Two-Gun Pete

Can't disagree. Hahn has to save TLR from himself. He's gotta get rid of Lamb and Williams, because they just outright suck. At the same time, I actually don't want Mendick here. He should be in Charlotte, taking Innings in the OF, so he can eventually take Leury's spot. But bitching about the 5th OF in the depth chart sucking at baseball (Leury) seems a bit misplaced, IMO.

Agreed with this, except that Leury would be any manager's guy, given this 40 man roster. For better or worse, he's the only guy in the 40 man who can cromulently stand at 8 defensive positions and not totally crap his pants. The true issue is that this FO either hasn't emphasized versatility in drafting/developing young players, or hasn't bothered to seek out versatile players in acquisitions. The other clowns you posted in red shouldn't be on a MLB roster, let alone get significant PA art this level.

Here, I'll tell this board about me being wrong, based on new information: I thought that Rick Hahn just HAD TO fire Ricky Renteria. I now know that I was wrong about that. This team would be better off with Ricky Renteria as manager. The only thing that Rick Hahn did by firing Renteria was to open the Pandora's Box of allowing an elderly man to hire his buddy. I now remember the old adage in business that sometimes a manager has to save his boss from himself. In firing Renteria, Hahn clearly failed to save his boss from himself. And now, here we are.

Nah, its wrong to criticize the (snicker) "Hall of Fame Manager" on that. Never mind that he doesn't know that its bad to ask a bad hitter to, ya know, HIT. Never mind that it hurts his team to put a bad hitter in a game-crucial situation to try to hit. Ya know why? We've discovered that this manager has (and I'm quoting michelangelosmonkey's positives from a previous post) "personal goodness." I mean, how can you argue with "personal goodness?" He's more gooder than good.

Wait, so you don't know that its bad for a (snicker) "Hall of Fame Baseball Person" to not know the rules of baseball? Maybe you're new to baseball, but its bad for a manager to make bad decisions. Or to leave the struggling #1 SP in the game too long. Or to have the $18MM closer run the bases. Or to not know the rules about challenges. We could go on, but there are at least 8 or so games that we could point to where the (snicker) "Hall of Fame Manager" hurt his team's chances to win. And that's in only 29 games. How much worse will it get going forward? But hey, at least you're not accusing others of being as drunk as TLR, so I guess that's progress. Good for you!

If this is true, AND this team can stay close to the lead, I think I'd be reluctant to make a panic buy. Of course, this would mean that Abreu and Grandal will have to up their games, and that the pitching staff will have to carry this team, and TLR will have to stop making moronic moves between now and Eloy's/Robert's returns. A tall 'ask,' but doable, IMO.

Ordinarily I'm right there with you. But this thread was a festival of attacking other posters, so I kinda figured this guy earned it.

Man, this was awesome. I wonder if this guy still thinks this, or if he still wants to attack me, instead of defending the insanely bad and dumb decision to hire TLR.

Agreed, and thank you for stating what I've been stating. In an organization that has financial constraints, asset allocation matters MORE than for the richer orgs. And I agree that Hendriks' value was bloated by Oakland overusing him. What scares me is that if this is what he is NOW, how much shittier will Hendriks be in a year or two from now? Sure, Hendriks is and was better than Colome. But 1 year/$6.25MM sounds a fuckton better than 3 and $54MM. I share your hope that Hendriks can get his shit sorted. I just hope that this org doesn't start throwing good money after bad at this point.

Yeah, I agree. What underpins both of these issues, and really ALL of the SOX issues in recent years is this: Both decisions on Hendriks and TLR were bad and dumb. The braying masses routinely b**** about spending money on this acquisition or that acquisition. However, I think that HOW INTELLIGENTLY this org makes decisions and spends money matters much more than whether or not they spend. It sucks. It sucks that after getting mired in mediocrity, then sitting through years of losing, that a few injuries have hurt this teams chances. But to me, it hurts MORE that they keep making self-inflicted wounds to their own chances of winning, by making bad and dumb decisions. Both Hendriks and TLR are, in this way, one in the same.

Can't BOTH be true at the same time? Can't is be that it was moronic to overpay for a closer, AND it was moronic to bring in TLR as manager?

Well, if there's a positive from TLR's latest pants-crapping incident, its this: Literally NO ONE is bitching about the $18MM man's now-negative fWAR, or that he lost the game. Like Ozzie did years ago, TLR's antics are taking the heat off his players.

I can think of 55 million reasons, over 486 games why a 32 year old who was ridden like a rented mule shouldn't have been this team's most expensive acquisition this offseason. His value was inflated, by insane usage patterns that included Hendriks pitching in 75 games in 2019, for the purposes of a pump-and-dump. What's worse, is if this is supposed to be what Hendriks is NOW, how much shittier will he be at age 33 or 34, when Father Time just curb-stomps him? [Just think: An $18 MILLION future middle reliever can keep this org from landing a SP to replace Lynn or Rodon next offseason.] OTOH, I can think of 6.25 million reasons, over a mere 162 games, why Colome would have been the superior FIT for this roster. [Given the self-imposed financial constraints.] There are/were other reasons why Colome would have fit better, if you count up all the closers-in-waiting that populate the MLB roster, and in MiLB for this org.

Yeah, ya gotta go Lofton, or maybe Curtis Granderson.

Meh, I'm OK with bringing Fields along slower; NFL QB is the most important and hardest position to play in all of professional sports. The list of rookie QBs that started right away/almost right away, and failed is long. [See Trubisky.] By contrast, there are/have been a number of rookie OTs that were successful despite starting right away. I'm OK with starting Jenkins right away. That said, having salary cap casualties of productive players is the residual effect of poor cap management, poor asset allocation, constantly trading up in drafts, and having to re-do positional acquisitions over and over. Fuller and Leno probably won't be the last cap casualties off this roster.

I also wouldn't want Puig, UNLESS his legal issues are resolved, first. If this was adjudicated properly, I wouldn't mind taking a flier on him. At the right price, I wouldn't mind Heyward. But to what end, really? I just wouldn't want to throw good money after bad. I think there are at least 2 teams in the NL that are more talented than the SOX. I think there might be one or two in the AL that might be more talented than the SOX. IOW, making a panic buy, just to make a 2021 playoff spot may not be the right move; I dont know that there's enough here to win the WS this year. It's up to Abreu, Grandal, and Cease to change that equation, IMO. If these three can raise their games and make it more interesting, then perhaps it could be worth it to make a move.

You can bet your bottom dollar that every time this team beats up on a shithole team like Detroit, there'll be a thread like this. Dylan Cease beats a AAAA opponent, with his first good start since last August? He's on track for the Cy Young Award! Leury Garcia has a 5 RBI day? He's a supersub! It's the nature of this board to be irrationally exuberant. Sometimes that's refreshing, but in this case, it's exhausting. As of this writing, a 99 wrc+ (with a babip of .261, so possibly some positive regression afoot). Also, a positive DRS. 3 HR in ~100 PA, so an 18 HR pace. 0.6 fWAR so far, so on a pretty fair pace thus far as well. Nah, there are still some here who weep the loss of Nomar Mazara. They miss his negative fWAR, his (snicker, as of this writing) 89 wrc+, his negative DRS, and his current stint on the IL. He's young, amirite?

Ok, I'm game: 1. Apologize? For what, exactly? 2. Looking at Hahn's record as GM, what, exactly, has he accomplished? 3. Some of his key acquisitions over the years have taken a giant shit. Some that are CURRENTLY with this team haven't worked out, or have not worked out as well as hoped. Where has he been right, where most of us have been wrong? 4. This feels like trying to "spike the football" before crossing the end zone. Exactly what has been won in this season? Thanks in advance.

I understand what you're saying with respect to, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But I don't think that comparing Yermin to Burger applies all that much. Yermin's basically been a positionless player, and/or a Catcher or 1B or DH most of his career. In other words, largely stationary. By contrast, Burger at 3rd required/requires good lateral movement, the ability to react quickly to hard-hit balls, the speed to charge bunts/swinging bunts, and the physical agility to make all the right throws in a game. As I see it, he HAD TO get into better shape, if in fact he was going to be a 3rd baseman. Given that there were/are other players in line to play 1st when he was drafted, for him to live up to his draft status, he had to become a 3rd baseman. Or a corner OFer, barring that. Which meant for him to be in shape enough to get the job done. That said, it sounds/looks like he's finally put in the work. Good on him for that.

For a mid-to-late round pick or NCAA senior who signed for $10k, I'd agree with you. But for a guy who signed for ~$3.8MM, I'd guess that Burger had the resources to hire a dietitian and a personal trainer to get himself into better shape. We've all read the stories about late round draftees having to scrape by on a couple hundred bucks a month. But Burger had the cash to do what he needed to do to not be a 2-legged hippo. And yes, Burger wasn't assigned to Chicago, but the org could have gotten him in touch with the experts he clearly needed in Chicagoland. Or, Burger's from what, St Louis? I'm sure there are dietitians and personal trainers down there. Or, in Arizona, during spring training. It wasn't that hard to do, it just required (IMO) the input from the organization that employed him. Leaving things to chance makes disappointment more likely.

Oh, without a doubt. The other side of the coin is/was their handling of some of the drafted QBs. I mean, Mahomes sat and watched for most of his rookie season. So too had a lot of the top QBs, going back to Brady, Rogers, and others. But hey, Trubisky just HAD TO start earlier than all those guys, amirite? Here's hoping Dalton plays well enough to let Fields find himself in this league.

I'd go with the second he signed for $3.8MM. After all, it behooves a team to protect their investment in a player, and to put him in the best position to maximize his abilities. It did take him awhile to recognize this. For a bit there, he was looking like Dan Vogelbach. And thats why I congratulated him for figuring this out, eventually. Here's hoping he can yet become something of the player he was drafted to be back in 2017.

I can understand that a younger guy wouldn't be able to appreciate the gift of being able to play a game for a living. I'm more annoyed that this FO was too careless to help this young man sooner. After all, you've got the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics right here in Chicago. Failing that, you've got the Gatorade Sports Science Institute in Barrington. That this FO failed to get this kid help YEARS AGO is embarrassing. And if a kid can't be bothered to take care of his body, then maybe he doesn't need to play a sport for a living. To your point about being trade bait, I'd have him play a few innings at an OF corner. At this point, what could it hurt?

So, he discovered "vegetables," and "cardio?" Good for him. I'd congratulate him, but I'm stunned that a professional athlete didn't discover this earlier. Or that this org didn't do anything about this earlier. Hey, better late than never, I guess.

Nah, I don't want to be the guy who picks nits. I misunderstood your previous post, and I think it's fair on your part to want a team to more regularly make attempts to draft a QB. That said, when your GM has a career negative WAR compared to competent GMs, its like giving Leury or Hamilton more PAs than they deserve. And when your negative WAR GM fucks up other acquisitions, and has to re-do positional upgrades, here we are as a Fandom. Well, they coulda, ya know, kept the franchise's all time passing leader for less money than they squandered on Glennon. But, reasons. Oh, and that all time passing leader wasn't nice to the media or something. So yes, setting aside that there was a better player here, and on less money who could have been a bridge QB, yes, Mike Glennon was an ABSOLUTE NEED for those geniuses.