raBBit

Lonzo is just a pest. He's so long and invasive. Always seems to be in the right spot on D. A lot of fun so far beating up bad teams.

Yankees and Red Sox must have been using fakes too?

Past that, the Brewers just rejected the Mets request to interview Stearns. In this article below, this Mets writer says the same thing I am saying with the executives not needing permission to interview for a role elevation. "In Major League circles, executives under contract elsewhere are generally allowed to interview for positions that would be considered promotions." https://www.mlb.com/news/mets-president-of-baseball-operations-search-update Why the Blue Jays asked for JR's permission still, I don't know. Could be out of respect or fear from Reinsdorf, could be a courtesy. These rules aren't exactly easy to find in my searches.

Like I said in my post, my understanding is that an elevation in role doesn't require permission where a lateral move does. This is how Ricketts was able to get Epstein (creating a higher baseball ops role than GM). Reinsdorf followed suit with KW & Hahn and this is how the Sox were able to keep Hahn with other teams pursuing him when he was AGM. Do you know this rule to be different or have changed? Like I said, it could have been a courtesy to Reinsdrof. I did find this article below from 2015 that outlines what I am talking about. I am not going to act like I know the tampering rules and tampering in general is usually skirted and just a matter of what what becomes public. Nonetheless, Reinsdorf went on record saying that the Blue Jays were tampering so I guess I am just taking his word for it. https://torontosun.com/2015/01/23/the-inside-story-on-how-rogers-tried-to-replace-blue-jays-president-paul-beeston

He was a free agent. Talked with other teams.

Came here to hopefully get some LAD/ATL series talk after admins got political and shut down that thread only to find admin posting about the MLB's political contributions of $15k (literal piss). I don't know about you guys but I've always followed the MLB Postseason (topic of this thread) because I want to learn and talk about the political contributions the MLB makes with their pocket change. Was always under the impression this topic was against the rules of the site but glad we can have these conversations.

I guess towards the interview question, unless something has changed recently and I missed it, in order to interview an exec for a lateral move (ex. GM to GM, President to President), you need to have permission from the team. In the case where the role the interview is desired for would be a promotion (GM to President), you don't need permission. That's not really what happened with KW & TOR re: JR giving a denial. The Jays reached out to Reinsdorf to ask for permission to interview KW. When JR brought it to KW, KW indicated they had already reached out to him through another individual (which was tampering). What the Blue Jays didn't know was they were trying to pluck Kenny (JR's right hand guy) to replace their President who was one of Reinsdorf's best friends. So Reinsdorf was totally offended. Past that, these communications have to occur in writing. So a phone call would not constitute a request to interview. So Reinsdorf didn't follow up. They didn't put the offer to writing because they were likely tampering. Reinsdorf didn't honor a response because they didn't communicate it the correct way. Also, I don't know if this request was a courtesy or necessary but Williams would have been interviewing for a promotion (EVP to President). Not sure if the extent of this was reported but that's my memory of the situation. I could be wrong.

Sox acquired three all stars last offseason so it's probably not going to live up to that standard.

Couple things with Hahn. If a team wanted to interview him for CEO of Baseball Ops or President of Baseball Ops, they would not need permission from JR. His children are also in college and getting up there. The TLR hiring caused a serious issue in the FO. Reinsdorf made a public vote of confidence against Hahn and pissed all over the hierarchy in baseball ops. I would still be surprised if Hahn left, but it makes more sense now than it ever has.

Great point. Was just thinking of this the other day. What are the holes in this?

I never said anything to the contrary of this. "Even though the story is Hinch hated the cheating in Houston and was against it I do think he should be held responsible." I bolded the part of your post I was responding to. What you said about JR was not what I bolded. What I said was true. Believe me or don't I don't care. See your quote below: "but this is also on Hahn who I believe came to the Hinch conclusion too soon instead of taking the time to interview the field as Balta1701 said earlier." I responded to your quote above. It is wrong. Whether Hahn was dead set on hiring Hinch or not, I don't know. But Hahn and Haber had over a dozen candidates they were going to interview. They looked at the managerial search as a way to learn about the league and learn about what other clubhouses were doing. Reinsdrof didn't allow it because he was set on LaRussa as soon as LaRussa gave an indication that he was willing to come out of retirement. So your statement was and is wrong. You were just piggybacking Balta conjecture that was said without any evidence.

And none of this has to do with Brantley resigning where he wanted to be.

They already used both of their left-handed relievers in Matzek and Minter.

Have you ever considered what Brantley wanted to do? Or it Hahn's fault that Brantley wanted to play where he has been for the last few years where they have competed annually? Should he have uprooted his family to leave that situation to split LF/DH with Eloy? There are 30 teams. To act like the Sox are failures in hindsight that they didn't bring in a guy who was happy in his situation when we have someone in his position is crazy.

You’re wrong on Robert as Robert had zero IL trips in the MLB coming into this season. Leury was injured a good amount you’re right there but he’s inconsequential for the majority of his career. According to you, Keuchel had one IL stint 4 years ago over the course of a decade and was sore but didn’t go on the DL last year. He had zero missed time this year. Do you think he is injured particularly often for a pitcher in the 2010s? You notably skipped Lopez and Engel so we know what that means. So I guess you have a point that the Sox shouldn’t have relied on the 26th man to be their 5th outfielder? But he only missed a week this year due to a concussion that occurred in a weird stadium that’s had 1 game in its existence?

That’s actually a bad example. The Pats went 11-5 with Matt Cassel and somehow missed the playoffs. That’s the most wins in NFL history without clinching a playoff birth. The next year they went 10-6 with TB and made the playoffs.

You mean the Rays, who featured in Kevin Padlo in a key role in 2021 (by your definition), has more than 9-10 guys capable of stepping in?

Looking towards the offseason though, Balta is making a decent point. We should probably bring in Joc Pederson and Andrelton Simmons for Charlotte in case of injury. Clearly they would prefer that to MLB deals where they have regular roles.

How many times had Engel, Robert, Lopez and Keuchel been on the IL in their MLB careers prior to 2021? How many teams needed less starters than the White Sox in 2021? How many games have you actually watched? How many IL trips had the Sox 4th outfielder (Adam Engel) and 5th outfielder (Leury Garcia) had coming into 2021?

On Madrigal "taking a metric fuckton of pitches" what is your source? Madrigal saw 3.76 P/PA. For all qualified hitters, that rate would have him at 109/136 players. Not exactly a "metric fuckton." When Madrigal and Grandal were out, Robert and Eloy were also out. That was the month of July (Eloy came back last weekend of July). The month of July was the team's best offensive month (in terms of OPS). It was also their worst pitching month (in terms of ERA & OPS against).

Yes but also have all good/not injured players in AAA even if they can have better opportunities elsewhere. Their desires aren't important.

Funny how your Nick Williams serving a key role argument has been completely abandoned. Eloy, Robert & Engel got injured in a matter of one month. The three players combined for 3 days on the injury list in 2020 when Engel was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID. Robert's injury was his second time on the IL since he's been in the states. He missed most of July in 2018. Engel's injury was (excluding his COVID safety stint) was his first IL stint since 2014 as far as I can see. Eloy's injuries have been running into walls. It's a mental shortcoming as opposed to body failures. I think it's reasonable for the Sox to expect him to do what the rest of outfielders do and not challenge inanimate objects to physical battles. And funny you turn to ripping the rotation health, can you guess how many teams had less starting pitchers used than the Sox this year? Before you change your faulty argument, I'll let you know. It is zero.

Billy Hamilton started and completed two 9 inning games in the month of April. Yes, he went on the IL and when he returned the starting left fielder, the starting center fielder and half the starting right field platoon were all on the IL. I know you would have had All Stars in Charlotte in the scenario that 75% of the outfield got hurt in the matter of the month, but everybody else is reasonable about things. Nick Williams started 3 games in April. That is not a key role. I ripped Nick Williams as the team's MiLB FA outfield depth choice in the offseason and said the team should have gone after Tyler Naquin. I wanted Williams off the roster as soon as he was put on it. All that said, there is no reason to lie about him playing a key role. There is not a position player on the Sox in 2021 who played in less games than Nick Williams. So I guess every position player who showed up on the lineup card this year played a key role. What's funny is it was a huge success story of how the Sox were able to navigate through the significant injuries they experienced at one position group with all the guys they threw out there stepping up to hold the team at bay. The FO got plenty of attention and credit for the moves they pulled off in such a bad position. Brian Goodwin was looked at as a huge pick up as he came in and hit for the Sox when they were at the weakest. When he signed it was talked about how the Sox tried to bring in Goodwin in the offseason. Likely in place of Nick Williams. Goodwin looked at the Sox roster and said something to the effect of (not a direct quote) "when would I ever get to play" "you guys have guys all over the place." So he opted to go to a bottom feeder where he felt he might get a better chance at playing. Which goes back to the being reasonable thing. I know in your simulations you can just have studs come into spring training 5th or 6th on the depth chart and everything is all hunky dory but that's not how things work in the real world.

Would anyone else consider these two guys combining for 31 plate appearances in April as having key roles?