4 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I just know in my career that I’ve worked with smart / talented people who routinely need a push to give their best.  Moncada comes off as that type of player and I think Sleepy Tony La Russa’s management style was the worst possible fit for someone like Yoan.  IMO, hiring Grifor will help Moncada more than any player on the roster.  He gets who Moncada is based on his “need to get him back to walking 80 times a year” comment.  Yoan will never be a perfect player, but if we can turn him back into an OBP machine who provides plus defense at 3B he will be a 4 win player.

wRC+ and  wOBA I like, and I wonder how sacrificing power at 3B is sustainable if a team continues to struggle. Be that as it may, yeah walks. Pedro will be setting the energy example personally. That does seem to be the exact overall theme the team needs. They did show a different level of play when they realized the season was slipping away for sure. And then fell off a cliff when the math got impossible. Focus is a lot.

2 hours ago, Tnetennba said:

Maybe it’s all just PR fluff, but I like that Pedro is going out of his way to endear himself to fans and players alike.  Maybe they realised how bad TLR turned everyone off and it’s more for those reasons, but I still like the effort. 

I’m  guessing there was a collaborative realization of the divide with the fans, and that needs to be addressed. Pedro had the staged phone call with Eloy, but the lunch stuff was likely his own interpretation of how he wants to roll at this issue. And it may be perfectly natural for him to be out there in the streets with the fans like this. They can patch up the relationship, but I’m at the end of the day, the old man has left too many scars over the years on us to ever forget. There is a perception that JR has arrogantly  thrown the last 2 seasons down the toilet. That’s the dark cloud that Pedro has to work under. Which he may be well suited for.

I know a high school coach who has won many state championships.  If you were to watch his practices and the manner of talking, motivating, and kicking butt...you would know his team goes all out each and every day.  Some coaches can get the most out of their athletes.  Others...not so much.

33 minutes ago, Snopek said:

See that’s where it seems we’re interpreting things differently. I don’t see anyone saying that Yoan or any of these guys will magically be fixed by a Spanish speaking manager. It’s more of, this team and its players have so many issues and so many things that need to be improved upon, they need all the help they can get. And having a manager that (in theory) can communicate better with them should only help. How much? Who knows, but I think Grifol proving leadership as a Latino would, at worst, make no difference. But at best, could facilitate better communication, a better culture and clubhouse, and ultimately better performance.

I will submit to you, that good baseball culture has little to do with aligned ethnicity with the manager. Otherwise it would be impossible to look across MLB and explain how outcomes have been possible. If this was the case for the Sox, then we have some bad players that need to be launched imo.  But we Will agree to disagree.

I was watching something yesterwith Jon Greeberg from the Athletic. He interviewed Cairo, and Cairo told him Tony didn't ask his coaches for any opinions.  Cairo said they would give them to him anyway, but Tony always did his own thing.

22 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I was watching something yesterwith Jon Greeberg from the Athletic. He interviewed Cairo, and Cairo told him Tony didn't ask his coaches for any opinions.  Cairo said they would give them to him anyway, but Tony always did his own thing.

I guess you could say Tony wasn't a very good manager.  Who would have thought?

3 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

I was watching something yesterwith Jon Greeberg from the Athletic. He interviewed Cairo, and Cairo told him Tony didn't ask his coaches for any opinions.  Cairo said they would give them to him anyway, but Tony always did his own thing.

This is the least surprising ever after how the rules fail went in season 1.

16 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

I was watching something yesterwith Jon Greeberg from the Athletic. He interviewed Cairo, and Cairo told him Tony didn't ask his coaches for any opinions.  Cairo said they would give them to him anyway, but Tony always did his own thing.

This should come with zero surprise.  Even if anyone on staff offered insight or advice it fell on deaf ears.  TLR just did whatever his fermented HOF baseball person brain thought best regardless of how antiquated and or out of touch.  This was pretty obvious to anyone paying attention. 

Edited November 6, 20223 yr by Tnetennba

4 hours ago, Tnetennba said:

This should come with zero surprise.  Even if anyone on staff offered insight or advice it fell on deaf ears.  TLR just didn’t whatever his fermented HOF baseball person brain  thought best regardless of how antiquated and or out of touch.  This was pretty obvious to anyone paying attention. 

What a waste of 2 years. Glad that bozo is gone.

8 hours ago, Tnetennba said:

Even if anyone on staff offered insight or advice it fell on deaf ears.

Except for the “put Engle in” guy. ?

1 hour ago, hi8is said:

Except for the “put Engle in” guy. ?

Hire him as a coach.

 

From the same article...

Also interesting

I wish Fegan would spend the weekend calling the friends and relatives of Abreu and to find out how Jose went from untouchable club legend to the Sox not even giving him the courtesy of silence, by publicly removing themselves from his contract negotiation process.    

42 minutes ago, GREEDY said:

I wish Fegan would spend the weekend calling the friends and relatives of Abreu and to find out how Jose went from untouchable club legend to the Sox not even giving him the courtesy of silence, by publicly removing themselves from his contract negotiation process.    

Its really not that difficult of a situation to figure out.  It is actually quite simple, really.  

48 minutes ago, GREEDY said:

I wish Fegan would spend the weekend calling the friends and relatives of Abreu and to find out how Jose went from untouchable club legend to the Sox not even giving him the courtesy of silence, by publicly removing themselves from his contract negotiation process.    

Personally I think it is pretty clear that both sides spoke long ago about this situation, but maybe that is just me.

29 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Personally I think it is pretty clear that both sides spoke long ago about this situation, but maybe that is just me.

Jose's comments during spring training seems to indicate the Sox let him know back then how this was most likely to go down.

On 11/5/2022 at 12:22 PM, poppysox said:

I know a high school coach who has won many state championships.  If you were to watch his practices and the manner of talking, motivating, and kicking butt...you would know his team goes all out each and every day.  Some coaches can get the most out of their athletes.  Others...not so much.

The best ones realize what motivates a 17 year old high school kids living with his parents is different than what motivates a 25 year old millionaire with a family to support. 

2 hours ago, Texsox said:

The best ones realize what motivates a 17 year old high school kids living with his parents is different than what motivates a 25 year old millionaire with a family to support. 

I don't know what motivates a 25-year-old millionaire.  I do know that many companies hire the individual I am speaking about to do motivational presentations to their executive adult employees.

1 hour ago, poppysox said:

I don't know what motivates a 25-year-old millionaire.  I do know that many companies hire the individual I am speaking about to do motivational presentations to their executive adult employees.

Like I said the best ones know their audience and can adjust. Just like some college coaches make the pro adjustment and some can't. 

39 minutes ago, Texsox said:

Like I said the best ones know their audience and can adjust. Just like some college coaches make the pro adjustment and some can't. 

Pedro is showing signs of being a good motivational communicator IMO.  His phone call with Eloy was quite good.  I am aware that it was in all probability staged...but lots of people couldn't have pulled it off as well.

On 11/7/2022 at 10:47 AM, GREEDY said:

I wish Fegan would spend the weekend calling the friends and relatives of Abreu and to find out how Jose went from untouchable club legend to the Sox not even giving him the courtesy of silence, by publicly removing themselves from his contract negotiation process.    

No matter how popular Jose is with both fans and the other players, you 100% can't justify re-signing him when you still have both Eloy and Vaughn on the roster.

Now, if some team were to somehow come along and blow the Sox away with a trade offer for one of those other two guys BEFORE Jose has signed somewhere else, that would change things, but I see that as pretty unlikely.

1 minute ago, CentralChamps21 said:

No matter how popular Jose is with both fans and the other players, you 100% can't justify re-signing him when you still have both Eloy and Vaughn on the roster.

Now, if some team were to somehow come along and blow the Sox away with a trade offer for one of those other two guys BEFORE Jose has signed somewhere else, that would change things, but I see that as pretty unlikely.

The more likely scenario would be Reinsdorf being willing to put out extra money on the payroll for Abreu to be kept, and that motivates them to move Vaughn. 

6 minutes ago, CentralChamps21 said:

No matter how popular Jose is with both fans and the other players, you 100% can't justify re-signing him when you still have both Eloy and Vaughn on the roster.

Now, if some team were to somehow come along and blow the Sox away with a trade offer for one of those other two guys BEFORE Jose has signed somewhere else, that would change things, but I see that as pretty unlikely.

I actually think the Sox are better with Eloy and Vaughn than Eloy or Vaughn and Abreu.