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When did we take the wrong turn?


Chimpton
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I'll tell you exactly what the problem was: they couldn't leave well enough alone. Going into 2021 they were *set*. They had invested in great young talent, locked much of it up for future seasons, and that talent had arrived. They were ahead of the field and didn't need to do a freaking thing. All they needed to do was integrate the talent, get it on the field, and leave it there to cohere into whatever is was destined to become - and only *then* consider how to augment and fine tune it. They never gave that a chance to happen. When other teams made high profile acquisitions at the trade deadline the Sox just had make their own noise and that core never got a chance to really play together - a problem which was then exacerbated by the injuries and the decision to mix and match lineups both during the time they were shorthanded and after. The dream team never happened. It never had a chance.

Edited by SpringfieldFan
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I think part of it has to be Wheeler turning down our bigger offer and turning to sign Keuchel instead. Dallas gave us about 60 great innings and 80 decent innings before he completely crapped out. Wasting $18 million a year on a pitcher with a ERA around 7 isn't exactly a good use of resources when the team refuses to go into the luxury tax. 

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The first mistake we made was not going all in on Bryce Harper after we missed out on Machado.  I will never for the life of me understand the thinking there and that miss continues to haunt us to this day with a struggling RH heavy offense.

The next miss was Wheeler as having him instead of Keuchel would be a compete game changer for the franchise.  Can’t really blame Hahn for that one, but sucks nonetheless.

Hiring La Russa was the next major mistake and its impact is hard to quantify.  His in-game decision-making has been terrible and the team seems to be underperforming well beyond  what any of us could have predicted.  How much of that is on Tony is up for debate, but I’d argue his lack of energy is playing some role in it.

Finally, Hahn had an epically bad offseason with multiple questionable decisions.  No idea what his plan was coming out of the lockout, but refusing to add a single impact player to the core and instead dumpster diving at multiple spots has cost us dearly.  And resigning Leury for three years when there was zero chance the market would have bared such a contract is one of the most mine-boggling decisions in recent memory.  Perhaps Tony had a role there, but it was shockingly bad signing the moment announced even if the primary reason of our struggles this year.

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Having 0 funds in our minors isnt helping either. Every team loses players to FA or injuries, but they have guys coming up that fill in nicely. Look at the Twins and Astros. See who replaced Correa, he has the best numbers in the league right now.

With an above average farm we could have had 2 or 3 guys fill in on the cheap and make a big impact. Instead we send our future first baseman out to right field and hope he can catch the ball because theres no other option.

All in all: Its not 1 thing, its multiple facets that all point to the FO. 

Edited by reiks12
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5 minutes ago, reiks12 said:

Having 0 funds in our minors isnt helping either. Every team loses players to FA or injuries, but they have guys coming up that fill in nicely. Look at the Twins and Astros. See who replaced Correa, he has the best numbers in the league right now.

With an above average farm we could have had 2 or 3 guys fill in on the cheap and make a big impact. Instead we send our future first baseman out to right field and hope he can catch the ball because theres no other option.

All in all: Its not 1 thing, its multiple facets that all point to the FO. 

Speaking of the Astros, how is Verlander still so damn good? Christ

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4 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

 

We all know who is in charge, 41 years of horrible ownership with so many many bad moves, from alienating Harry Caray to the White Flag trade to tearing down a great old ballpark and then building a horrible ballpark in the wrong neighborhood and countless other gaffes with hiring TLR as one of the worst.

BTW I will give credit for the remake of the ballpark back in 2004, they did a pretty good job without tearing the whole place down but in survey after survey it's still near the bottom of the best ballparks list, IIRC the highest I've ever seen it rated is 18th.

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8 hours ago, Tnetennba said:

This result seemed inevitable.  A good manager could have had this team anywhere else.  There’s no guarantee they’d have a ring already with the injuries and variables, but I doubt they’d be as dead in the water going nowhere fast as they are now. 

TLR makes at least one bad decision in every game.  That is hard to overcome.  Hiring him was a big unforced error.

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24 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

Until Reinsdorf signs off on a market value, 9 figure contract.......he's the problem. The Sox are 27th in MLB in highest contracts in franchise history. 

Who’s below?  Pirates, Rays and A’s?  That in and of itself is very telling.  

Risk averse on bigger contracts but more than happy to spend money like drunken sailors on a weekend past on utility guys, aging veterans, bullpen.  The core is obviously stronger than 2016, but the finishing moves are almost anti-Braves 2021.

Then we’re supposed to turn around and praise them for spending so much when it’s crap decision after crap decision. Rodon and Kimbrel QO’s leads to Kimbrel staying leads on the roster after the lockout eventually leads to VV/Pollock/Harrison/lesser draft pool for the 30th ranked farm system.  It’s like losing all the money you brought to Vegas then borrowing another $10,000 or putting it on a credit card in an ill-advised attempt to get back to even.

Edited by caulfield12
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1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Who’s below?  Pirates, Rays and A’s?  That in and of itself is very telling.  

Risk averse on bigger contracts but more than happy to spend money like drunken sailors on a weekend past on utility guys, aging veterans, bullpen.  The core is obviously stronger than 2016, but the finishing moves are almost anti-Braves 2021.

Then we’re supposed to turn around and praise them for spending so much when it’s crap decision after crap decision. Rodon and Kimbrel QO’s leads to Kimbrel staying leads on the roster after the lockout eventually leads to VV/Pollock/Harrison/lesser draft pool for the 30th ranked farm system.  It’s like losing all the money you brought to Vegas then borrowing another $10,000 or putting it on a credit card in an ill-advised attempt to get back to even.

It was the Guardians, A's and Pirates but the Ramirez extension has pushed Cleveland past the Sox. 

So they're 28th now. 

It's so strange how Jerry is willing to light money on fire around the margins. 

Edited by Jack Parkman
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