The Unkindest Kutski

[Edgy MD]

AJ Pierzynski is now DFAJ Pierzynski, because it looks like Boston is moving on.

Bracing for a Twitter explosion from Super Groupie @WhiteSoxDiaries (who, by the way, is expecting twins --- and I don't mean the Minnesota kind).

[Edgy MD]

And just like that --- I mean just... like... that... --- I mention @whitesoxdiaries, and word comes over the wire that the Mets have released Hamilton Bennett. That chick has some frightening power.

[seawolf17]

To recap, for those who missed it:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19435

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: And just like that --- I mean just... like... that... --- I mention @whitesoxdiaries, and word comes over the wire that the Mets have released Hamilton Bennett. That chick has some frightening power.

Wow.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: AJ Pierzynski is now DFAJ Pierzynski, because it looks like Boston is moving on.

This reminds me of the end of last season when many columnists took the time to 'instruct' the Mets & Yanx about how, if they wanted to improve, they needed to follow the Boston template.
Problem was that the 2013 'Boston Template' basically consisted of simultaneously having every one of your pickups and FA fill-ins perform up to or better than expectations.
- add Drew to play SS ... he has the best year of his career
- take a risk on the aging Shane Victorino? ... he bounces back to his Philly years
- Mike Napoli fails his physical so you withdraw the three-year contract offer? ... so he signs a one-year make-good deal instead and becomes the heart & soul of the club w/27 HRs thrown in for good measure
- have your fourth choice for closer turn lights-out for a half-season? ... Check!
- Need Jonny Gomes to drop in 30 XBHs in 300 ABs? ... Check
- get Saltalamacchia to hit 40 points over his career norms across the board? ... Check;
- Jose Igleseis, Daniel Nava, Mike Carp all hit .300? ... Yup, just like you drew up the script during ST.

None of which means the org doesn't deserve credit for hitting on most or all of their moves and winning the WS. It's just that, as hard as that is to do, it's even harder to get the stars to align two years running and the fact that they're currently sitting with just about the worst record in the AL is kind of proof of that.
So how's the Boston Template looking now Bill Madden?

[Edgy MD]

Frayed Knot wrote: - have your fourth choice for closer turn lights-out for a half-season? ... Check!

Guess which Flushing-based team is on their fourth closer. Ka-CHING!

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

The thing is that all those FA signings for not-so-big names allowed the Sox to retain their top prospects, many of whom are cutting their teeth this season. So it seems that the Sox could win big again with their up-an-coming crop in a few years after winning big with the temporarily-restock-the-team FAs. Of course, the youngsters could all go bust, but overall I think it was still good planning.

[Edgy MD]

I agree.

But, alternatively, the Mets also have mostly laid in with short-term free agents while they establish younger players, like Boston. So either the Sox have had better judgment, more luck, or more margin for error in their budget (likely all three), but it's not like the Mets have a completely different philosophy.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm not about to, but one could make the argument that Byrd was the best FA pickup in the league last year, and that Grandy is the best this year.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Edgy MD wrote: I agree. But, alternatively, the Mets also have mostly laid in with short-term free agents while they establish younger players, like Boston. So either the Sox have had better judgment, more luck, or more margin for error in their budget (likely all three), but it's not like the Mets have a completely different philosophy.

No argument from. I was just pointing out that the Sox 2012-13 moves are part of plan that's still playing out even though the team is performing poorly right now. And the team was extremely lucky in 2013.

[Frayed Knot]

The thing is that all those FA signings for not-so-big names allowed the Sox to retain their top prospects, many of whom are cutting their teeth this season. So it seems that the Sox could win big again with their up-an-coming crop in a few years after winning big with the temporarily-restock-the-team FAs. Of course, the youngsters could all go bust, but overall I think it was still good planning.

My point wasn't that the Sox's plan was flawed or that they plain got lucky with many of those signings--I mean, they DID get lucky but every team that wins has a big slice of luck on their sides--only that a strategy that can best be described as 'Sign guys who all have better-than-anticipated seasons simultaneously' is not exactly an easy thing to pull off and win with in the first place much less replicate, and signings like the ones they made in 2013 can just as easily go wrong in 2014, the Piersynzski DFA'ing being an example. Sometimes the strategy remains the same but the results change and you go from looking really smart to really stupid with the same actions. And the larger point being that those NY writers, who used the Boston WS win to reflexively pen columns telling the Mets & Yanx to simply 'do what the Sawx just did' as the path to winning were just plain being lazy.

Not surprisingly there were a similar number of pieces touting the runner-up StL Cardinal plan as a blueprint to success, that plan being: make a lot of really good draft picks so that they all blossom into solid ML players and/or stars at the same time. That's a bit like telling NFL teams that the best way to improve your franchise for the next decade-plus is to draft a Tom Brady quality QB in the sixth round.
Gee, thanks Ace, I'll remember to do it that way next time.

[Frayed Knot]

btw, AJ Pierzynski, the second best ML player of Polish descent from Long Island's east end.

Readers?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yaz

[Frayed Knot]

Both from Brindgehampton, NY - although by the time Pierzynski got to HS he was in Florida.
Yaz came via Notre Dame.

[Edgy MD]

Leaks, breaking out all over, that AJ was broadly ill-regarded as a human by teammates and management.

[Frayed Knot]

Pierzynski always had the rep of being a bit prickly.
I always figured it was one of those deals where you hated him if he was on the other team but liked him if on yours ... but maybe that generalization is a bit too general and the truth is that he's more just a general-purpose rhymes with glass-bowl.

I think it was the first year they did that 'Final Vote' thing for the ASG when Pierzynski was one of the AL choices all of which came just a week or so after he had gotten into a home-plate brawl (I think during a Cubs/ChiSox game). Anyway, White Sox mgmt took advantage of the rep gained by the fight and built a week-long campaign around encouraging their fans to step up and [u:1et3hqx3]PUNCH A. J.[/u:1et3hqx3]
I think it worked.

[Frayed Knot]

A.J. hooks on with the Cardinals.