JoeC

Per Japanese media he retired.... apparently as of 2 days ago (10/2 in Japan). So he 1) has Sox ties; 2) has retired as manager. Maybe it's not as outlandish as we thought.

Out-of-the-box-and-probably-out-of-my-mind thinking:

Plus being a local kid is a nice little bonus touch

When you're applying for jobs as an MLB manager, probably highly, but won't expect any.

(and that "dripping with sarcasm" tone I have there is mocking the Sox's front office specifically and not you, Jack. You just happened to be the one who set it up)

It's almost like you're suggesting that executives should consider statistics and analytics and help make decisions. Like a department within their front office dedicated to analytics.

I am thinking anarcho-syndicalist management team. All players take turns acting as sort of an executive officer for each game, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special half-inningly-meeting by a simple majority in the case of tactics, but by a two-thirds majority in the case of player substitutions.

Yes - thus the "magically" qualifier to "stay healthy." I really hope that an overhaul of the medical staff (to help prevent soft tissue injuries) and coaching staff (to instill some semblance of discipline and accountability, such as for fitness and preventative maintenance by the players) would help, but in general I agree with you. As a result, Jose will ideally be gone.

I love Jose to death, but yeah... it's for him to go, unless Eloy can magically stay healthy enough to play LF full time and they are able to trade Sheets + others for a useful piece. In that case, you go Vaughn as everyday 1B / Jose as DH.

$19.5M worth? Is that a reference to llast year with the $18.4MM of pennies we pinched?

You guys are right about TLR being actually lucid and coherent. I hope whatever health issues he has are squared away, and I also wonder if it's alcoholism. It's a terrible disease.

Not sure if I agree with the full sentiment, but yeah - at this point I'd say his arm is basically back to being "built up" (if it ever actually was). He's at basically 120 innings for the year. Getting him to the 160 ~ 180 range next year basically just involves keeping him healthy, given how short starters go nowadays.

Depends on the coach. Depending on who the coach is, we could be in for some great entertainment as a consolation prize for a sucky team.

Now that Drake LaRoche has been hired as manager, we can fill out the rest of the coaching staff.

I guess it's more of an "I lump the training staff as an extension of the coaching staff's resources." If players are hurt, the medical staff / training staff need to notify the rest of the coaches so that they can make appropriate decisions. Tomato / tomato. I basically agree 100% with your post.

His decision to pinch hit Homer for Darryl Strawberry is always what came to mind when Tony would overplay lefty-righty matchups.

That too, though I'd generally lump that in with the "eye test."

Sox are notorious for turning low bars into games of limbo.

Wrong answers only please. Also, please list the entertainment benefits your candidate would provide.

That’s what I was hoping. says a lot about a guy (or the manager) when a veteran OFer can’t play RF for a “contender,” so they trot out Sheets and Vaughn in his place.

Moving Pollock to whose natural position in RF?

Also depends on his relationship with the leadership core and the rest of the coaches. Just make people “hate you less” enough to get buy-in on your direction. Could work well enough for a season or two while we are in “the window.” Would end in disaster eventually, so there’s always that intrigue.

I was hoping it was more of "they would use Tony's day to sneak others under the radar"

I'll go a step further. We need a guy who'll look at a player (eye test), look at the analytics (numbers test), and work with coaches to figure out what's going on with the guy's swing, mechanics, approach, scouting reports, etc., then work to fix the guy.

AJ's always been that kid on the playground who gets into fights but never actually throws the punch. And when the teacher asks the kid who threw the punch why he did it, the explanation would inevitably come out sounding dumb like "he laughed at me!" My money is on Pierzynski being punched, probably by someone like Pollock.