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Tony La Russa named Manager


YourWhatHurts

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As stated earlier the longer this goes without being shutdown like Guillen the more likely it is that he will get the job.  

If the White Sox did in fact ask for permission to interview him, it's gotta be his job.  You don't bring him in to interview to turn him down.  Guy has been around a little to long ot waste time in an interview.

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46 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

As stated earlier the longer this goes without being shutdown like Guillen the more likely it is that he will get the job.  

If the White Sox did in fact ask for permission to interview him, it's gotta be his job.  You don't bring him in to interview to turn him down.  Guy has been around a little to long ot waste time in an interview.

I disagree because the Sox can interview anybody they want while they are waiting for other candidates to become available and say for example there intentions all along were to hire Hinch, they can intentionally drag this out longer to announce Hinch as the manager after the World Series since he can’t be hired until after the playoffs are done anyways. In their mindset, hopefully by that time the negativity surrounding him will be limited or none. It’s a clever tactic or game that is used if there’s a lot of negativity on the internet or in the media so we should be prepared to see this thing going on for another two weeks or more. It’s actually great publicity for La Russa as well because it’s been put out there that he interviewed for the most attractive job in MLB no matter what comes of it and other teams may come calling for his services.

Edited by maloney.adam
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1 hour ago, southsideirish71 said:

Lets take the fan part of out it.  What exactly about AJ says he is a good manager.  he was a catcher?  He played on the white sox?  He is on tv?  I mean this constant memberberry stuff that sox fans have of bringing back former players is what guys like JR count on.  MB is a great pitching coach, why?  Because he was a good pitcher.   Robin Ventura was one of the best white sox players and most clutch hitters I can remember.  He was great defensively and if the game was on the line he was one of the guys I wanted up at the plate.  He was a horrible horrible horrible manager.  Let me break it down for you    great player != great manager    Some of the better managers were terrible players.  

Not to be an ass but did you watch the guy play?  He was one of the smartest Sox players I have ever seen.  I can't think of anyone smarter.  As a C his job is to think like a manager, and he spent his entire career thinking that way.

Robin Ventura was a nice guy type and a 3B.  No way his brain works like AJ's.

That dropped third strike in the ALCS is vintage AJ, and Josh Paul is the stereotypical "catcher."  AJ waits, then runs to first because he's always a heads-up baseball player.  OTOH if it was the other way around, and AJ was catching, he would always tag the guy or throw to first, again because he is a heads-up player.

Hawk has raved about the baseball mind AJ has, and I know its Hawk yadda yadda yadda but Hawk knows him personally and has known him his whole life, and for him to rave about his mind like that is still significant.  There's a reason Sox fans hated AJ when he was with the Twins, and also a reason so many were thrilled when SF cut him and he signed here.  

I mean, I started this thread, and immediately recommended Mike Scoscia.  I didn't know he was that anti-new age baseball.  I don't think AJ is that kind of guy, even though he mocks framing quite a bit.  Even still I kind of agree with him on framing because the idea of a catcher "stealing" a strike is predicated on the umpire being a shitty ump and not fit for the job if he can so easily be influenced.

I think maybe you have some unnecessary AJ hate.  Out of all of the former Sox guys, he'd be my pick.  I also bet Juan Uribe would be an excellent 3B coach, also because he's one of the smarter players I have seen play.  That pair in the clubhouse might be kind of half great / half nightmare.  I dunno.

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43 minutes ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

I cant imagine us interviewing La Russa and not hiring him. You dont pull a hall of famer along for the ride unless he's the guy.

This right here. This terrifies me. He's a HOF manager thinking about coming out of retirement to manage again.  (Btw, is this the first time a HOF manager would be reinstated and manage again?)  Wouldn't it be a slap in the face to interview him and not hire him? I feel our only hope is TLR is just not interested in coming back to manage again. Might take the interview but hopefully he turns us down.

Edited by smellysox
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5 minutes ago, smellysox said:

This right here. This terrifies me. He's a HOF manager thinking about coming out of retirement to manage again.  (Btw, is this the first time a HOF manager would be reinstated and managed again?)  Wouldn't it be a slap in the face to interview him and not hire him? I feel our only hope is TLR is just not interested in coming back to manage again. Might take the interview but hopefully he turns us down.

I agree. You don’t interview LaRussa for him to come in second place in the interview process. Al Pacino doesn’t go to auditions. Hopefully he doesn’t want it, maybe HE could be a bench coach. But I am starting to get very uncomfortable with this.

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7 minutes ago, smellysox said:

This right here. This terrifies me. He's a HOF manager thinking about coming out of retirement to manage again.  (Btw, is this the first time a HOF manager would be reinstated and managed again?)  Wouldn't it be a slap in the face to interview him and not hire him? I feel our only hope is TLR is just not interested in coming back to manage again. Might take the interview but hopefully he turns us down.

I don't know what the rules are about negotiating but maybe this is an attempt from the FO to learn some things from TLR (via the interview) to help them with their process.  And I don't think it is a "slap in the face" to bring him in just to get his input on some things given the relationship between him and ownership.  Obviously if the Sox actually wanted to him to manage the team, there would be contingency plans worked out to at least some degree even before the hiring took place.  This would be a situation where most likely there's another replacement direction lined up and TLR has some outs in the deal.

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9 minutes ago, YourWhatHurts said:

Not to be an ass but did you watch the guy play?  He was one of the smartest Sox players I have ever seen.  I can't think of anyone smarter.  As a C his job is to think like a manager, and he spent his entire career thinking that way.

Robin Ventura was a nice guy type and a 3B.  No way his brain works like AJ's.

That dropped third strike in the ALCS is vintage AJ, and Josh Paul is the stereotypical "catcher."  AJ waits, then runs to first because he's always a heads-up baseball player.  OTOH if it was the other way around, and AJ was catching, he would always tag the guy or throw to first, again because he is a heads-up player.

Hawk has raved about the baseball mind AJ has, and I know its Hawk yadda yadda yadda but Hawk knows him personally and has known him his whole life, and for him to rave about his mind like that is still significant.  There's a reason Sox fans hated AJ when he was with the Twins, and also a reason so many were thrilled when SF cut him and he signed here.  

I mean, I started this thread, and immediately recommended Mike Scoscia.  I didn't know he was that anti-new age baseball.  I don't think AJ is that kind of guy, even though he mocks framing quite a bit.  Even still I kind of agree with him on framing because the idea of a catcher "stealing" a strike is predicated on the umpire being a shitty ump and not fit for the job if he can so easily be influenced.

 I think maybe you have some unnecessary AJ hate.  Out of all of the former Sox guys, he'd be my pick.  I also bet Juan Uribe would be an excellent 3B coach, also because he's one of the smarter players I have seen play.  That pair in the clubhouse might be kind of half great / half nightmare.  I dunno.

I think we found greg's burner account.

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Just now, Tony said:

Players on his own team, at basically every stop along the way talked about how he was a gigantic pain in the ass in the locker room. I love AJ, had his Jersey while he was here. But I don’t know if he gets a room together. 

I was never sure how much of that was just players being players and how much was real.  I remember AJ saying how much he and Ian Kinsler got along in Texas after AJ hated him, etc., and it might be a takes one to know one thing.  He got along with Mark just fine, and was definitely not a Swisher fan.  I think maybe his personality is probably one that is a bit rough by design to some of his peers, but I am not sure he would be that way to players.  Perhaps the bigger question would be if he could get along with the FO.  But even though I expect there might be some issues there, most of the really good managers seem to have a bit of an ego, and I actually like that.  

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2 minutes ago, southsideirish71 said:

I think we found greg's burner account.

You are the one who made the passionate nonsensical post where you implied that I didn't have any reason to think he would be a good manager other than the fact that he was a former popular player, not me.  I actually made a supporting argument.

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18 minutes ago, YourWhatHurts said:

Not to be an ass but did you watch the guy play?  He was one of the smartest Sox players I have ever seen.  I can't think of anyone smarter.  As a C his job is to think like a manager, and he spent his entire career thinking that way.

Robin Ventura was a nice guy type and a 3B.  No way his brain works like AJ's.

That dropped third strike in the ALCS is vintage AJ, and Josh Paul is the stereotypical "catcher."  AJ waits, then runs to first because he's always a heads-up baseball player.  OTOH if it was the other way around, and AJ was catching, he would always tag the guy or throw to first, again because he is a heads-up player.

Hawk has raved about the baseball mind AJ has, and I know its Hawk yadda yadda yadda but Hawk knows him personally and has known him his whole life, and for him to rave about his mind like that is still significant.  There's a reason Sox fans hated AJ when he was with the Twins, and also a reason so many were thrilled when SF cut him and he signed here.  

I mean, I started this thread, and immediately recommended Mike Scoscia.  I didn't know he was that anti-new age baseball.  I don't think AJ is that kind of guy, even though he mocks framing quite a bit.  Even still I kind of agree with him on framing because the idea of a catcher "stealing" a strike is predicated on the umpire being a shitty ump and not fit for the job if he can so easily be influenced.

I think maybe you have some unnecessary AJ hate.  Out of all of the former Sox guys, he'd be my pick.  I also bet Juan Uribe would be an excellent 3B coach, also because he's one of the smarter players I have seen play.  That pair in the clubhouse might be kind of half great / half nightmare.  I dunno.

It does you zero good to have the best mind in baseball if you lack the ability to impart that knowledge to others if you want to be a manager.  I have yet to hear an AJP story where he worked with someone to give them some sort of skill or insight,  in fact quite the opposite.  The stories were about how impossible he was to work with, and how he refused to do anything that wasn't on his own terms and conditions.  We keep talking about TLR being a bad choice, but at least in his case we have a 4 decade history of being a leader and adding value to the careers of others. We have none of that with AJP. Hell I would rather bring back Ozzie who at worse knows how to make a spectacle of himself to keep the pressure of of people.  I literally can't see a positive of making AJP the leader of this team.

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Just now, southsider2k5 said:

It does you zero good to have the best mind in baseball if you lack the ability to impart that knowledge to others if you want to be a manager.  I have yet to hear an AJP story where he worked with someone to give them some sort of skill or insight,  in fact quite the opposite.  The stories were about how impossible he was to work with, and how he refused to do anything that wasn't on his own terms and conditions.  We keep talking about TLR being a bad choice, but at least in his case we have a 4 decade history of being a leader and adding value to the careers of others. We have none of that with AJP. Hell I would rather bring back Ozzie who at worse knows how to make a spectacle of himself to keep the pressure of of people.  I literally can't see a positive of making AJP the leader of this time.

I would agree that there is a lot of "conversation" around AJ as a competitor and teammate, and I do believe that there is enough of it that he would need to be "supervised" and "developed" under a veteran manager, and would need to spend time working with players directly.  In short, he would have to "earn it" and prove he deserved the job.  I wouldn't just hand him the reigns.  I believe I suggested he come in as a bench coach with the idea of developing into a manager.

There's a lot to like about a manager who thinks like him and has that kind of wiring in his brain.  Again in my previous example I mentioned Josh Paul, who maybe is a nice guy type and is involved in coaching, etc., but AJ was always smarter.  He's been places and done things Josh Paul has not and never will.  He's a smarter player and would be a smarter manager.

Re: his attitude, I love the competitiveness.  I love how he kind of shines when you put the spotlight on him.  A lot like Paulie, when you take a shot at him, he takes a shot back at you.  I love all of it.  I actually want those qualities.  I don't want some sissy with a degree who was "groomed for the position" by a bunch of front office types.  That's what it seems most people want.  AJ grew up on a baseball field as a life-long catcher and has seen everything there is to see, and has spent his entire career thinking about pitches, hitters, pitching sequences, infield and outfield arrangements, and baserunners.  And he can be a total fucking dick and probably really support his players when they need him.

Honestly, I think he has the tools to be great.  But he would need to develop.  He would have to prove that he really wants it and deserves it.

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1 minute ago, YourWhatHurts said:

I would agree that there is a lot of "conversation" around AJ as a competitor and teammate, and I do believe that there is enough of it that he would need to be "supervised" and "developed" under a veteran manager, and would need to spend time working with players directly.  In short, he would have to "earn it" and prove he deserved the job.  I wouldn't just hand him the reigns.  I believe I suggested he come in as a bench coach with the idea of developing into a manager.

There's a lot to like about a manager who thinks like him and has that kind of wiring in his brain.  Again in my previous example I mentioned Josh Paul, who maybe is a nice guy type and is involved in coaching, etc., but AJ was always smarter.  He's been places and done things Josh Paul has not and never will.  He's a smarter player and would be a smarter manager.

Re: his attitude, I love the competitiveness.  I love how he kind of shines when you put the spotlight on him.  A lot like Paulie, when you take a shot at him, he takes a shot back at you.  I love all of it.  I actually want those qualities.  I don't want some sissy with a degree who was "groomed for the position" by a bunch of front office types.  That's what it seems most people want.  AJ grew up on a baseball field as a life-long catcher and has seen everything there is to see, and has spent his entire career thinking about pitches, hitters, pitching sequences, infield and outfield arrangements, and baserunners.  And he can be a total fucking dick and probably really support his players when they need him.

Honestly, I think he has the tools to be great.  But he would need to develop.  He would have to prove that he really wants it and deserves it.

Great. Let him start in the minors and see if he can adjust his attitude to actually work with people. I have zero interest in a volatility experiment on the major league roster.  See how he plays as a coach in Great Falls, not Chicago. 

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1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:

Great. Let him start in the minors and see if he can adjust his attitude to actually work with people. I have zero interest in a volatility experiment on the major league roster.  See how he plays as a coach in Great Falls, not Chicago. 

Why would he need to be at Great Falls with a guy like Getz as his superior when let's be honest Getz was just a jabroni at the MLB level.  If you put AJ at 3B under TLR or Bruce Bochy, and advance him to bench coach after a year, then maybe manager after at least 2 years of being a bench coach, then that is fine.

Believe me, AJ working under TLR directly, with TLR directly reporting directly to ownership, is a lot more likely to "put AJ in line" or "keep AJ in line" than being stuck in the minors under a bunch of guys with nothing even close to his resume.  Honestly, the idea of AJ taking instruction from a guy like Getz is insulting.

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