I'm Not Mad. I'm Just Disappointed.

[coolonetoo]

That's a lie. I'm angry. We let Creighton open up a 10-1 lead at Haymarket Park and win the season series. But that's far from the greatest failure in this dung heap of a season. It's clear by now that at season's end we will:

1. Have a losing record overall
2. Have a losing record in conference
3. Have a losing record at home
4. Miss the conference tournament

We have the best facilities, administrative support and fan support of any program in our league. Not finishing at least eighth out of thirteen should never happen. Never. 2018 is unacceptable on every level.

To be sure, the bullpen injuries have been a huge obstacle. But I've noticed a lack of fundamentals with this team, especially on defense. Things I learned by the time I was a pony-leaguer. A center fielder letting a single turn into a double by trying to one-hand-scoop a ground ball instead of just staying in front of it. A second baseman not charging a grounder and letting a fast runner reach base. A catcher (who isn't catching anymore) backhanding a ball in the dirt with a runner on base instead of moving his body. Red flags everywhere.

I very much want Darin Erstad to succeed. But I wonder if he's the baseball equivalent of Bo Pelini. Bo righted the ship and made the team competitive in short order. But he also hit his ceiling quickly and never delivered a banner season. And Bo's teams--especially at the end--were sloppy. That looks eerily similar to Erstad's tenure.

What to do? I don't know. But something has to change. There's plenty to be said for continuity but we've been on the same path for about five years now. We've banked one conference title but have otherwise underachieved and been plagued by the same issues. I know little about pitching but I could probably count on one hand the positive comments I've ever heard about Ted Silva.

Crap, it feels like it's the 90s again because it's mid-April and all I can do is wait for football season.

p.s. I feel sorry for Scott Schreiber. He came back for his senior year and is ballin' like a mutha. For this.

 

[sklarbodds]

Certainly can appreciate what a massive disappointment this year has been.

I think maybe the most disappointing is the defense. I can't remember a season where we had this many errors and our pitching is so down this year teams are really taking advantage of it.

I don't know about Silva as a person (haven't heard great things), but pitching until this year has been what has kept us from being horrible before.

Here's what I posted on RSS:

Again, everyone likes to bag on Silva because the staff is not good this year, but Silva is the reason we didn't suck long before this. We've had really decent pitching most of the years he's been here.

Out of 297 teams:

2017 - #40 3.73 (#17 football equivalent)
2016 - #68 3.89 (#29 football equivalent)
2015 - #24 3.12 (#10 football equivalent)
2014 - #74 3.50 (#32 football equivalent)


Darin's teams haven't exactly lit up the scoreboard, so thanks to Silva, we've actually been competitive. I'm not sure getting rid of him is a great idea unless you have an off the charts guy.

In football, if your defensive coordinator is bringing you a top 30 defense every year but has one bad year, you don't can him unless it's strictly a 'save my ass' kinda move


Football equivalent = ranking *.43 since there are only 43% of the football teams (129) in Division 1 as baseball (297)

By comparison...Darin's offense (runs...it's a little misleading because of a varying amount of games, but you get the point):

2017 - 110th (#48)
2016 - 114th (#50)
2015 - 175th (#76)
2014 - 31st (#13)

Again, if that was your offensive coordinator and your defensive coordinator is putting up top 30 year after year...not so sure I'd fire the defensive coordinator.

Frankly...apathy has set in for sure. Not sure where to go with this because Moos as said DE is coming back no matter what next year. So, I'm not sure what he changes because the problem is really the offense which starts with him.

I think he tries to mold players to be the type of hitter he was which isn't for everyone.

 

[HuskersNC]

Thanks for the numbers, sklar. I can't imagine next year's totals being much better without Schreiber.

 

[coolonetoo]

The point of Erstad-era pitching being better than the hitting is made either way but I’m not so sure about applying the football math. There are 253 Division I football programs. That division is split into two subdivisions.

It’s not exactly a like-to-like comparison. There is a lot more “cross-subdivision” competition in baseball. FBS teams generally play, at most, one football game per year (8.3% of the schedule) against FCS opponents. Nebraska’s 2018 baseball schedule was 30% filled by FCS-level schools. And there are plenty of historical power baseball schools that are either FCS in football or don’t field a team at all. Fullerton, Long Beach, Wichita, et al.

I would just say we were 40th in pitching and 110th in hitting last year and leave it at that. But it doesn’t changes the fact that this year’s team is just bad all around.

 

[sklarbodds]

The point of Erstad-era pitching being better than the hitting is made either way but I’m not so sure about applying the football math. There are 253 Division I football programs. That division is split into two subdivisions.

Yes, but for stats purposes they're only compared against other people in their subdivision. I did that because on RSS people are much more familiar with football

Regardless I think we agree.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

We are stuck with Erstad as long as he wants to be here I’m afraid. With that said, it would not surprise me to see him step down. Not saying this year, but if things don’t change. I’m just trying to figure out how things will change at all in the future under him. We lose Schreiber, and possibly Wilkening after this year and unless Erstad killed it on the recruiting trail then our offense is set up to be brutal next year. And based on his track record, him killing it on the recruiting trail is probably unlikely. To top it off, our starting pitching will again be a mystery. We get some key cogs back in the pen but they will be coming off Tommy John. Unfortunatly, this program is a mess right now and it can be tied directly to Erstads lack of vision and his inability to get the job done on the recruiting trail.

 

[coolonetoo]

Yes, but for stats purposes they're only compared against other people in their subdivision. I did that because on RSS people are much more familiar with football

Regardless I think we agree.

You’ve convinced me. Keep Silva. Hire a hitting coach.

 

[Truehuskerfan]

I kind of got beyond anger awhile ago. It's just sad now.
I'll hand it to Erstad for one thing-he certainly knows how to do just enough to keep the detractors mostly at bay. After failing to make a regional in his first 2 seasons, he finally gets us to one in his 3rd season-just enough time to make people think he's got things on the right track. Never mind that we go 1-2 with the only win over Binghamton(still his only regional win). Then after a down year in 2015 he gets us back to a regional in 2016-again, just enough time to make people think things are going well again. Of course, we go 0-2. Then last year, about the time people are really starting to wonder why we haven't got a conference championship yet in a conference we were expected to compete for a championship every year-he finally gets us one(in his 6th season). Of course, once again we go 0-2 in a regional. Now this year, he takes the program to depths even worse than Mike Anderson ever took it to-but the conference championship last year is enough to make most people think things are still OK.

I'd like to think that if we had failed to win the conference championship last year that maybe there'd be more pressure to fire him this year, but I'm doubting it. I'm not even sure another season next year like this one will put more pressure on him. I remember that despite 3 straight years of us failing to make the Big 12 tournament there were people who were shocked and upset when Mike Anderson was fired-and he wasn't a Husker legend. The only thing we can hope is that he decides finally that he isn't getting it done-probably not this year, but maybe next year if things go this bad again.

 

[sklarbodds]

As @RobsterMobster can attest... I've been saying for a while now that it's going to take multiple catastrophic years in order for him to be shown the door.

He's a Nebraska guy, and he was a football player, and he also played in the majors for a long time, and the overwhelming majority of Husker fans do not actually care what the baseball team record is or even know.

Ironically, even though most die-hard Baseball fans know it's what's best for the program, firing him would actually hurt Bill's job status. Because the average fan would think he's a traitor to the university.

The curse of the third tier sports fan is that unless there is Big Time Scandal or complete an abject failure, nothing is going to change. That's because comparatively speaking there's very little pressure on the athletic department to have a successful baseball program. There just isn't a fanbase or following big enough to try to protect it.

The only hope is if he'd steps down, but I'm extremely skeptical that whatever happened because he's such a competitor.

 

[sklarbodds]

I do say I don't think he's as bad as some people say. He did win the conference and that was when he was picked 10th or 11th or something like that in the preseason polls. Winning coach of the year is not nothing either.

If it were my decision in a vacuum, it would take some pretty compelling convincing to get me to keep him though. I wasn't even a big fan of his hiring in the first place, because of his complete lack of experience.

But honestly if I were the AD right now (and subsequently interested in keeping that job) I wouldn't fire him. There would be very little upside for me. It would anger a lot of people, and it's not worth it for a sport that isn't my bread and butter.

It is what it is, as a baseball fan we are relegated to not being the top priority or even a second priority or even the third priority or the University. It's just a reality we have to deal with

 

[Truehuskerfan]

Ironically, even though most die-hard Baseball fans know it's what's best for the program, firing him would actually hurt Bill's job status. Because the average fan would think he's a traitor to the university.

You're absolutely right-and that's one of the reasons why I never wanted to hire him in the first place. I knew he'd be nearly impossible to ever fire-especially for a new AD who's an outsider and doesn't want to upset things.

 

[RobsterMobster]

Good thread and honestly I agree with a lot that has been posted. It is unfortunately a very "out of our control" feeling being a die hard Husker baseball fan because we know this won't get much better. I think we will have a better year next year (how can we not?) But that will only delay the inevitable. The truth is this staff as a whole does not work well together and it starts with the man in charge (Erstad).

I too look for red flags that only a die hard baseball fan/player/coach will notice. For example, Roskam booted a ground ball in the 1st inning yesterday which resulted in an error. The error itself didn't bother me this time, what bothered me is he stood there in place as Altavilla snagged the booted ball and as Altavilla went to throw the runner out at 3rd there was nobody there!!! Roskam is not there, he is still standing there watching Altavilla clean up his error. I can get over a fluke error because we all know they happen (more so this year than years past), what I can't figure out is how a ball player at this level doesn't know to cover his bag to keep the runner from advancing any further after an error.

People give credit to his teams for never quitting, they did it again yesterday (against CU's worst), but there is a difference between individual effort and a 'team mentality' effort. We do not have a team mentality and our mental effort is weak.

At the end of the day my hope is Ertsad makes a ton of changes but I doubt it happens. It seems the blame is on the pitching injuries and that is why they stink this year. Keep in mind McSteen and Eddins are back and neither have done well. So its essentially Bummer and Curry who are to blame for every other lacking skill? At least that is the story told by the common fan and our AD.

I do agree it is currently a no win situation for Moos. If fans demand a winner we will get a winner, but since they don't we will not have a winner, t is pretty simple. The respectful thing to do if we are not going to have a winner is to lower the ticket prices to pre Van Horne prices. At least we can finally match our cost as fan with the lowered expectations. Either that or sell beer at the stadium and change our name to the Saltdogs.

 

[coolonetoo]

That's a lie. I'm angry. We let Creighton open up a 10-1 lead at Haymarket Park and win the season series. But that's far from the greatest failure in this dung heap of a season. It's clear by now that at season's end we will:

1. Have a losing record overall
2. Have a losing record in conference
3. Have a losing record at home
4. Miss the conference tournament

Well, we avoided #3, finishing 13-12 at Haymarket Park. But going 0-4 against UNO and Creighton more than balances that. 2018 is the worst season since 1997. When we played at Buck Beltzer. And were coached by John Sanders.