JoeC

Thank you for posting this. That was professional and savage. No idea who those hosts are, but everything they said about the Sox was spot on.

Clearly, after Baldwin's 3-hit game, our brilliant field tactician Pedro Grifol presciently put him in the 7-spot to back up Benintendi tonight, thus setting up our one glorious run.

…and yes - someone like Harper (who is a notorious “lead by example and working his ass off” leader) would have been an answer for sure. Young players see a formerly-even-more-hyped-dude-who-just-signed-a-9-figure-contract guy who outworks them and gets on their case when they’re not working hard, they’ll be far more likely to fall in line.

Depends. You can have an Ozzie type of manager who bends people to their will, or you can have a culture led by successful veteran players who hold everyone accountable. Younger players can learn discipline, but it seems like once Ricky left, that all went out the window to a more laissez-faire atmosphere.

They were high upside guys who became trash, much like Fedde a couple of years ago. I don’t necessarily disagree with the idea that we should be giving guys like Eloy / Kopech a shot, but the specific guys in this case (Eloy and Kopech) clearly weren’t going to be valuable whatsoever with the Sox. Getting out of Eloy’s contract, any of it, is a win. There’s a lot of money to be made, I guess, in being able to clearly identify when players turn from “high upside” to “trash.” Major league benches are full of those guys. Again, I should mention that I agree with your overall take that we should fill our roster with those types of guys. I just wanted to point out that there isn’t a huge difference between “trash” and “formerly high upside.”

So you’re saying we should be buying low on our own filler and “just trash” that no one wants instead?

19.5 games ahead of the Sox. For context, that is equal to the gap between the first-place Dodgers and last-place Rockies, which is (other than the Sox, of course) the largest gap between worst and first in baseball. Basically, we’re the Rockies playing the Dodgers tonight.

A leader can have a lasting impact on your work habits is my point, especially for younger players. Yes, they all continued to get worse even after he left the dugout, but that’s my point. Once he got there, the preparation and work habits went out the window. The deterioration started there, and there was no reason it wouldn’t have stopped once TLR left.

I have no idea. They main point is that they can screw up draft positioning.

I think the point is that TLR loosened control on the clubhouse in a way that Ricky didn’t, which led to bad habits and work ethic(s), which led to depreciating assets. People criticize the Eloys and the Moncadas of the team for not doing what it took, etc., to stay healthy. The consensus from us Ricky-ites is that that would not have happened under Renteria, or at least not nearly to that extent.

The right guy for the job in 2 years will be Ricky Renteria.

Thank you for this.

The thing is… with decent enough pitching like the Sox seem to be maybe capable of developing, the team could luck into a bunch of extra wins by buying some winning scratch-offs like Fedde. It doesn’t take much above replacement-level, which is what’s sad. Getting from 40 wins to 70 wins seems possible for a 1-year blip. Going from 40 wins to back-to-back 70+ win seasons seems impossible.

You have to admit, it would be a Sox thing to have a big enough of a turnaround to get a mediocre draft pick, only to turn right back around and be horrible again and be ineligible for a top-9 pick the following year.

That’s the sense I get as well. Seems like the team and core were too young for TLR, and a year of Ricky would have been a better choice. TLR would have been fine IMO with an established veteran roster who could take care of themselves and their own work habits, but the 2021 team still needed to understand what it took to be established, successful, and consistent big leaguers.

This team is slated for a big turnaround. They HAVE to be better in 2025. Like, it would be such a Sox move to pick #10 in 2025 based on a historically awful 2024, then somehow avoid a high pick again in 2026 while still being a horrible team.

That is career suicide.

If you take away the (arguably) greatest player in the history of the sport that he happened to acquire when he bought the team, and he’s got 1 championship in 82 combined years of ownership.

This part of your post was the Getzyball strategy.

This is why JR won’t entertain this.

The difference is that Baltimore still had a clue of what it takes to compete in today's game, even with terrible ownership. JR insists on "his" way.

I at least have some modicum of hope for the pitching side of the coaching equation.

I wish I could dissent.

Yes - thank you for putting it much more elegantly than I did / could

That’s cute you think they could be thinking of us