Does Dodgers faltering prove to all the so-called baseball analysts that baseball is a team sport and not a ?

Question

one man show? When the Dodgers acquired Manny, a lot of ESPN analysts where already putting them in the World Series. I said that time that the Dodgers are not even going to make the playoffs, and I still say that. I hope they have learnt their lessons.

QUESTION 2: IF the Dodgers don't make the playoffs, does this hurt Manny in his contract negotiations? Why would a team want to spend so much money on a player if one player can't do it all?

Answer 1

Lets hold your horses, everybody. Don't count out the Dodgers just yet. They lost nine out of their last ten, are are still only a whopping 4 1/2 games out. 'Zona is treading water, staying a little above .500, and here comes Colorado. Nobody has the NL West sown up yet. Remember how important the month of September became for the NL West & East just last year.

As for Manny - he's a great hitter, but hes just one guy, and he doesn't pitch.

Answer 2

also shows joe is the clueless joe that we know.

he has the talent and $$ in NYC and won.

but has no insight into the game.

Answer 3

Baseball is not truly a "team" sport.  The basic process of a baseball game is that a series of guys come up to the plate one at a time to face the pitcher one-on-one.  If they can string together a number of positive individual performances then runs are scored and the "team" wins.  On defense, the pitcher and catcher form a two-man combo, and on defense two or three players may interact on any given play but that's not really a "team" endeavor.  And the influence of most managers on the game is minimal, at least during the actual game.

In baseball more than any other "team" sport you can have a bunch of guys who never say a word to each other, don't practice together and only see each other for a couple of hours at game time, and if you have enough individual talent on the roster can still win.  The Dodgers just don't have enough good individual players and Torre is a less-than-average manager.  When he had those great rosters with the Yanks he won and now that he doesn't he won't win.  Manny is a great player but it's not enough.  They need far more hitting in order to deal with their ridiculous pitcher's park effectively and they just don't have it.  It's not Manny's fault.  

Answer 4

All the "baseball analysts" know that baseball is a team sport. I am a major stat head, but I am starting to believe that chemistry plays a huge role in things. To question 2, I say no. No team does rely on one person to get the job done. they wouldn't succeed if they did. Baseball is nearly impossible to predict. My grandma could probably get as close as the espn guys could.