1 hour ago, soulfly said:

Yep, let's take the guy that the Royals passed over twice to be manager.  This really does seem like none of the big names really wanted to come here and the Sox took what they can get.

 

But again, it doesn't matter much because Hahn is still driving the bus.  This screams, get ready for the rebuild years.  Again.

While the 2nd paragraph is a grave concern, I don't find the Royals' decision to pass him over particularly troubling.  After all, they are the Royals.

I thought I heard his family is Cuban so maybe he will be a good mentor to the Cuban corps. I am psyched for Colas to break out. 

1 hour ago, GreenSox said:

While the 2nd paragraph is a grave concern, I don't find the Royals' decision to pass him over particularly troubling.  After all, they are the Royals.

Danny Parkins said on his show that he was told that the new KC owner mandated an outside hire at manager 

2 hours ago, Vote4Pedro said:

No idea missed that part of the conversation, just logged onto twitter and seems to be a lot of tweets out there with a hard no that TLR was not involved 

 

 

This is how we ended up with Buddy Bell and Mark Teahen.

Does it really matter at this point? We have a payroll dominated by relief and starting pitchers that we are stuck with, an 18 million dollar catcher not worth 5 million, players that are constantly on  IR OR DL list. Robert, Jimenez, Kelly, Engel, Moncada now Anderson got hurt. Yasmani and Moncadas contracts are not tradeable. They won’t play Corlas and give him a chance. We are loaded with 1st basemen and DH’s. We’re not going to resign Cueto or Andrus. Andrus could have solved the 2nd base problem for at least this year. Diekman and Kelly are a waste of money.  We still have no legit right fielder or second basemen. Not going to resign Abreu. Super Joe piece of crap 3rd base coach still around, is Frank M still the hitting coach? Are the bullshit training staff that don’t know how to get players ready still around. We get bigge4 problems then Pedro. Terry Francona if everything stayed the same would have the same record as Pedro. Believe me I hope I’m wrong. 

Edited November 2, 20223 yr by AJ'S Cousin

This should be pinned at the top of the page when Hahn apologists claim he wasn’t totally onboard with Grifol…

4 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

This should be pinned at the top of the page when Hahn apologists claim he wasn’t totally onboard with Grifol…

He's tied to this manager. 

If Grifol doesn't work out, Hahn needs to be shown the door.

3 hours ago, Sarava said:

Yesterday I posted that i didn't want Grifol hired. I've had a change of heart. I'm good with this. Now Rick Hahn needs to do some serious roster repair this winter.

RH already said "we're not throwing money at the problem" (i.e. Tony already signed too many garbage relievers to long term immovable deals so all we can do under current budget is make small changes here and there even though any RHP worth his salt will shred the lineup. Again.".

Ofcourse Philly "threw money at the problem" and signed multiple savages and now they are in the World Series. 

Spoke to his homeroom teacher from Cienfuegos. He was the best speller in class and always cleaned the blackboard. Would often steal signs. 

38 minutes ago, SoCalChiSox said:

RH already said "we're not throwing money at the problem" (i.e. Tony already signed too many garbage relievers to long term immovable deals so all we can do under current budget is make small changes here and there even though any RHP worth his salt will shred the lineup. Again.".

Ofcourse Philly "threw money at the problem" and signed multiple savages and now they are in the World Series. 

Two of the players almost everyone here were pining for as well. ?

7 hours ago, SoCalChiSox said:

RH already said "we're not throwing money at the problem" (i.e. Tony already signed too many garbage relievers to long term immovable deals so all we can do under current budget is make small changes here and there even though any RHP worth his salt will shred the lineup. Again.".

Ofcourse Philly "threw money at the problem" and signed multiple savages and now they are in the World Series. 

Rick Hahn is overdue for winning some trades that aren't for highly touted prospects. 

And for Philly - yeah it stings watching Harper and Schrwarber kill it for them. They both could have been here. Schwarbs wasn't even that expensive.

18 minutes ago, Sarava said:

Rick Hahn is overdue for winning some trades that aren't for highly touted prospects. 

And for Philly - yeah it stings watching Harper and Schrwarber kill it for them. They both could have been here. Schwarbs wasn't even that expensive.

What’s funny is the Phillies did a poor job of developing their core, but went out and got the necessary pieces to supplement (four of their top five players this year based on fWAR were acquired via trade or FA).  If Rick Hahn was just better at capital allocation and focused on adding impact talent we’d be a monster now.  We could basically have Harper & Wheeler right now and it would only cost us Keuchel, Pollock, Velasquez, Kelly, & Leury.  Unfortunately Hahn and his staff couldn’t build an effective farm system and used free agency as a crutch to add depth that more times than not brings little value to the table.

10 hours ago, AJ'S Cousin said:

Does it really matter at this point? We have a payroll dominated by relief and starting pitchers that we are stuck with, an 18 million dollar catcher not worth 5 million, players that are constantly on  IR OR DL list. Robert, Jimenez, Kelly, Engel, Moncada now Anderson got hurt. Yasmani and Moncadas contracts are not tradeable. They won’t play Corlas and give him a chance. We are loaded with 1st basemen and DH’s. We’re not going to resign Cueto or Andrus. Andrus could have solved the 2nd base problem for at least this year. Diekman and Kelly are a waste of money.  We still have no legit right fielder or second basemen. Not going to resign Abreu. Super Joe piece of crap 3rd base coach still around, is Frank M still the hitting coach? Are the bullshit training staff that don’t know how to get players ready still around. We get bigge4 problems then Pedro. Terry Francona if everything stayed the same would have the same record as Pedro. Believe me I hope I’m wrong. 

My guess is that Grandal is a PUP candidate. They might need a veteran catcher at this point. I don't think Joe and DBo got an invite for next year.

10 hours ago, AJ'S Cousin said:

Does it really matter at this point? We have a payroll dominated by relief and starting pitchers that we are stuck with, an 18 million dollar catcher not worth 5 million, players that are constantly on  IR OR DL list. Robert, Jimenez, Kelly, Engel, Moncada now Anderson got hurt. Yasmani and Moncadas contracts are not tradeable. They won’t play Corlas and give him a chance. We are loaded with 1st basemen and DH’s. We’re not going to resign Cueto or Andrus. Andrus could have solved the 2nd base problem for at least this year. Diekman and Kelly are a waste of money.  We still have no legit right fielder or second basemen. Not going to resign Abreu. Super Joe piece of crap 3rd base coach still around, is Frank M still the hitting coach? Are the bullshit training staff that don’t know how to get players ready still around. We get bigge4 problems then Pedro. Terry Francona if everything stayed the same would have the same record as Pedro. Believe me I hope I’m wrong. 

It's puppies and rainbows time.  Reality will set in soon just how far away they are from the elite teams in the league.  They would get curb stomped by every team in the playoffs.  

12 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

Think how crazy this is, Kevin Long was a popular Soxtalk candidate.  If the Phillies did exactly the same as they did this year, but they played by 2021 rules, they don't make the playoffs,  so the same guy some would be doing an Irish jig if they hired now would be bitching about settling. 

You keep saying this but the reason he came to prominence is his work with the nationals and especially the turn around with Schwarber. (Nationals won in 2019 btw)

Maybe just because you were ignorant doesn’t mean everyone was.

I don’t know, maybe after all our star young players turned into offensive pumpkins that could be a popular profile.

But DA knows best, if anyone ever likes something, it must be wrong.

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

What’s funny is the Phillies did a poor job of developing their core, but went out and got the necessary pieces to supplement (four of their top five players this year based on fWAR were acquired via trade or FA).  If Rick Hahn was just better at capital allocation and focused on adding impact talent we’d be a monster now.  We could basically have Harper & Wheeler right now and it would only cost us Keuchel, Pollock, Velasquez, Kelly, & Leury.  Unfortunately Hahn and his staff couldn’t build an effective farm system and used free agency as a crutch to add depth that more times than not brings little value to the table.

yeah, roster/budget management since we accrued the “core” has been atrocious. i have no idea what they are trying to do and it’s a way bigger issue than who’s sitting in the dugout (unless tlr was somehow responsible for overallocating resources on the bullpen and over-the-hill vets).

Unfortunate that the shift goes away the same time the Sox get a guy who appears to be an expert on the matter.

Even so, a guy who's heavy into analytics is very encouraging.

Hiring a guy who's not a "loyalty" hire is huge as well. That, combined with the hopefully-true reports that the coaching staff aside from Katz and Hickey is gone, tells me that JR has finally abandoned his insistence on legacy hires, possibly due to getting soft in his old age or possibly due to seeing what a disaster TLR caused.

While it's a nice start, it doesn't mean anything if there's no solid player moves to back it up. Grifol might win 86-88 games with this roster instead of 81, but that's not good enough.

1 hour ago, bmags said:

You keep saying this but the reason he came to prominence is his work with the nationals and especially the turn around with Schwarber. (Nationals won in 2019 btw)

Maybe just because you were ignorant doesn’t mean everyone was.

I don’t know, maybe after all our star young players turned into offensive pumpkins that could be a popular profile.

But DA knows best, if anyone ever likes something, it must be wrong.

If Kevin Long was the hitting coach of a non playoff team, he wouldn't have been a Soxtalk darling. The point is, so much is put into what team these guys are coaching, and they have very little to do with a team totally sucking. He also would probably have never be mentioned by the national guys as a candidate either.

Edited November 2, 20223 yr by Dick Allen

1 hour ago, pcq said:

My guess is that Grandal is a PUP candidate. They might need a veteran catcher at this point. I don't think Joe and DBo got an invite for next year.

No way we are that lucky. With a few months to rest Yaz will be at spring training to collect that paycheck. We have to hope he can catch part time vs righties and the shift ban turns him back into a somewhat useful hitter. Or perhaps there’s a trade out there for an equally bad contract, but kinda doubt that…

54 minutes ago, Harold's Leg Lift said:

It's puppies and rainbows time.  Reality will set in soon just how far away they are from the elite teams in the league.  They would get curb stomped by every team in the playoffs.  

Yeah, a new manager and new coaches is a step.  A step up a steep mountain.  The Sox can either make some tough decisions and massively overhaul the roster (and spend money), or they can twiddle around and spend money on crap like they have been doing.  I don't see huge changes coming, but it's the only way to put together a team that could even hope to compete with the perennial playoff teams.

4 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

If Kevin Long was the hitting coach of a non playoff team, he wouldn't have been a Soxtalk darling. The point is, so much is put into what team these guys are coaching, and they have very little to do with a team totally sucking.

If Kevin Long was given very prominent press for helping turn around Schwarber into one of the best home run hitters in baseball, and then move to the phillies where the slugging of Schwarber helped keep them afloat while Harper was injured, yes, not many would want him.

But those things did happen and that's why people like him.

also this very famous moment:

(Kevin Long and Juan Soto travel to dodgers playoff game last year to cheer on Max Scherzer)

It really is okay to like someone.

And if the manager doesn't have as much control of success as you like, why do you care if people want someone they like in the role of manager? 

3 minutes ago, bmags said:

If Kevin Long was given very prominent press for helping turn around Schwarber into one of the best home run hitters in baseball, and then move to the phillies where the slugging of Schwarber helped keep them afloat while Harper was injured, yes, not many would want him.

But those things did happen and that's why people like him.

also this very famous moment:

(Kevin Long and Juan Soto travel to dodgers playoff game last year to cheer on Max Scherzer)

It really is okay to like someone.

And if the manager doesn't have as much control of success as you like, why do you care if people want someone they like in the role of manager? 

Kevin Long made Kyle Schwarber? Schwarbers OPS this year was below his career OPS. He was basically just doing what he always does. 

 

Nothing wrong with liking Kevin Long. I thought he was getting the job and wasn't pissed off about it. 

I thought PUP List was NFL terminology.

4 minutes ago, oldsox said:

I thought PUP List was NFL terminology.

It is. But I'm sure he means not able to play. IL the entire year, insurance picks of at least most of the tab.

17 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

It isn't going to solve everything that is wrong with the team, but if he can hold their attention and get them mostly back to their career norms, it solves about 85-90% of the problems.

More like an unknown % to me but closer to under 5%. What are career norms for guys who have been injured most of their careers like Eloy, Crochet, Bummer and Robert or have been wildly inconsistent or in their mid 30's like Lynn, Hendriks, Pollock,Kelly,Grandal,Diekman.

Cueto and Andrus are free agents as is Harrison. What about Abreu ? Are career norms good for the OF defense with Vaughn and Sheets? Giolito's had 2 bad years and 3 good. Engel and Garcia are non factors. Cease is rising but Kopech we don't know how he will progress. Velasquez, Ruiz, Lambert. Davis Martin just starting his career. Romy, Sosa, Burger  whats next for them ? The lone prospect , Colas,who has immediate promise, they didn't want to bring up in a pennant race and may not bring up till May.

You are wildly over estimating the talent on this team. Still need LHH, power, starting and relief pitching, younger players,depth and better defense. The roster is still vastly flawed. Most departments are still in the dark ages. There's no room on the payroll. Hahn is still Hahn and Jerry is still Jerry.