GM - Managerial Changes/ Speculation

[Edgy MD]

I would certainly lean toward White Sox fanmanship if they brought back the player-manager.

[metirish]

Reports have Epstein this close to joining the Cubs.

[ashie62]

Reports like this...

http://eye-on-baseball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/32667539

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Epstein to the Cubs, Cashman to the Bosox would be pretty funny.

MFYs haven't begun negotiations with Cashman yet, his contract expires Oct. 31.

[Frayed Knot]

All in all not a great month for Sawx fans, huh?

I think if one were to go through Epstein's tenure you'd find his trades, drafts & development have worked out well: Pedroia, Gozalez, Youkilis, Ellsbury, Bard, Papelbon, Buchholz, Lester, etc.,
but the bigger FA signings have been at best spotty and at worst terrible: Drew, Crawford, Lackey, Matsuzaka

[Edgy MD]

That Julio Lugo deal sure made the Castillo contract look good.

Who is rumored to inherit the Sox job?

[Benjamin Grimm]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

i know what you're sayin'.

[Edgy MD]

Adam Rubin reports that Buster Olney reports, that J.P. Ricciardi, special assistant to Sandy Alderson, is a finalist for the Orioles GM job. Also in the final heat with Mets DNA is Gerry Hunsicker (currently senior vice presidentof baseball operations for Tampa Bay). Rounding out the field are Josh Byrnes (Padres, vice president of baseball operations, was in the mix for the Mets job last year, I think), Thad Levine (Rangers) assistant general manager), Tony LaCava (Blue Jays, vice president of baseball operations and assistant general manager), and Dan Jennings (assistant GM, Marlins).

I'd guessing LaCava gets the job. He and Jennings have been long-time candidates for the big chair, but have been passed over. But being in the division, he likely knows the personnel best.

On the other hand, the O's have a history of going with experience. They also have a history of dividing up the front office jobs to the point where it's unclear who answers to whom.

[TransMonk]

Official, 5 years, $15M:

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/21147021/dc-theo-has-5-year-deal-cubs

Edited October 12, 2011 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Wowser.

Does Beane finally take the Boston job and ruin the end of his own movie?

[metirish]

One thing about the Cubs, they spend money like drunken sailors.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The Bosox see Theo's deputy Ben Cherington as the heir apparent.

[Frayed Knot]

TransMonk wrote: Official, 5 years, $15M: http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/21147021/dc-theo-has-5-year-deal-cubs

Not that a talk radio host saying it's a done deal makes it a done deal, but, yeah, this sounds pretty much like a done deal.

All this comes amid reports floating around Boston of an out of control clubhouse which included pitchers eating, drinking & video gaming during games, as well as a manager possibly distracted by marital problems (Francona and long-time wife have apparently separated) and/or prescription pain pills (prescribed for various knee surgeries.

[bmfc1]

This is the story that FK mentions:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2011/10/12/red_sox_unity_dedication_dissolved_during_epic_late_season_collapse/

[Guest attgig]

cubs will also be paying another 3.5 mil to the bosox for hiring him.

[Edgy MD]

That article is impressive.

[Edgy MD]

I know it's almost unworkable, but I'd like ballplayers to live in the world I do, where their so-called superiors have more salary/job security than they do.

[metirish]

Edgy DC wrote: That article is impressive.

excellent insight to the goings on up there.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

metirish wrote: Edgy DC wrote: That article is impressive. excellent insight to the goings on up there.

Yeah, that's a haul.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy DC wrote: Adam Rubin reports that Buster Olney reports...

Was in Baltimore over the weekend, saw Ricciardi's name in the Sun regarding GM candidates. Wonder if "Olney reports" (or whoever) generally means "read the local paper online."

[metirish]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That article is impressive. excellent insight to the goings on up there. Yeah, that's a haul.

Olbermann claims it's a smear job

http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2011/10/12/the-curse-of-the-lucchino/

[bmfc1]

Remember the line in a Heyman column where some Red Sox spokesperson said something like "It's not like we're the Mets." That's true; Red Sox ownership is slimier.

[Frayed Knot]

Remembering the first time Theo left -- http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/1600/f1_t1641.shtml

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: That article is impressive.

Insofar as a lot of feces hurled at a wall tends to leave an impression. Very little of it tends to stick, though.

[Edgy MD]

Oooh, disagreement.

I don't think it's a hatchet job. Folks made accusations, he sought confirmation, and he gave the guys accused more than adequate chance to respond.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Bringing up the painkiller/personal strife stuff after Francona exits seems particularly distasteful-- regardless of whether it's true, it's less pertinent than it is vengeful. But the other stuff-- Fried chicken in the clubhouse! Players being tired... and vocal about it! Nobody left over from 200-fucking 4! The guys -- is even less useful, and echoes the dumb stuff we saw in the Post and Snooze in 2007, only with less real meat.

Whether or not he did his due diligence, Hohler seems to have essentially taken dictation from upper management; the piece slings blame in about a thousand different directions but one, while building no real case. ("We're still not sure what happened," in essence, "but here's some stuff that did.") If there's no player response, well... Christ, these are their bosses talking, y'know?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I dunno, I think if a manager presiding over a mutinous underachieving team responsible for the 3rd worst collapse in baseball history was addicted to painkillers while it happened it is pertinent.

Certainly a lot of bad shit going down there, really disappointed to see Wakefield, Youkilis and Varitek considered a part of it.

[Edgy MD]

The team collapsed and their heroic manager and general manager are gone. Somebody is going to write a post-mortem on that. It was going to be filled with innuendo and insinuation. This was more responsible than most every other article would be.

I came out with nothing but compassion for Francona.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Their heroic manager and GM are gone, and both are laded with copious, scattershot blame (the likes of which were smeared all over Pedro's and Manny's shadows as they left town). Francona's marital problems and "drug abuse" and caring about his son are raised as possible causes absent backup (and summarily dismissed) during the week following his being fired. Player moves which previously drew no public ire from management are recast as damning evidence of systemic problems. Fucking around during spring training video shoots is now seen as portentious "irony" (around the same clubhouse that prided itself on "cowboying up" in 2004). Guys who put up 1.000 OPSes during the last month are crapped on for not leading. Meanwhile, ownership gets two brief, demi-neutral mentions in a 2,000-plus word piece that purports to speak to the concerns of "all levels" of the organization. From whom do you think Hohler's getting his premises?

I suppose I'm more annoyed at the Henry-Lucchino-Werner goodbye plan than the article itself. And yeah, it's not as knives-out as it could have been, maybe. Calling it more responsible/restrained at spreading management's propaganda than, say, Shaughnessy would be is the faintest of praise, though. Calling it "workmanlike" would be more charitable; it strains to reach that.

Edited October 12, 2011 by Guest