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KW GM Appreciation Thread


Steve9347

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QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 2, 2012 -> 04:45 PM)
Rios either. I didn't plan it that way, I was just posting pics.

Ah, I thought it was separated for a reason. I would have argued with Rios (and possibly Dunn now) but gave benefit of the doubt.

 

Couldn't you find a photo of him flipping a buffet table?

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Out of all the prospects KW has traded, Gio is the only one really worth talking about. Even ones who did well - at least for a while - had injury issues (like Hudson), or never became what they were supposed to as a regular (ex Young, Olivo), or flat out busted (Reed), or took a long time to develop into anything significant (Morse, possibly Carter). In the meantime, he managed to acquire a lot of very good players for very little, didn't make any Theo-esque horrid FA signings like Crawford or Lackey, and he found a way to put contending teams out there most of the time, even if they choked on the Twins/Tigers/Royals when it mattered. He also showed lots of guts in constantly trying to win. He only made a few moves that couldn't be justified at the time and still can't be justified in hindsight. Overall he added to the organization more than he subtracted, and during his tenure the Sox became more of a nationally relevant franchise again, even if it's still seen as being in the shadow of the Cubs.

 

Kenny has been an excellent GM & I am sad to see him go, however scaling back his duties to focus more on macro issues may end up making better use of *some* of his strengths. One strength that he won't be able to call on anymore is his highly emotional aggressiveness, which was an excellent quality to have in a GM when you're stuck with a worm-doing sky-pointing retard who likes to stand at the dish and watch pitches until the umpire tells him to either walk to first or go back to the dugout. The 2nd Swisher deal is one of my favorite KW moves, also the Jon Rauch thing was great to see too. Mostly though I think his best strengths are in scouting and finding values wherever they may present themselves, and I think he'll continue to serve the organization well by picking key points and focusing on each one in greater detail.

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I give props to Kenny for helping the Sox win their only World Series in my lifetime. I also loved how he was always pretty much in "buying" mode. I have never wanted the Sox to junk everyone and try to rebuild. That seldom works well, and no one really wants to endure horrible play during a tear-down process. For example, would you want to be a Kansas City or Cleveland fan? Kenny didn't always get the right guys, but the list of guys who have starred for other teams after he let them go is pretty short. And he was always willing to take risks, and coax Jerry Reinsdorf into opening his checkbook.

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I'm still upset to this day about how long Andy Gonzalez was up at the MLB level in '07 while Jason Bourgeois was in Charlotte and had so much more capability. That wasn't a 100% GM kind of decision though, I'd assume.

 

Other than that, KW has never done anything that absolutely infuriated me, and for the most I've been pleased with his tenure.

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QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Nov 2, 2012 -> 05:25 PM)
I'm still upset to this day about how long Andy Gonzalez was up at the MLB level in '07 while Jason Bourgeois was in Charlotte and had so much more capability. That wasn't a 100% GM kind of decision though, I'd assume.

 

Other than that, KW has never done anything that absolutely infuriated me, and for the most I've been pleased with his tenure.

Andy Gonzalez was once a prospect we were supposed to be on the lookout for. Turns out he was garbage, but I think he played just to make sure that he was what we thought he was.

 

The big misses that year were Grinderstad as the Opening Day starter over homegrown 1st Round pick Anderson & not calling up Sweeney. But in hindsight, it's obvious the Sox had moved on from Ryan and just wanted to preserve his trade value by limiting his service time as much as possible.

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QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Nov 2, 2012 -> 05:49 PM)
Andy Gonzalez was once a prospect we were supposed to be on the lookout for. Turns out he was garbage, but I think he played just to make sure that he was what we thought he was.

 

The big misses that year were Grinderstad as the Opening Day starter over homegrown 1st Round pick Anderson & not calling up Sweeney. But in hindsight, it's obvious the Sox had moved on from Ryan and just wanted to preserve his trade value by limiting his service time as much as possible.

 

The Sox were right on Anderson. He sucked and never amounted to anything, even after he left Chicago.

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QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Nov 2, 2012 -> 05:25 PM)
I'm still upset to this day about how long Andy Gonzalez was up at the MLB level in '07 while Jason Bourgeois was in Charlotte and had so much more capability. That wasn't a 100% GM kind of decision though, I'd assume.

 

Other than that, KW has never done anything that absolutely infuriated me, and for the most I've been pleased with his tenure.

I think our Agon was around for so long because of that 12 pitch AB against Zumaya in the 9th. That was f***ing awesome and I'll never forget it. Even I thought he was gonna be great after that.

 

KW is a great, great man. From his perfect word choice to his lack of knee-jerk, emotional reactions, he will be missed. Don't disappear on me now KW!

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