WestEddy

Ho-hum. And this is actually a spot-on imitation of the dozen or so commenters who don't have an argument, and resort to mockery.

Oh, wow. You laughed at my mention of 6 innings with Atlanta. You're right that invalidates his entire career before that. Otherwise, I have no idea what you're talking about. What's PE? Getz grabbed up a bunch of veteran arms to build a bullpen. I'm sure he got some input from Bannister and Katz. Bannister's worked with a bunch of players who have responded to his coaching or methods. I don't see an issue with picking the guy's brain.

John Brebbia had a ceiling of a shut-down set-up man, which he has done before, and looked like in his 6 Atlanta innings after leaving. Declan Cronin hasn't looked like that since low-A. $4 million isn't a lot to pay a guy who could be a solid go-to bullpen arm. We're playing word games over pitching development. If we have a very good guy at the top of the development ladder, that is the goal.

Every team has a bench coach.

GETZ-LOVER!!! GETZ-LOVER!!!

Bannister doesn't have to be the best pitching developer ever. He just needs to develop our pitching. He is. The perception of "solid relievers" on another team isn't the same as solid relievers on the Sox. Many tears were shed for Declan Cronin, like he would have added 10 wins, and Cronin's numbers are basically the same as John Brebbia's.

I suppose it's fun to pretend that Getz set his own budget, and demanded Grifol not be fired. Hell, many here even think he ran the entire organization as the Director of Player Development. What we're seeing is Getz finally being able to clean house after people's contracts ran out, and the disgruntled, here, are desperately trying to reframe that as a bad thing, or as "praising" Chris Getz.

No, we don't know that. He put together a bad team on the fly. Is the Bannister hire a horrible decision? Multiple people have made the point that they're mad at how Getz was hired, so they're going to be especially impatient with every single move. That's fine. I'm not going to agree with the same nonsense everybody has decided to yell because they're mad.

"It's a bit early to call this move a failure" is not automatically praising Chris Getz. The fact that people interpret anything short of jumping on the dour wagon in full agreement as carrying water, or praising Getz is just weird.

I'll agree with you that Getz was a lazy hire on Reinsdorf's part. I also don't disagree that if Beane or Dombrowski were the GM of this mess, everyone would be making the same, disingenuous arguments.

I would imagine that very few FO hires in MLB are people nobody knows. It's a fun parlor game to pretend that every person Getz hires is bad because they're a "crony" hire, I guess.

Gene Lamont managed 4 seasons in Pittsburgh after the Sox. Terry Bevington was also a coach for Toronto after leaving.

Guillen managed in Miami after the Sox. His mouth got him fired, and probably ended his managerial career.

The Sox have always been a tight organization with secrets. I would think the main reason for an agent tossing their client's name out to the press would be to gin up the bidding. At this point, it's the Sox and Marlins.

Nobody will be as good as Crochet, but I think Cannon/Burke/Martin/Thorpe are higher floor than Soroka/Flexen/Nastrini.

I think the pitching staff stands to be a clear upgrade over the bunch that broke camp in 2024. Even if they keep Grady, I think they head into 2025 with a lot more energy than this last season.

What are you even talking about? Do you even read what you're commenting on? Nobody is saying to leave Getz alone. A comment that players liked playing for Sizemore better than Grifol has ballooned into a freakout about players picking their next manager. Then here comes you, hammering your agenda. LOL.

Chris Sale once threw a tantrum and screamed in KW's face to get out. No, Hahn never seemed to be comfortable there.

Yes, that one.

This entire conversation arc has gone from "players like playing for him" to Miguel Vargus and Nicky Lopez are conducting the interviews, basically. If someone would note that Chris Getz survives by breathing oxygen, a good dozen people would jump in and pretend that is a sign of a horrible GM. Breathing oxygen.

Wasn't that an issue for Chris Sale? FO types coming into the clubhouse where they didn't belong? KW even had spies telling him how things were going in the clubhouse.

No I don't. The players are human beings and can understand getting clear instruction, or being used in a defined role, regardless of whether their team has won enough baseball games, or not. A player can point out that rookies are sleeping out in the bullpen, or guys are just playing for their stat lines. But hey, I started out salty yesterday, well into a 2nd bottle of wine. You do what you feel you must.

Getz probably isn't in the clubhouse. Why wouldn't he pick the brains of a couple vets to get a feel for whether Sizemore is giving clear instruction and feedback to players? I would assume that a GM knows what qualities he wants in a manager.

I was reacting to your opinion of "why would anyone pay attention to guys who were historically bad?". No, the players are not picking the manager, regardless of whether they played well or not. I could see Getz caring how Sizemore's perceived by the players, as any GM would. I'm not sure why you'd think it so ludicrous that a GM would get a player's perspective on the manager. Yes, I agree with you that if you discount all the games that the Sox won under Sizemore, his record looks worse than Grifol's.

I'm not adding anything to what Hayes said. Yes, Keaschall looks better than Vargas right now. I think the Cease trade was good for what it was. Jury's out on the Fletcher and Barrios deals. The Vargas deal doesn't look good. Perez hit okay in A-ball. I'll wait to see what Vargas looks like next year. That whole trade looks like a rookie mistake, to me. Getz spent too much time putting it together for him to walk away.