far is on the offensive line, where it started with a Tunsil trade, that I don’t have a problem with, but continued with a mysterious Jesse Davis journey from RG to RT, to now LT!. Shaq Calhoun getting what seemed like every 1st team snap in camp and preseason, to then be inactive on gameday while they play a journeyman (Isidora) in his place. Then Davenport plays RT out of the blue? This looks intentional, and if it’s not intentional, it’s something much worse. Incompetence.”
Josh Houtz (@Houtz), Dolphins writer for 5 Reasons and Dolphin Maven: “Everyone knew heading into the season, that the Dolphins were going to be bad. But no one was ready for what we saw on Sunday. It was bad. Really, really bad. Now there are reports of a mutiny in Miami, but why? This team was going to be bad with or without Tunsil, Stills, or Kiko. An influx in young players is on the horizon. And with a Billion dollars in cap space, the Dolphins can get one or two franchising altering free agents. If there are players that are upset with what’s going on in Miami, do better. After all, none of those guys did anything to stop the 59-10 pummeling. …. The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming…. #TrustTheProcess.”
Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick), Five Reasons content director: “The Dolphins, after two decades of abrupt direction changes, have finally found one that works. Down. And while I understand the impetus for the overall strategy, because Steve Ross gave up trying to do it the right way, it’s impossible to defend what we saw last week, with the cuts of useful players in favor of unproven newcomers. And it’s impossible to defend what we saw on the field Sunday. Here’s the problem: Most fans aren’t on social media. They don’t know the ins and outs of the Dolphins’ plan, and unlike the Marlins, Chris Grier has done a poor job of explaining it. They just see the outrageously inept output.. What’s worse is that Grier has put his new head coach, Brian Flores, out front, to justify the unjustifiable. It’s unfair, and we see where it’s going. Eventually, when Grier goes — like Sashi Brown and Sam Hinkie went in similar tank jobs — Flores won’t be shielded either. He’ll bear the brunt of fan apathy and anger. Grier has accumulated gobs of assets, sure. But do you trust this organization to do right by them anyway. Simply put, bring on Heat season.”
Kathleen Noa: “I Did Not Think We’d Play That Bad.”
There are a few Miami Dolphins superfans who have caught our attention on social media.
Kathleen Noa is as dedicated as it gets.
Here’s her first video for Five Reasons Sports.
We’ll put a name on this eventually.
Do you agree with her?
Follow her at @Kathleen_Noa.
Second Guessers: Well, that was awful, Dolphins
The dynamic duo, Alex Donno and Josh Friedman are back after, well, whatever the bleep that was.
Donno and Friedo knew the Dolphins were tanking — they just told you so.
But this bad?
59-10?
The latest episode of Second Guessers.
Rout reveals ugly reality of tanking Dolphins
MIAMI GARDENS — It is one thing to talk of tanking as a concept.
The reality of it?
That was the atrocity on display Sunday when the Dolphins offered the resistance of tissue paper in a 59-10 walkover by the Ravens.
In their inaugural season in 1966, the Dolphins lost 58-24 at Buffalo, the most points allowed in a regular-season game in franchise history before Sunday.
The only loss more one-sided and humbling than this one was the 62-7 playoff thrashing at Jacksonville in Dan Marino’s final game.
Ironically, two decades later they are still trying to replace him and have sold their soul for the chance to draft another magic quarterback. Or so they hope.
No question, the Dolphins were in need of a major overhaul, a radically different approach than has failed miserably over the past two decades.
The debacle Sunday showed what tanking looks like, what happens when you take a stripped-down roster into games that count.
More from Maven: Flores vows to do better job of coaching
Disaster on defense
It looks like giving up a 49-yard run on the first play and never being competitive in the game.
It looks like having such a talent deficit with the opponent that you fall behind 28-0 just over a minute into the second quarter, as the Dolphins did.
Dolphins icon Larry Csonka tweeted, “New personnel. Unrehearsed. This is tough to watch. “
Even with the expectation that this Dolphins team wasn’t built to win, the scope of the incompetence and disorganization was stunning.
Particularly on defense, which is coach Brian Flores’ forte. Obviously, he is not directing the Patriots defense anymore.
Nonetheless, all of the scheming and attention to detail and punitive dashes to the TNT (Takes No Talent) Wall were supposed to yield a unit that knew what it was doing out there, albeit limited in talent.
But this Dolphins defense look disorganized, clueless, lost.
It was a total pushover. It had no answer to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
Jackson produced the best passer rating (158.3) in Ravens history and rookie Marquise Brown debuted with 147 yards receiving, including touchdowns of 47 and 83 yards on his first two catches.
I didn’t think there was a scheme issue,” Flores said. “There was an execution problem and we weren’t getting aligned. We’ll be better next week.”
Seriously? Next week, Flores’ former team, the defending champion Patriots, come to town.
Trade fallout lingers
There may well be a morale problem, stemming from trading away Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills and other veterans at the end of the preseason.
The Tunsil trade seems a reach too far into the tank. Left tackle is one of the cornerstone positions and he was a rising star still on his rookie contract. Sure, they got three high draft picks in the deal, but those will be late in the round from a good Texans team.
And they will need to draft someone to fill the void of Tunsil, which will be a reach.
Meanwhile, Sunday was no isolated bad day for the home team. Be prepared for a month of NFL Sunday’s like it.
For the aqua-clad people in the stands, it means little return in entertainment value on those pricy season-ticket plans.
That is what tanking the season is all about. It was on display in all of its teeth-gnashing splendor.
“We’ve got problems on offense, defense and special teams. We’ll try to fix them all,” Flores said. “Schematically from a personnel standpoint, we’ll try to fix them all. We’ll try to put our players in the best position to win. We’ve got a lot of work to do from that standpoint.”
Problem is, there is no immediate fix for this season.
Dolfans can point to a huge cache of future draft choices as hope for the future. But this game illuminated how much talent will have to be mined from upcoming drafts to field a competitive team, and gave an indication of how long that could take.
Let there be no mistake, the Dolphins will be picking near, if not at the very top next April.
But there’s no guarantee the strategy of suffering through losing seasons and stockpiling draft picks will work.
Look at Cleveland, which endured a 1-31 stretch in 2016 and 2017. This is supposed to be the Browns’ year. They started it with a dud in a 43-13 loss to the Titans.
Imagine how their fans feel today. Probably worse than Dolfans.
Roster turnover hurts
There were some boos early from the home crowd at Hard Rock Stadium. They had one highlight moment to cheer when DeVante Parker made a leaping 49-yard catch between two defenders.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who made history by starting for his eighth NFL team, led a spunky touchdown drive before the half, with undrafted rookie Preston Williams punctuating his first NFL TD catch with a resounding spike.
By halftime, with the Dolphins trailing 42-10, fans were sitting dumbfounded in their seats or retreating up the aisles, presumably to a bar.
The big question about the Dolphins going into the game wasn’t could they find a way to win?
It was, who are those guys?
I counted only 20 players who were on the roster last season. A dozen joined the team since the final preseason game. Fifteen hadn’t appeared in an NFL game before Sunday.
Two who had just joined the team started on the offensive line, Danny Isidora at right guard and Julien Davenport at right tackle. Jesse Davis, who played all preseason at right tackle, moved to left tackle.
An offense that aspires to be successful running the ball had 21 yards rushing, averaging 1.8 yards a carry.
Josh Rosen created a mild stir from those still watching when he entered late in the third quarter and threw a short completion on his first pass. His second pass was intercepted.
“He told us, let it sink in, remember this feeling,” said cornerback Eric Rowe, a former Patriot who was victimized on Brown’s first touchdown catch, said of Flores’ message to the team. “I think everybody is going to remember this feeling because that’s just going to motivate us to push harder in practice.”
“We’re going to let it sink in. Let that [expletive] hurt. Let it hurt, let it hurt, because it does,” safety Bobby McCain said.
Get used to it, folks. These are your 2019 Miami Dolphins. And it’s going to hurt. A lot.
Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns
(Photo of Ryan Fitzpatrick by Jasen Vinlove for USA Today)
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