The Official Deja-Voodoo Torture-Sox thread

[TitoMB345]

Then again, he is gone, and attendance is down 20%.

Sarcasm, I hope. There is nothing to back this implication.

[caulfield12]

It's all those Santos and Quentin fans who are still upset.

 

Is there any evidence that attendance has been higher for Chris Sale starts, for example?

 

 

[NorthSideSox72]

Sarcasm, I hope. There is nothing to back this implication.

It is a piece of the puzzle. How much that one change made a difference, no one can really know.

 

[kitekrazy]

I've been mostly quiet until now, because I've favored a wait and see attitude. When they were 10-6, I didn't quite believe they were that good or lucky. Similarly, during this 3-11 stretch, I certainly don't believe they're this bad or unlucky. At this point, I don't think they can compete as-is, at least not particularly effectively, beyond a lucky win of the division and a very early exit in the playoffs. Maybe that was good enough for me in 2000, but I'm certainly not interested in that now.

 

This is an 79-90 win team, just like the last umpteen teams have been, outside of 2007 and 2005. Williams believes that putting yourself in a position to win 80 games and then getting some breaks is good enough. I guess so, if you are getting some off the chart WARs.

 

It struck me last night how fundamentally unsound Williams' "retool" strategy has been, at the core. It has relied on static parts producing at predicted results, paired with high-variance acquisitions to produce at or near the top of their game. It's a brutally flawed strategy, because it undermines some of the fundamentals of player development. In layman's terms, a lot of dudes in baseball just don't particularly pan out, which is why your Gordon Beckhams, your Brent Morels, your Dayan Viciedos are paired with a s***load of other prospects and brought along in tandem. This is why you bottom out at 95-100 wins for a couple of seasons. You trade talent away, hoard draft picks. and 3 years down the line you know who the the 2-3 diamonds are out of the 20 pieces of coal you throw in your pan. They are still cheap, so you can go out and spend money to get the FA you need to pair with your developed talent. You break the bank for two seasons and put together your attack run. You have a 2 year window, then you break it all down again. Why is this so hard for Kenny to realize?

 

2006-2012 was a series of moves designed to work IF everything fell into place. It's a bulls*** strategy, because it was based on the results of a lucky season. If Williams were a poker player, he'd play A2 suited because THAT was the hand that won him the $2000 tournament, not because it was a sound play to begin with, all things considered. Do I think it was a brilliant season? Yes. Do I commend Williams for his strategy? To a point, yes. We also got no less than 8 career years in 2005, and the playoffs of a lifetime - that still could have brutally swung the other way in the ALCS. Luckily, it didn't. Unluckily, Williams believed his own hype - that he could get career years out of "his guys" like getting water from a well. Ladies and Gents, I give you exhibit A - Scott Linebrink.

 

We need to evaluate Brent Morel and Gordon Beckham and either cast them off as dead weight or give them the tools they need to succeed. We need to understand who Dayan Viciedo and Alejandro De Aza are, and give them the tools they need to succeed or continue to succeed at the major league level. We need to stop f***ing with Chris Sale. We need to fix John Danks. We need to trade everyone who resembles a closer and probably Jake Peavy. Most importantly, we need to stop looking at wins and losses this season, because it is the cancer that prevents us from any sustained long term success. It's one thing to act like the Yankees and go "all in" every year, it's another to half-ass your way to being "competitive" with a lackluster bottom half of the lineup.

 

Wow! Awesome post! I would like to know what you mean by "give them the tools". I believe they should have most of those tools before they are drafted.

 

[caulfield12]

Hibbard surprised us all today.

 

 

[Greg Hibbard]

Wow! Awesome post! I would like to know what you mean by "give them the tools". I believe they should have most of those tools before they are drafted.

 

Thanks. "give them the tools" is an oversimplification, and I realize I mis-spoke a bit in the heat of the moment. Let me try to clarify.

 

I believe with Morel and Viciedo, sending them down to work out a new swing in a no-pressure, no-microscope situation with the intent of recalling them (instead of letting them get blasted nightly on talk radio in a major market) might be a strategy worth considering. It remains to be seen whether that's the case with either. Probably by June they should have either turned it around or gone back down.

 

With Beckham, he's about 10-12 career points and 5-10 homers per season away from being a viable player in terms of his career stats, which is a bit agonizing when you consider how bad he's been over the last 190 games. I don't know what more you really can do but drop him in and let him sink or swim for 2012, but certainly, you have to kitchen sink him this season SOMEHOW. I suppose that's what hitting coaches and extra BP are for. I just hope he realizes how crucial this season is. It's actually kind of funny how close some of his numbers are to Crede at a similar point in their careers. Crede was .255 through his first 1290 ABs with about 40 homers. It could go Crede or it could go Mike Caruso. Yes, they are different players, but you know what I mean.

 

For some of our veterans, allowing Alex Rios to play RF, the position he flourished in Toronto (at times) with, instead of asking him to play CF, like we did last year, might be the difference, as has been stated. Putting Dunn in the field more often, instead of having him sit on the bench as DH and fixate on his batting average, especially when he's previously played his entire career in the NL, might have taken the pressure off. Certainly, it's worth considering.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Greg Hibbard