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Sometimes We Need to Go Backward Before We Can Move Forward


ron883

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It's clear the team we have is not a contender. The team is riddled with injuries. Our manager is awful and the team has seemingly given up. In order to rid the team of La Russa, they must lose enough to ensure that he won't return next year.

Further, this is the first year where they will be implementing the MLB draft lottery. The team does not have to finish in last place in order to get the first pick. This team likely won't finish in last place, so just missing the playoffs and being bad is good enough. We must lose, get rid of Tony, and get the 1st pick. 

tank.gif

Edited by ron883
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Let's be real, even if this team does turn it around and win the Central, they'll probably lose in the WC round or the ALDS. The AL is stacked this year and the Astros and Yankees are clearly better than the rest of the league. Yes, I know the Braves won the WS last year. They're the exception and not the norm. Punting on this year and getting rid of this awful coaching staff and FO might be the reset this rebuild really needs to right itself. It's entirely possible to retool after a lost season. Look at what the Twins did after that disaster last year. 

Edited by chw42
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If losing gets TLR to crawl back into the hole he came out of bring on the losses regardless of the first round pick or not. Getting him and his cronies out of this organization would be better than any 1st round pick they could get anyways as management would just trade it away in a year or 2 anyways

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I hope that a no-name interim Manager is announced after Tony retires/gets fired and  that the interim Mgr. is given instructions to tank the rest of the season.

Meanwhile the Sox become sellers and no player on the 40 man roster is untouchable, not even Cease, Robert or Vaughn. Take it down to the ground and start over.

The fans seemed much more content during a rebuild than they do now during the obvious failure of a rebuild.  Lower expectations and fans will be happy again.

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We did go backward. We went backward from 2013 to 2019 and 3 of those years were intentional. Just starting to feel like this franchise is cursed. If it's not the front office making stupid decisions, it's a global pandemic. If it's not a global pandemic, it's the very real threat of a lockout. If it's not a lockout, it's the manager. If it's not the manager, it's injuries (which let's be real n injuries have not stopped since the rebuild began.)

I was extremely optimistic when this rebuild began. Fully onboard, completely on Rick, Kenny and Jerry's side, pretty much defending all of their moves. Boy do I feel duped. I'm at a loss. Either the franchise really does need a complete change in ownership, like many here have been saying for years or they've had the absolute worst luck in the world. 

In any case, what we are seeing unfold is extremely sad and this team is no where near where it should be at this point in time. And what reason is there to believe it will change anytime soon? You can't use the schedule as a reason anymore... they're about to get swept by the freaking Baltimore Orioles and fall 5 games below .500 at the end of June. 

Edited by ScooterMcGuire
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I don't know what the mindset of the FO is right now but blaming the fans for this mess is not the answer. They've done that over 40 seasons, and it hasn't worked. They can save face by letting LaRussa finish out this season, but he can't be back for the 2023 season. They cannot remain in denial about this.

I have a real concern with Robert and Eloy, two young and talented players that can't stay on the field. Eloy is on another extended stay on the IL. In the third Baltimore game, Robert should have caught that bases clearing double but he physically couldn't get to it. He looked like he was hobbling when he chased the ball by the wall. 

Credibility is a big issue now. The FO sold the tanking and the rebuild. It has now stalled. The franchise must show it recognizes the problem and take steps to fix it. Recognizing there is a real problem would be a great start. Arguing with fans on Twitter is a waste of time.

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Oh good idea. Play for the draft lottery. With these same asswipes in charge they'll use it on a hard throwing reliever, a slap hitting 2B or a college 1B again. If they plan on keeping the same guys in charge- Hahn, Williams, their scouts, their philosophies- then tanking is an awful idea

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The Twins figured it out with Correa/Buxton and rebuilding their entire rotation in one year.  The Guardians made some good trades and most importantly extended Jose Ramirez, the most important player in the entire AL Central.

Perhaps the best parallel for the Sox is the Padres.  They were a whopping 22 games under .500 the last six or seven weeks in 2021 and completely quit on their manager.  Weren’t even going through the motions.  Players who weren’t traded brought hurt feelings to the clubhouse.  Had to go through two younger/inexperienced guys to the better fit.

All it took was a new manager the players trusted/respected and pitching pitching pitching…as well as improved defense and pen.

They did have the type of system depth to blow trades for Clevinger and Snell and still manage to thrive without their two best position players this year as well.  The absolute key was that the players filling those roles had to be ready to get the job done…to pick up the slack.

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Yes, this team probably does have to take a step or two back.  But that is because of some terribly poor personnel decision by the FO (and yes I'm sure La Russa had a hand in them; but this FO has made plenty of bad choices without La Russa's help).

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13 hours ago, ron883 said:

It's clear the team we have is not a contender. The team is riddled with injuries. Our manager is awful and the team has seemingly given up. In order to rid the team of La Russa, they must lose enough to ensure that he won't return next year.

Further, this is the first year where they will be implementing the MLB draft lottery. The team does not have to finish in last place in order to get the first pick. This team likely won't finish in last place, so just missing the playoffs and being bad is good enough. We must lose, get rid of Tony, and get the 1st pick

tank.gif

Not likely.  Sitting at 13 right now.

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Rebuilding in 2016-17 was still the right thing to do. It just sucks it didn't work as well for the Sox as it did for the Astros and Cubs. 

Part of the issue is that the highest the Sox picked was 3rd, and because of the trades, they were only very bad for 2 years. Also, while Vaughn is a very good player, he's still a 1B. 

So much of the Sox rebuild hinged on Moncada being an established star and Robert coming up and being one right away. 

Moncada is very good but volatile offensively and Robert is very good but not a star yet. He still has time. 

Kopech getting injured and then missing 2019 and 2020 was also a setback. 

 

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2 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

Rebuilding in 2016-17 was still the right thing to do. It just sucks it didn't work as well for the Sox as it did for the Astros and Cubs. 

Wrong IMO. Sox had some talent on the team when it started the rebuild. Sox would have been better off not tanking, just doing what they've always done throughout history. Odds of catching lightning as they did in 05 woulda been just as good as trying to pull the tank job and eventually win. Players still need to come through and the big names the Sox got during the tank job have been busts (mostly cause of injury). Tanking is wrong on many levels. Get a good GM and good scouts and build the right way.

Edited by greg775
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11 minutes ago, greg775 said:

Wrong IMO. Sox had some talent on the team when it started the rebuild. Sox would have been better off not tanking, just doing what they've always done throughout history. Odds of catching lightning as they did in 05 woulda been just as good as trying to pull the tank job and eventually win. Players still need to come through and the big names the Sox got during the tank job have been busts (mostly cause of injury). Tanking is wrong on many levels. Get a good GM and good scouts and build the right way.

The Royals never get to the WS in 2014-15 following that strategy of retooling on the fly instead of a complete teardown and rebuild.

The Guardians have now done it 3-4 times in the last two decades.

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