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Chimpton

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Just looked at the Sox MLB page and saw this article with TA and Burr singing the praises of TLR.

Tim Anderson on Tony La Russa impact on White Sox (mlb.com)

TA said “I couldn't be more happy with what he did. The relationship was great, overall, with the players. Everybody was just getting along with him. He came in and did what he was supposed to do, and hopefully he can step right back in and continue to push us next year and make these decisions that he did. I was very pleased with how he handled it.”

Burr said "I would run through a wall for that guy any day of the week"

Looks like TLR is here to stay ?

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8 minutes ago, wegner said:

Like someone here said the other day....what are they going to say?

The guy is not leaving until they win a World Series, so hopefully they do.

TA's original comments when he was hired were borderline critical, many thought he would demand a trade based on those comments.  I don't see him as someone who is dishonest to please the boss.  Burr, maybe.

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I see two plausible scenarios:

  • Players like/love him and he is a good clubhouse manager
  • Players do not like/love him but we all need to protect our careers so they toe the company line

I think the overall clubhouse tends toward the former, less because they spoke positively about TLR, but more because of the enthusiasm of their comments. We all have worked with people who bend over backwards to please the boss and shower him/her with compliments and flowery language. I doubt that is TA, and I doubt even Burr would be so emphatic about running through walls if he didn't mean it. 

What I saw in the failures against Houston was that TLR is not a great strategist. I think the knocks we read here about pitching decisions and shifts are merited even if he sometimes makes sound choices (ie Game 3).  However, the bigger failure I saw though was organizational (and possibly just indicative of a talented but inexperienced team). Houston seems to produce smarter ballplayers.

They hold runners on better. They take every extra base. They play tighter defense, stealing a hit or two (and likely runs) every game. They know how to spoil off pitches and wear out your starters until they tire or give in and throw a hittable pitch. I assume a lot of this is taught by their staff from low A ball on up. I am not sure the same goes for the Sox. 

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The Sox were somehow worse at every managerial impacted area this year than they were last:

Overall Defense - much worse
Outfield decision making/cut off men - Much worse
Base running - Worse
Bunting - sheesh
Shifting - Ouch
bullpen management - whoooops

Players loved Ricky too. Tony probably sat in his office and let them do whatever they wanted most of the day. There certainly wasn't any accountability or progress in clean crisp baseball under La Russa.

Edited by Look at Ray Ray Run
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57 minutes ago, ShoeLessRob said:

I don’t care if they like him, he’s obviously not the strategic mind he once was (if he even was). 

They cannot continue without using modern strategy eg shifting. Someone has to speak with this guy.

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3 hours ago, wegner said:

Like someone here said the other day....what are they going to say?

The guy is not leaving until they win a World Series, so hopefully they do.

They can pretty much say nothing and talk around the question.  TA didn't need to make the comment he did.  I am pretty indifferent when it comes to TLR, so if they keep him fine if they don't that's fine too.  He will make decisions that do not turn out well just like all managers do.  If the Sox and Astros switched managers/coaching staffs for the their series would it have turned out differently?  I would say probably not.   

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