12-18-2021 Passed Ball Show. John spends this program talking about the many tentacles sticking out of the still fresh firing of Urban Meyer by the Jacksonville Jaguars. John questions whether or not Urban ever wanted the job or whether he just took it because of the money. He was not fired because the Jaguars were 2-11 this season; a coaching staff of Curly Lambeau, Knute Rockne, Vince Lombardi, George Halas, and Bill Belichick could not turn this group of players into a winner in one season. John probes the not spoken about angle of whether Meyer ever wanted this job in the first place, comparing it to the Boston Red Sox hiring of Bobby Valentine in 2012. Both moves in hindsight should not have been made. John questions whether money was the determining factor in both hirings and compares that to when players make a decision to take the extra money to play for a team they do not want to play for. Next, John studies the upcoming decision the Mets have when it comes to their next manager. John calls it a win/ win (for himself). If the Mets hire Buck Showalter, they will be hiring the most intelligent baseball person he has ever met, and after declaring Buck Showalter knows way more about baseball that even he knows, he mentions how excited he would be if that were the team's hire. He then asks whether the Mets increase in their analytics department could lean to a decision to hire either Matt Quatraro or Joe Espada as opposed to Showalter. Yes, Buck understands and cares about analytics, but John questions whether the Mets (or any other MLB team in this day and time) want to hire a manager that could pose a threat to the data that every MLB team has invested itself in. A hiring of either of the latter two candidates would be a victory for John, who claims that teams view its manager as nothing more than a figurehead, one who simply implements the plan of the front office and its analytics staff, and is responsible for the players being excited and motivated to come to work. All three should be able to check off box three, but the latter two fit the bill when it comes to the "Yes Men" baseball teams are leaning on for their manager. John talks about how a rift between baseball people and analytics could be a problem and cites the issues going on with the Phillies and their baseball people and numbers staff. Finally, John cites the eight times in a Championship Series (World Series, Stanley Cup Final, NBA Final) a team has won after trailing 3-1 in the series.
