I played many sports in high school. And I can honestly tell you that the head coach was never the main thing that motivated me. Hardly. It was usually individual accomplishment and my teammates first, as well as the sheer joy of engaging in a particular sport..

Putting a few million $’s in my pocket would not have changed my approach to playing the game

Maybe not for you. But I bet most baseball players would tell you today that money is a big motivator. I think it is a big reason, for example, why Heilman is not motivated. Because what he can earn in his current role is drastically smaller than what he can make as even a crappy starter. And look at A-Rod. Maybe he is the extreme, but he has admitted that money has pretty much been the biggest motivator in this life.

It is precisely because many don’t have huge bank accounts (relatively speaking) that money is a primary motivator for these baseball players. No one is calling these players robots. Being inspired by . money, personal goals, your family and teammates is not robotic at all.,

Of course there are cases where a certain player usually fresh up from the minors needs a lot of coaching and counseling along the way. In these cases, a mentor relationship often develops, such as that between A-Rod and Pinella. But these are isolated instances applicable only to a few individuals on a team, and the relationship is just as likely to develop between a player and a bench, hitting or third base coach, instead of with the manager.

You didn’t understand my point on the intangible. You are trying to quantify the influence of a manager on the team, specirfically the inspiration part, and that is something that is very difficult to quantify. But you are speaking in absolutes by saying he has very little influence. How do you really know that?

Unless you are a player in MLB, I don’t think you have a clue as to what you are talking about. Nor do I. I’m going on my experience as an athlete through HS and the NCAA, and my coach/manger had a hell of a lot of influence on how I and my teamates performed over the course of a season, and sometimes specifcally each day. Putting a few million $’s in my pocket would not have changed my approach to playing the game or the things I relied on all my life to prepare for a game, which included the direction and inspiration of the coach/manager.

These guys are not phuking robots with huge bank accounts, man. They are still playing a childs game that requires instruction, influence, and Inspiration. ANd a manger that cannot inspire is a bad manager.

I should have said…we won’t have you writing post game novels about how he EXTREMELY disappoints you.

ridiculous.