southsider2k5

Especially with what the last year and a quarter has looked like.

Tony LaRussa Dick S.....

FS on the short season teams.

He was actually a plus pick in the 14th round who got over slot at $130k.

This makes me really happy. Can't wait to see him state side.

That's just it. I see an entire team under-performing, and giving some of the worst defensive production I have ever seen from a team with World Series aspirations, under a manager who was supposed to have everyone playing "the right way", and it seems WAAAAY too coincidental to all be happening at once. Jose Abreu talking about leaving. Tim Anderson playing defense worse than he did as a rookie. Almost every single hitter we have is having one of their worst starts ever. The pen is just a dumpster fire, even the guys who have histories of pitching well are having extremely bad outings way more often than their histories would indicate they should. You see this as 26 coincidences. I see it as 1. Why is everyone failing all at once? This is literally Tony's job.

Wait, what? No. Zero chance. Don't waste you wonderment on it.

This is the one part I would agree with, though for the exact opposite reasons you do.

It is. He can be back June 6.

He's got stuff, but you can see the inconsistency in it. He needs repetitions to be able to lock in his stuff. He did flash MLB SP stuff though,

One's a bit less scared.

You say that like they shouldn't have won more with the talent they had. Or you know, won a playoff series?

I am also going to say this outloud. The last two years have made me miss Kenny Williams. Love him or hate him, he was not afraid to go get a guy he thought could put the team over the top. If he had been running this ship the last two years, he WOULD have gotten a home run piece. He might have paid too much, or might have given up the wrong players to get him, but he would have swung for the fences, instead of trying to poke it through the hole the other way like Hahn.

While his failings get a lot of attention, it feels like he is usually right on those risky sends.

Nolasco looks like he was a mediocre DSL guy last year

I am really hoping that this year is an indication that player development is starting to catch up with the rest of the league. Seems like a lot of great stories so far, and some from unexpected players.

I know.

And for the record, as soon as the free agent compensation deadline passes, my first call would still be to Conforto. Check in and see if a longer term deal could be worked out and kick him a few bucks this season to grease the wheels of getting a contract done.

Seems like a huge red flag for the guy who has talked about being here forever, to all of the sudden to be talking about leaving. Then the whole team has looked like they don't want to be here.

Here's the thing I don't get. They saw that they needed to be deeper in pitching, especially in the pen. They obvious knew that starters weren't going to go as deep for a lot of the season, and that injuries could be a thing. But with the line up, they didn't seem to factor in that the same thing could/would happen. They seemed scared to add a legitimate starting position player. I have seen the justifications for not adding Conforto and yes the fans didn't know that. +1 for Rick. But the rest of the off-season was a contest to see what the absolute minimum they could do to fill a roster was. While the rest of baseball was adding to loaded rosters, the Sox acted like they had won 105 games last year and made the World Series and were a bench player away.

If you told me that Jerry would only allow Tony or Ozzie to manage the team, and I have to make the choice, I would pick Ozzie and run out of the room laughing and giggling for joy.