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Just a reminder Jirschele is a 30 year old manager of an A ball team. There aren't many places he'd do better than here.

La Russa to Danny Mendick in spring training

There are three areas of concern for me: Number 1) The drama and conflict that follows TLR teams Number 2) The prospect of TLR going around Hahn / Scouting to make player requests Number 3) Tim Anderson's thoughts. That dude should have been able to hand pick the manager imo. Numbers 2/3 I think can be mitigated and we'd hear pretty soon. but we are definitely going to live with #1.

Yes, I'd feel better if we see sox PD guys get onto the field so there is some greater connection between our PD/analytics and on field development. Really had dreams of getting the UMich pitching coach, that ain't happening. Worst case scenario: a bunch of TLR buddies come back. And the spending, hoo baby that'd be nice. Really starting to think if sox were given greenlight to expand payroll this offseason it could be like buying up the loop after the chicago fire (that said, feel terrible for the players that are FA this year, but better sox spend for them than not)

This is just incredible work, this is an excellent resource to guide gatherings in winter or tough decisions you may have to make: https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html?ssm=TW_CC

And if you getting overruled in one place buys you favor in another, I would take getting overruled on the manager position if it meant getting more money for FAs. That said, I don't want this to be construed as supporting how JR is pushing this.

when your that old your nuts always tend to be resting on one line or another.

This is right. As for your second paragraph, I agree. OTOH, he was part of two extended runs of successful teams and was never thought of as a piece holding them back. Probably best you can do as a manager.

Yeah we aren’t doing this.

Good stuff. There are certainly ways to make this work, I just worry about TLRs ego in actually accepting it.

I mean, bragging about something you won’t execute is really the Hahn special

Why don’t people ever choose Thome? He’d be way better.

Yeah this. It is the open thing now so obviously we are focusing on it, but it’s just a manager.

I think everyone is okay to be mad, just for me ... It’s still just a manager. I just don’t like the distraction from the rest of the team. But it will fade and he’ll just be a bad interview at the end of games we can ignore.

Lol do you remember who beat out Ozzie Smith?

This is what worries me. I don't think it's Billy Martin level, but his teams had drama. JR seems to think conflict is good on teams since he's always had it. (This guy is a whiner but lined up with some of what I remember): https://redbirdrants.com/2011/01/01/the-tony-larussa-problem/ " CATFIGHTS AND CLIQUES A baseball team should be like a fraternity. The guys on that team should be like brothers, a close-knit group that sticks together through individual and team-related troubles. They should cheer for each other, weep with each other, party together, and support one another. However, LaRussa’s teams almost always resemble a sorority; gossipy, cliquish, divided, tense, jealous, and uncomfortable. This is almost entirely LaRussa’s fault, as his personality and tendency toward favoritism cultivates this type of atmosphere. The number of players emotionally and professionally mutilated or destroyed by a LaRussa clubhouse is disturbing. The fight list seems endless: Ozzie Smith (who has avoided the franchise because of LaRussa), J.D. Drew, Anthony Reyes, Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds … these big stars just couldn’t seem to get along with the man. But 2010 was LaRussa’s masterwork of destructive emotional debris. In one short season he managed to fight with Ryan Ludwick (who was then shipped off), Brendan Ryan, and Colby Rasmus. The Rasmus situation was most telling about the atmosphere of a LaRussa clubhouse. During the September revelations of a rift between LaRussa and Rasmus, it was revealed that Pujols took the young man aside to talk to him, and that it was the first time the two had really talked in the year and a half that Colby had been on the team. HUH? The only logical explanation is that Pujols, playing favorites, sided with his manager’s dislike of Rasmus and his pedigree and ignored the kid. No major league clubhouse that expects to win can have a heavy atmosphere of resentment and mistrust. We can see LaRussa’s withholding of emotion in the day to day efforts of the team. Striving to be cooly professional all the time, the team generally lacks fire when it counts. This leads to limp playoff appearances, where the team settles into a chilled and tense mode that stifles any spirit. The best example of this came in the ninth inning of the 2005 playoffs when Pujols hit that monster three run homer off of Brad Lidge. When Pujols arrived at the plate, there was nary a celebration among the Cardinals players; they just clapped and moved on. No truly successful team has such a complete lack of fire and enthusiasm with the game on the line. This lack of emotional center comes directly from LaRussa."

Pujols did it quite a bit honestly. There are certainly more now. I think TLR will let his guys do it, more worried about him retaliating to be honest. You go through that clip (i kept watching) and it's quite a lot of oakland As (henderson) and cardinals (pujols). They've certainly accelerated since that Blue Jays/Rangers series but it's not like Tim does it every time.

And this is more of a staredown and doesn't count but my god I can't imagine ever seeing a harder hit home run

didn't quite nail the clip, more like starts at 3:05

tooollllddd yaaaaa (that said, I disagree, Bauer's gonna go whomever "respects" him most with the deal)

Wong officially a FA. 2b free agents Lemahieu Wong Villar La Stella Hernandez Profar Schoop Depth - M Gonzalez, Iglesias... And that's not even including possible 2b signees like Gregorius and Semien (and obviously Simmons)

No, no hard disagree. Managers alone win world series.

Well Francona didn't manage, so

I don't even understand this. I know Dave was laid off recently, but if he's not on the staff, is this that big of a deal that Duncan is on the sox? He was ... already on the sox for the last few years.

Honestly this just reads like you are putting your own idea in La Russa's mouth, because his on record comments show that in game it is not a combination of the two, even if he may be using it for lineups or development outside it. If he says this is how he'll manage it's not really controversial, that is how a lot of those managers say they manage, even the hinch's etc. That their knowledge of the players fatigue, form, etc are as important as analytics in any scenario.