Texsox

I can see this as a good hire easier than I can see it as a disaster. Since we are predicting, I think he will be a welcome change from Oz. Instead of a "manage from the gut" we will get a more "by the book" manager. I think he will be more fair to players, avoiding the grudges and man-crushes that Ozzie had. Over all I feel confident he is an upgrade, perhaps even a major upgrade. And yes, I am guessing just like everyone else here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 7, 2011 -> 10:09 AM) Here's the current stats on the Tribune nonscientific poll. (Results not scientific) I'm embarrased a scientist such as yourself would even post that.

Visa owns our souls

Or perhaps Kenny used hiring Robin to motivate JR into getting rid of Ozzie. It could be possible that JR was not too open to one of the other potential candidates but became more enthusiastic when Robin was on the radar.

Does anyone see Robin as a reactionary, manage from the gut guy? I don't. I see him as the anti-Oz. He seems more of the personality of calculated and more "by the book". Yes, we're all guessing. But from watching him play, watching the few interviews and his TV work, I see him as more cerebral. I am at least willing to give him a huge chance. Personality wise, I much prefer him to Oz. I mentioned this before, much will depends on who he surrounds himself with. Coop will keep him out of too much trouble. With all the Walker hate, it will be hard to say he won't have an upgrade there. Hire a solid bench coach, one with experience, and I think it will work out better than Oz, and perhaps be the right fresh, new approach that will shake out a stale team.

On the bright side, it is Friday.

LTS?

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 7, 2011 -> 05:59 AM) People are really upset that this might signal we're not going "all in" the next few years? Consider me relieved and hopeful that the organization will take a step back and see that there's a need to rebuild. I know I've received some ribbing due to praising the Tigers so much, but there's no reason that they aren't the class of the AL Central the next 2-3 years. I'd rather the Sox hope for Dunn and Rios to rebound instead of trying to cover their mistakes by bringing in other high-priced guys. I believe their only hope is Dunn and Rios rebounding. They can't shed those salaries, they may be able to shed the players, but only if they pick up a ridiculous amount of salary. And I think this move shows that is the direction. If Robin manages "by the book" at a minimum it will mean those guys will be sitting a lot more than Oz sat them. That would be an addition. The "rebuilding" may simply be a couple painful years of basically the same 25 while their contracts fade away.

As many will remember I'm a Dem who isn't the biggest fans of unions. However, this seems like a decent win for America and the UAW. Link Ford will add 5,750 entry level jobs that pay $19 per hour. I think the per hour is a little high, but I am living in an area with a cheaper cost of living. I like that it calls for entry level positions, not some bloated middle management type at $100k/year. The company will also invest $4.8 billion in US facilities.

QUOTE (toasty @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 11:54 PM) Last I checked, radio personalities were employees of WSCR.... would they really want to bring on North? IIRC as part of the negotiations to be the Sox station the station has to agree to the announcers. The team would not want to sell the rights without that clause.

We've sat here for years watching Oz make some awful decisions. We are only guessing how Robin will manage, and clearly mostly here have decided he's going to be terrible. But terrible how? Making the same decisions as Oz? I don't believe he will. Of course I am guessing like everyone else. However, I believe his personality will be one of playing it safe. Following the traditional (stats friendly) route. I believe Robin is a follow the book not write the book kind of person. That could be a welcome breath of fresh air on the south side.

Will everyone be happier if he's making $2 million or more? You know, JR can't win with the salary.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 08:56 PM) What exactly has he done to earn the players respect? Worked his way up? Gained experience? Done anything to establish himself as wanting this job? Played the game honest and hard?

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 08:44 PM) Why is Cooper the problem? Probably no control over a major part of the team. The guy will get all the blame, and none of the credit, for the pitching staff.

There are a number of private residences that people will rent out during March. It's a good time for locals to take a vacation. So imagine your parents renting out your family home to college students on spring break. They can set some strict rules, and they will get families to rent their places. Safer for them.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 03:43 PM) So Im trying to plan a spring break trip for a bunch of seniors, and we thought South Padre Island, TX would be awesome to go to, so I found a great place on the beach for a reasonable price but when I emailed them for more details they said if we need a parent present, even though all of us would be 21. Im trying to keep the costs low, and renting a house seems like the best choice, but any ideas on how to convince them or alternatives for us? What week are you planning on coming down? There are a lot of rental companies, each with different standards. Being on the beach isn't really that important. From the bay to the surf, the width of the island, is less than a half mile. The entertainment district is the middle of the island and the bay side. Surf side is nice during the day, but seriously if you can walk a block or two, you are at the beach. Most condos only require 21, some will even go lower if a parent provides a credit card. I use to suggest a trip to Mexico, but with the cartel violence in Matamoros, I would not recommend it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) So if we hire a team full of midgets, we'd be great. That one guy had a career 1.000 OBP. Gotta play by the stats

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 08:24 PM) Can someone please tell me what Robin Ventura could have learned waving guys in from the 3rd base coach's box or holding elbow pads in the first base coach's box or sitting next to a manager telling him what he would do, that he in no way could have picked up all those years he played? What makes Ventura a worse candidate than Martinez or Alomar? Steve Phillips was on the radio and he was talking Dave Martinez. He said he would never hire him as a manager because he thinks he lacks presence. That's his opinion and could be way off, but Martinez has interviewed for a couple of jobs and apparently didn't do so well. No one is a guarantee, but I like Ventura's chances. Current knowledge of the opponents would come to mind. We have to hope he has good coaches around him to get the team prepared. The next few choices to round out his staff will be a good test. He has a very experienced pitching coach, if he adds some other good minds (Tex Winter types) he could do fine.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) Tex, what is your incessant need to consistently mock the posters on this board? It seems that every post of yours in PHT is of this nature. Can you ever add anything to the discussion without coming off like this? How is pointing out what people actually said mocking? The majority of posters could do a better job than Ozzie. Do we really think Robin is going to do worse than the average poster here? So I'm relaxing and feeling OK with the choice. But we also know from another poll that the average poster here could also be a better GM than KW, so maybe somewhere in there there is a possibility that Robin could be worse than Ozzie. But all he has to do to be a major upgrade is be as good as the average poster, doesn't that make you feel better about the pick?

I'm willing to give him a chance. Everyone here knows he's going to be the worst manager ever. But remember, a poll here showed that a majority of posters said they managed better than Oz, all Robin has to do is be as good as the average poster here and it's a major upgrade. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=81618

I can't believe all the people that said they just want someone to manage by the stats would be upset.

All he has to do is look at the stats and do what the stats tell him to do. He was a great presence in the locker room as a player, a team leader who gained the respect of his teamates. I am excited to see how he does. And, since Ozzie cost us about 15 games last year all he has to do is not be Oz and we're back in the hunt.

For about the past couple years it has been a green mug with a fairly large handle with a nested and scripted PA for UTPA, The University of Texas - Pan American. It was a gift from my bestee. For travel with home brewed coffee, it is a leather and stainless travel mug I received for donating to the Boy Scouts. For brewing up a mug while on the road it is a portable, thermal, french press that stores loose coffee in the bottom. Very handy as long as you have hot water.

And who made a greater impact on getting computers into homes, Apple and closed source, expensive hardware and software that was incompatible with anything else, or open source IBM which allowed computers at half the price?

I think it is much closer to thank him for operating a company where his engineers could develop all those neat new toys. And a fairly decent comparison would be Masaru Ibuka, and Akio Morita of Sony who invented the Walkman. That was the first truly portable device for listening to your choice of music. As cassettes changed to CDs then MP3s the style of devices changed, but it would be unrealistic to believe that Jobs gave us portable music players.