Sox the "front-runners" for Imai

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

1 hour ago, Capn12 said:

OK, lets not confuse 'trying this offseason' and 'signing a guy to a short term deal because long term interest wasn't there from anyone'.

 

This is still the same organization, until at least 2029.

"Same organization" or worse in some respects since JR is a lot less likely to allow too much spending with the imminent work stoppage and and even more risk adverse than before to make sure his son's sale of the franchise to the Ishbia  family goes as smooth as possible. So bottom line concerns yes still the same or worse.

However the "trying"  part shouldnt be overlooked. Unless you're blind the progress is easy to see . Lots of wins behind the scenes that were unexpected with media darlings like Bannister , Venable, Rodriguez & perhaps Keller joining the front office and special emphasis on scouting & player development which paid off quickly with the Mune signing.

 The Shane Smith and Colson Montgomery on field success were mostly unexpected. Especially Montgomery who was being called a bust here by quite a few. Ryan Fuller was credited with taking Colson away from the expectations to perform in games and refocused him on his process. Also a win that motion capture/ analytics may have led to suggesting the torpedo bat. After that little switch it was bombs away. These are things that a bad team in a position to have some advantages took them and produced better than expected results. It gives me hope that whatever holes in Murakami's swing that frightened so many teams can be properly addressed by the Sox and we end up with a Thome or Schwarber type .Remember his power and exit velocities may have been muted by a very real dead ball era in Japan.

It's not as if having the Top Rule 5 had historically produced even good MLB players.

Hopefully the new DR Academy with Rodriguez and Keller in charge can produce some results in producing alternative sources of talent that the Sox well had always been dry  on (DR talent) much like the Pacific Rim well had also gone dry. So in some respects with the emphasis on building culture, communication, infrastructure and PD it's not the same old Sox. They are ramping up for the ownership change.