Look at Ray Ray Run

I really wish people would stop quoting David Samson.

He was a star who played for Tony LaRussa. What star who has played for Tony LaRussa ever didn't have those whispers?

? These takes for signing players are always the worst ones. How about.... you sign him to be COACH if you want him to be a mentor and leader. Why would he EVER pinch hit? Why would he EVER play first base? He's been the worst player in baseball, basically, for like three years.

Ahh, missed this before I responded. So funny.

Let's not forget, Tony LaRussa intentionally walked Albert Pujols this year

Players aren't trying to score zero runs. That will happen. Thats just baseball. It wasn't as if they didn't know how to score, or forgot. The manager isn't even trying to do his job correctly, he doesn't know the actual rules. A managers job is to give his team the best chance of winning by putting players in positions of success. Does scoring zero runs cause issues for winning? Sure. But the sox know they have to score runs. The problem is the manager doesn't know he has to know the rules. He doesn't know that running with a man on 3rd and 1 out in extras is dumb. He doesn't know the things he should know. He's not trying.

I have been largely in the camp that excellence has been there for Carlos before, but its health that is his bugaboo. Im not sure his fastball has ever looked this good before but his slider has been better. I think with Carlos he's as good as his arm allows him to be. With Cease, yeah. I need to see it for an extended period. As for the rotation in general, it was always going to be high variance given its youth and injury history, for that reason I feel a little more comfortable. Had we been talking about 10 year vets finding another gear I'd be pretty skeptical regardless of peripherals, but all the young guys, and Carlos given his very limited work load in his career healthy, always were going to be high variance guys. That said, ill celebrate Carlos when he makes even 25 starts. Until then I'll be holding my breath every start.

Castellanos been pretty great, and I remember quite a few fans wanting him two years ago. Castellanos would look mighty good in the middle of that lineup instead of Hendriks at the back end of the bullpen too. This is where the distribution of funds was not managed well by the FO in my opinion. To be fair, I was very worried about Hendriks overuse the past couple years before the signing and after it on this site. I hope he keeps it together and works out.

He hasn't been the worst player in baseball like he may have been last year, but it's just not something to pat anyone on the back for. I guess the saving grace for the FO is he's been better than Joc and Ozuna and etc but I wouldn't bet on the Ozuna thing continuing. Who knows with Joc, he's looked miserable.

I think we can stop saying this about Eaton now. He's slashing 211/299/368. He's not good, and he hasn't been good for quite some time. He had a nice first week, but that's about it. In Eaton's last 284 PA's (2019-2020), he has a wRC+ of 83, and his wOBA is 291. Slashing 220/290/378. He's not getting any younger. That's nearly half of a season - which could improve I guess - and it's not a glowing endorsement.

I don't get this narrative either. LaRussa has double switched and taken his DH out of the lineup and replaced it with his pitcher (the Abreu to first double switch) in an AL ballpark. The Sox held onto the lead, but if LaRussa plans on removing the DH from games for defensive reasons, he may want to know the rules pertaining pitchers hitting. Also, you play in NL ball parks by NL rules every single year now. This isn't 1990. You need to know the rules in both leagues. It's not like they're that different.

I'm not sure how a runner on second changes those. I don't like 7 inning DH because the game was designed to guarantee three times through a batting order (27 outs), but I'm not sure what essential design is changed by starting a runner on second.

To be fair, didn't Latos have like a 5 FIP or worse? Most of these guys success are being backed up by their peripherals

I dont like the 7 inning DH or the extra innings rule, but this narrative that baseball hasn't changed in 120 years is complete nonsense. Mound height has changed. DH was added. Bullpen has changed. Shift has been implemented. People of color can play now. Strike zone was changed. Spit ball was removed. Save rule was added and changed. Free agency was added. Foul balls were made strikes. Teams were added. Ballpark dimension requirements changed

You haven't set the bar all that high in the past, but somehow you have come up well short of even that miniscule bar in this discussion. Bravo.

Beard could be a lot of fun. If he were to have a big offensive year he'd shoot up rankings with that speed.

The problem with Larussa is he may have forgotten more than you ever knew but he also has forgotten it all. The same larussa jock sniffers will blame everyone but Tony. Now it's MLB fault larussa doesn't know rules they told manager in spring lol

When Tony takes over October? Lol what does that even mean? I wasn't a part of spring training where managers were told clearly and multiple times about the rule so it would be hard to expect me to know it. You know?

I think that's safe to say!

Guys, I'm beginning to think OP's original post wasn't great.

?

I remember LaRussa putting the pitcher in the lineup earlier in the year in an AL-only game via a late game double switch. The Sox didn't blow the lead, so it didn't matter, but saying that this is an NL only rule or something, as an excuse, is nonsense. LaRussa has put his pitcher in a lineup before in an AL ballpark. He should know the rules.

Yes, he said he would do it again and doesn't regret it. The guy is lost.

Where all the Ricky haters at! Bring back Ricky!

Yeah, no. We'll agree to disagree. A steal attempt with Garcia decreases your expected runs there. Guy stole 15 bags in 600 AB's in 2019. Caught 5 times. Even picking his spots in 2019 perfectly he was caught 25% of the time. No point in arguing about it though.