SCCWS

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 5, 2015 -> 02:00 PM) Just look at Jim Leyland's career. His first 4 years were very similar to Robin's. Then his players developed, they were great for a few year, became free agents, Leyland starts losing. Goes to the Marlins, they have good players they win 92 games, they sell everyone off, the next year they lose 108. Goes to Colorado, they lose 90, goes to Detroit, and he's good again. Except that Leyland's first year and team were awful and then they got better and won pennants years 5, 6, and 7. Robin's best year was his first and he has not been able to get them to .500 since. But I do think talent is more important than the manager. John Farrell went from 2 mediocre years in Toronto to a WS title in Boston to two bad seasons since. Is he a good manager or a bad one??? Guys like Leyland, Francona, Farrell, Torre, Ozzie etc have had bad years and have won titles. But there are a ton of managers who have never won a title even with good teams. I think the bigger question is can Robin and his coaching staff take a team to a playoff spot even if they have enough talent to do it. If a company has a product that isn't selling, they better either change the product or change the sales people. Especially since the product on the North side ia getting a whole lot of attention.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 5, 2015 -> 08:56 AM) But the question would be why would Theo have even hired Francona after the 4 year disaster in Philly? We have read here, no one would ever hire Robin, look at his record. Francona with crappy players is a dumb ass. Francona with Damon, and Papi, and Manny, and Youk in the line up and Pedro on the mound , is a genius. Curt Shilling had a big say in it. He played for Francona in Philly and the Red Sox wanted shilling to come to Boston.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 4, 2015 -> 01:35 PM) Managing terrible Phillies teams to 4 straight losing seasons, he was so awful that they had to fire him. Luckily, the Red Sox knew exactly when he would be a great manager (4 years later) and he won a World Series in his first year managing them. Oh, by the way, the team scored 949 runs. What you failed to include was that the team scored 961 the year before in 2003. Theo's first year also.

He must have his eye on the Baines spot............................

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) Yep, Betts quietly had a great year (5 WAR). I've said all along it would have to be a package of something like Betts, E. Rodriguez, Swihart and a good prospect. Unfortunately I don't think Boston would do something like that. But Dombrowski is more of a gunslinger than the previous regime so anything is possible. Betts besides the offense is a very good outfielder. But Bradley is considered a great outfielder and will push Betts to a corner next year. Add castillo and they have 3 young outfielders so they may trade one if FA market does not get them enough pitching. P)lus they have 2 solid young catchers as long as Vazuez comes back okay from TJ surgery. My guess is Hahn will trade elsewhere especially since the Avi trade did not go as well as expected w Dombrowski.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 08:24 AM) You look at the package Boston supposedly offered for King Felix. If the Sox got the same players for Sale, they have weakened their team. Yeah, you might not win keepimg Sale, but to think you would win trading him isn't logical. If the goal is to get an immediate boost in your farm system ranking, or you plan to suck for a few years, trade him. If you want to win games, and have the guy who starts game 1 of every playoff series on the roster, you keep him. With the contract he has, to pick up his production somewhere else, it would cost a fortune. I would not trade Sale. The reason is simple, you have other trade pieces. If a team offered a bundle for Sale, I would counter for a lesser bundle for Q or Rodon. But it may not cost a fortune to pick up Sale's production. For example, Boston has a bunch of young talented players--Bogaerts-Bradley-Betts-Vasquez-Swihart-Rodriguez all under similiar team friendly contracts. Now if Dombrowski offered 3 of them for Q I would jump at it. Unfortunately my guess is several of them have moved to the untouchable category as well.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 07:31 PM) Maddon is a good manager but the impact even a good manager can have on overall wins is pretty minimal. The Rays have won more games in 2015 than they did last year, and they made few changes in the off-season and were ravaged by injuries this year. They were ravaged by injuries last year and traded David Price at the All-Star break. Maddon had a good stretch w Tampa w numerous young players since they never went out and signed big free agents.

I am a White Sox fan living on the east coast. I also agree that managers get too much blame and credit. But I did see a good number of Tampa bay games in person the last few years and always thought Maddon got a lot out of a roster with limitations. I have not seen a single Cub game. But they had one hell of a reversal this season. I would think Maddon is a manager that has an impact.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) Same here. I'm more concerned with the 3B, C, SS and RF positions. RV coming back is absolutely unsurprising. Just a thought. Red Sox announced yesterday that John Farrell will most likely return as manager as long as his doctor gives the okay. That leaves interim manager Torey Lovullo as a prime candidate for managerial openings. He was mentioned w the Cubs opening and was runner-up in Texas and Minnesota. Did a great job w Boston the last few months especially w a roster loaded w young players. Not a big name but a pretty good resume and probably comes cheap ( hear that RH)

I think the Sox need to try and add an OF in the off-season. If they can add a solid bat w average defense, then you can play Avi/Melky/ Thompson and Eaton in the best allignment around that player. Melky or Avi should move to Dh and LaRoche to another team.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Sep 29, 2015 -> 08:34 AM) Absolutely not. We need the pitching depth. there are a few ML catchers who can hit anyway. Once again , trade Eaton. And if he's as good as everyone thinks he is, fantastic. That means we'll get more for him. Bad move. Eaton would bring you one player of value in return and open up a hole in CF and leadoff. Eaton and Abreu should be the only 2 guaranteed starters for next year. The rest of the positions could use changing or upgrading depending on the moves made. If in the course of upgrading they pick up a better CF you would move Eaton to left or right.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Sep 29, 2015 -> 12:47 AM) They have to replace Shark. In a year they have to replace Danks. Why would they also choose to trade Quintana. They would need 3 new starting pitchers in 2 seasons and are any of them going to be as good as Quintana? Nope. "We're going to need 2 new starting pitchers. Let's trade away Quintana too and replace with 3 pitchers who are all worse than Quintana." Does that make any sense or seem like a reasonably likely thing to happen? That makes no sense. Of course you are not going to trade him for 3 pitchers who are all worse. But would you trade him for a starting 3B and C or a SS and CF. If you can fill 2 offensive holes w players who can hit and defend in positions like 3B, SS C or Of in a trade w 1 or 2 good prospects then you really consider it.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 08:03 PM) It should be both, to be honest. Like, the Hamel package + Gallo is what it should have been. Agree. It should fill 2 of --3B-C-SS-OF w major league talent + 1-2 prospects. They should trade Q or Rodon and assume Fulmer fills the slot in 17.

QUOTE (AlSoxfan @ Sep 23, 2015 -> 12:51 PM) I thought Hahn did a pretty good job last off season as did most others. It seems though we have more holes to fill than we had previously. Our bullpen is much better than it was, so we have that but I'll take that with a grain of salt. Relief pitchers are often to hard to predict. The one thing I don't think Hahn even gave a thought to was defense. My favorite saying is "Pitching, defense and the three run home-run". We've got pitching but defense is about the worst in all of baseball an only 1 guy who can hit homers with any consistency, an thats not saying anything about the 2 guys on base needed to make it a 3 run homer. Steve Adams was asked what the biggest needs were for the Sox this winter, his response was as many have said "Add a real catcher and figure out second/third base. Improve the terrible defense. I'll admit I got a chuckle out of get a REAL catcher. How we improve without a top ten pick should be the same as how we improve with one. Many have said "dump the whole team and start from scratch", while I might agree, I don't see them doing that. Which leaves us patching holes via trades and a couple FA signings. I'm sure Hahn knows as well as we do what is needed. I do enjoy playing GM but at this point I'm stumped. Unless we trade from our strength..pitching, I fear we'll continue to be a bad team. I think we need to start with defense an go from there. I think offense is the top priority. The defense has been much better w the addition of S&S in the infield. In fact, I think Alexei has played better defense sine they arrived as well. But the problem is S&S are poor offensively. So I think they leave Sanchez where he is and go out and get some offense on 3rd. They also need to add an OF bat who can also field. I would think Q could bring back a quality 3B and OF in a trade.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 01:03 PM) They never said it but the "giving him extra rest and begging the AL All stars not to pitch him" sure made it sound like he was tired and dead-armed at that point, and a couple weeks later he had the worst stretch of his career. If we want him to win a cy young or compete with the rest of the league, that dead arm can't happen, and he's going to have to pitch >200 innings of high quality ball for either of those to happen. But I also worry that a pitcher w a dead arm is more susceptible to over-throwing and getting hurt. But I am not a medical person and there may be no danger.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Sep 23, 2015 -> 05:35 PM) Dodgers don't need another starter for Sale's price, think of teams requiring pitching: Boston, Texas, Colorado, Arizona. Those teams are more feasible trading partners I think Boston goes FA route probably after Price. I think they will try and unload Hanley and Panda and keep the young players at catcher and outfield. But maybe Dombroski loses out on Price and would take Q for some of their young talent.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Sep 21, 2015 -> 05:09 PM) I was going to post in the other game thread that I bet the second game lineup will be completely different. I even predicted all the guys in the lineup just not the right order What did EJ do to deserve that lineup??

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 19, 2015 -> 03:32 PM) Continue to very much disagree. Get him to 200 innings. He's still a guy who "building up his arm" is a good thing. The extra innings this year could very well be the reason why he avoids a dead arm period next year. My concern would be if he does have a dead arm, he is very competitive and may get hurt trying to over compensate. 200 innings is only a number. Other factors like # of starts in hot weather and number of stressful innings also affect total innings for a season. Hopefully FO is monitoring him.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Sep 19, 2015 -> 08:10 AM) I agree. Its a little strange since he isn't going to win Cy Young award any way. Last game we had posters thinking the Twins knew something that was tipping his pitchers. They must have shared w the Indians. I think he is just running out of gas down the stretch. He has had a hell of a season so I wish they would let him take it easy for the next few weeks. He is the franchise and they need to keep him healthy.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Sep 18, 2015 -> 01:16 PM) Except for tonight. I want Sale to get as many wins as possible. I could care less about his wins. I only want to see him come out healthy as well as the rest of the key players.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 16, 2015 -> 02:45 PM) Olt has not impressed and I think his hits with the Sox have all been singles. Defense has not been good. Webb is anyone's guess for 2016 and I will bet you the Sox still try and sign the Shark at a figure obviously below what he might have been looking at earlier in the season. I would ask why??? There were "rumors that Shark and Cooper do not get a long. If true, it might very well explain how Shark went from decent to horrible. If that is the reason, why would you bring him back since that would be a cancer in the clubhouse, especially w young pitchers.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 12, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) I think turning it into a year wide platoon based on which side you hit from is not making the best of it. The sox need to find players that can play, not piecemeal together random lineups every night. Outfield defense has to be resolved. Either Melky or Avi needs to be a DH more than an outfielder. The Sox need to acquire an outfielder who can hit and defend. For example, Boston now has 3 young outfielders hitting above .280 all of whom are above average defensively. Maybe Hahn could get one of them and one of their young catchers in exchange for pitching. At the trade deadline, I has proposed Q for Bradley and Swihart + prospects but my guess is Boston won't do that now that Dombrowski has taken over and Bradley has exploded.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 12, 2015 -> 01:03 AM) I believe there is a point of no return if you draft guys with deficiencies on how to play baseball. If they can't catch a baseball how is that going to improve at this level. They also need to stop getting free agents where Sept. is a relaxing time of year. Jones was outstanding on his return but he has really come back to earth.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 10, 2015 -> 12:01 AM) Let me put it this way. From what I hear the FO is relieved that Shark didn't take the deal that was on the table. That number has come and gone. If he wants a short term cheaper deal including a one year that's his only option with the white sox. If true, then I would assume the rift between Shark and Coop does not exist. Because there is no way the FO would want Shark back on a team with so many young pitchers. Imagine Coop trying to get Rodon to make changes while he knows Shark does not trust Coop's advice. Either that or Coop is on his way out.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 02:32 PM) Ok, "very" may have been a stretch. But I still like Alexei. I wouldn't argue if they declined the option and went with an internal option, but nothing on the FA market is better than Alexei. I bet that if the Sox decline the option, Alexei will come very close to matching that total in AAV, and will likely get a multi-year deal. Since mid June, Alexei has been "very" good, and that is more the ball player that I think he is. The dude is streaky, and likely will continue to be, but as I have already said, if the Sox are trying to compete for the division next year, Alexei gives them the best chance to do that, IMO. I also would like to see more of the young players. Could Thompson please play every day so we can see him against more righties. If he is going to really struggle against righties, he may not even 4th outfielder material. But so far he has done pretty good from both sides despite the majority against lefties. When ready Micah needs to play 2nd since Sanchez's average is dropping again. I guess Alexei is going to continue to get most of the reps at SS despite Saladino playing less to see Olt.