greg775

Tim deserves credit for playing through the sorrow he truly does. Now, a year later it can't be talked about any more. Life has to go on. I mean right now it's just a non-factor in his life. I mean we all lose people and a year later after the natural mourning period, you must move on or something seriously is wrong with Tim and he'll need serious professional help if he's still in deep mourning. I'm not trying to be insensitive. I felt for him as I did the Royals for losing Y. Ventura. Most of the Royals who had bad seasons revealed it indeed was because they were mourning a true friend and teammate. Best wishes to all, but again, if a year later you are still in mourning, please get serious professional help so you can get on with life.

My bad. I received incorrect info in the game thread and apparently it was fake news and he was hurt and not loafing. Hail Moncada.

One casualty of the rebuild is obviously Avi (unless his total regression is all about BABIP and Ricky's odd decision to bat him second). Avi obviously is giving away almost all his at bats with his new, horrendous, never draw a walk approach. Avi appears done and you can't tell me it's not partly because of how bad the team is and the resulting lack of focus.

You fans of the rebuild slay me. You give the GM such a break. You know how easy it is to tank/rebuild? You trade the only non-young "stars" you have (take your time and get the best haul possible), then suck as badly as you can for years. If you continue to suck you just say the rebuild is still going on. This is no way to run a sports franchise. Be as bad as you can be as you spend no money and wait for the draft(s). I'm telling you, this board could run a successful rebuild. Meanwhile the value of the franchise somehow keeps going up. Hahn gets pats on the back from everybody: the owner (can you imagine the profits with this payroll so low for years?), the partners, the fans and meanwhile the team is playing historically bad ball. WOW. Hahn has such a great life. The challenge is to win consistently without sucking for 10 or more years. Any one of us could take the best available prospect in the draft this June. Any one of us could have traded Sale and Q for hauls and made those other smaller trades. Hail to Hahn and all GMs for selling this tank stuff to owners/fans.

Yoan and Timmy seem kind of different personality wise, which is not a bad thing.

So Moncada makes one mistake (loafing), gets taken out of the game for it early on (which never happens). And there's not a word about this. We all forgive him. And Sale does the cutting up the uniform thing and he still is getting blasted for that. What's going on? For Ricky to take him out of a game for this, is kind of a big deal, folks. He is the guy who will be selling tickets. And he got reprimanded in a public way tonight. Not trying to cause a stink, just wondering why nobody's overreacting to what happened tonight between Ricky and Moncada.

Thanks guys. I guarantee you in real life you would find me normal and fairly quiet. I would want the Sox to win the game we are at even though the game means nothing right now for either KC or Sox. I probably would make some dumb predictions about what is about to happen in the game (but not as bad as the fatalist Indians Randy Quaid fan in Major league). I would ask more questions about the rebuild than act as if I know it all. On a message board you either go large or go home. You have to make your points, make 'em with conviction and go from there. Generally if the post is longer, somebody will take one line you make and misrepresent that one point, and all hell breaks loose after that.

I will do that. Man Buehrle, you are an incredible fan to fly in for this crap. What hotel u staying at? The one by the park or in the Plaza somewhere or Power and Light?

I'm pretty sure I'll be at a couple games this summer at The Cell. My mom is ill and it used to be when I came in I spent all my time with my mom and dad and sibs who didn't want to go to games. Now when I come in I can't spend all the time with my mom at assisted living place. I could spend all my time eating beef sandwiches at Bonos or Portillos in suburbia! Damn I love 'em. But Sox used to have great corned beef at the park. Probably still got it.

Should be interesting to see if the Moncadas and Andersons who got called up early in the tank/rebuild process progress or do what Moncada did tonight? Lose interest. This is complicated stuff. I guess when we have an outfield of Eloy, Rutherford and Robert and Collins at catcher and Burger at 3B with a real rotation of young studs, will be do or die time.

I dunno. Maybe if the weather gets better. I know I can't go Saturday.

One thing is sure. If he goes 2 or 3 innings and gives up 7 runs 7 walks next game, he's GOT to be sent down.

I don't mean to hide and change the subject, but another thing popped in Greg's head. This new way of building through tanking. Well the Royals tank was 20 years but that's besides the point. They reached 2 WS and won one of 'em which is fantastic and all that. They had a parade and they had all the fun times that go with being the best, etc. Now, however? Wow. They got no stars to trade. All they got for their current (next) rebuild will be draft picks. So KC is looking at its next contender in about 10 years since they don't sign free agents. WOW. So this era of tank ... you better win it all and enjoy all that and that best be enough cause you're looking at 2-3 years of excellence and WS contention, then 10 years of misery followed by 2-3 years of contention. I do not like the tank era. I like my way.

Sometimes these really tall pitchers have command problems. Randy Johnson to the rescue? For advice?

Not really stupid. So the players know it's a total rebuild, fine. When you are down 4-0 in the first and 8-0 after two, and lose 8 of every 10 games, you might lose focus and/or loaf. I stand by my statement. Why work the count if you are Avi? What does it matter if he walks? We're still losing by six or more most nights. So hack away and pop up or ground out. Just tell me you agree this is 'possible.' Thank u.

My heart breaks over the Farquar situation. If that's why we suck, I can understand it.

Hmmm. I know you guys despise Greg, but at least recognize my take is possibly true. You know, when a team is this bad, it "could" affect some players' desire to a.) hustle. b.) play proper baseball. For instance, I won't make excuses for Avi, but why draw a walk when it doesn't matter a bit?? Just hack away (and begin sucking as Avi has sucked all season). Meanwhile, a young stud like Moncada .... it takes a special Pete Rose type attitude about baseball to hustle all the time. Can you blame some young studs for either not hustling or totally losing focus (some of Anderson's errors)? My point is when you tank THIS BADLY, you better expect some shit to happen, like young guys being yanked from games for not hustling, guys never taking a walk, etc. Cause it's a team game and if the team is losing 8 of 10 games, what the frick difference does playing the game the right way make? Call me when we're good, and then I'll bust ass every minute of every game, Moncada could tell Ricky.

No offense to Engel, but it doesn't take a Tony LaRussa or Jim Leyland or Tom Lasorda to tell you Mr. Engel cannot hit. More Trayce; less Engel please!

Frankly I thought after winning the WS in 05 we'd dominate the division for a long time. The division sucks and is full of teams that don't spend money (though Detroit did for a while). I thought now that we reached the top of the game we could continue through free agency and trades when needed we could pull a Braves and make the playoffs every year for a long while. It's not my fault we had one of the worst managers in baseball history to replace Oz and the moves the team made via free agency were not good. There are more ways to win divisions/titles than to play the tank game.

Are you happy being out of the race with a week left in April?

Several of you could be the architects of a rebuild in the tank era. We had a couple superstar pieces we could deal in Sale and Q (many of you could have made similarly great trades). Meanwhile, all of us could build a team SO BAD that we get high high high draft picks for 5 years. And we look at the lists of the prospects and take a stab at picking the best available player. Meanwhile we acquire totally horseshit players to make sure we continue to get top draft picks. It's not that hard to construct a tank job rebuild. It's harder to do it the other way, have an organization of sustained excellence. Tell me you disagree that a few fans on here could not construct a rebuild this way?? We had a couple superstars to get the best possible haul for and you lose and lose and try to make the right draft picks. If you fail in that regard, who cares? You keep rebuilding as tank job/rebuilds are quite the popular rage.

My point is it didn't have to be this bad and you could still be rebuilding. This is insulting to any baseball fan. I can only hope the fans start booing and booing long and hard.

That's why Verlander should have thought of something wry or funny to say. He got the last laugh picking him off. He didn't need to explain the whole thing IMO, although I don't think he was that out of line in his explanation of why Timmy pissed him off.

Not a bad post. The unwritten rules ... there are so many of 'em to keep track of. If Verlander hits Tim with a pitch if/when the teams meet again ... immediate fight will ensue probably.