i'm ready. are you?
Ned Colletti named new Dodgers GM
LA Times, 11/16/05
McCourt hires the guy he should have hired instead of DePo -- old-school, blustery, and fairly unlikely to draw the wrath of Bill Plaschke. (Y'all think CHB's bad? Check out this guy if you've got a chance. Or, you know, if you're dangling over a snakepit by your ankles and the only reading material your captors have given you is the LA Times -- and you've already read the classifieds.)
Note that I still think DePo's still got the better managerial baseball mind -- and as pissed off as I am at Sox ownership right now, I'm still eternally grateful that Henry/Werner/Lucchino won out over McCourt in the Sox bid. Christ, I would have bought that A's cap a hell of a lot earlier if that had been the case.
So, there's that. The Boston Red Sox are now the only team in MLB without a general manager. Aside from this being, oh, I don't know, HIGHLY EMBARASSING, it's an object of great concern. How many different issues do the Sox have to address? Manny? (Keep.) Damon? (Out.) First base? (Konerko, please.) Third base? (Give Youks his due.) Second? (Keep Graffanino.) Pitching? (I need hard alcohol to even think about this one.) And how, pray tell, are they supposed to address said issues without a general manager, or even an interim one?
I have two words for you, John Henry.
Kim Ng.
Every single candidate you've asked about this job has turned you down. Dayton Moore. Kevin Towers. J.P. Ricciardi. David Forst. Brian Sabean. Doug Melvin. Tony LaCava. Chris Antonetti. And the one guy who does want it -- Jim Beattie -- has a proven track record of mediocrity that makes a woman cringe. I'm dying over here, man. You've got a baseball operations staff -- if they don't flee to AZ, that is -- that's built for forward-thinking policies and statistical analysis, and Beattie is not the guy to manage that staff.
My opinion? You've got to keep the post-Theo core -- Jed Hoyer, Ben Cherington, Peter Woodfork and Craig Shipley. Theo's awesome, and you all know I think Theo's awesome, but there's no way that he did everything himself, even pulling 18-hour days and giving up, you know, his entire life. It's not humanly possible. He had a great support staff, and if you want to keep the organization moving in the same direction that won it a world championship a year ago, you've got to keep that staff. And Jim Beattie is not the man to manage that staff.
Maybe it's not even a man.
Look at it this way. Kim Ng interviewed for the LA job; she clearly has immediate GM aspirations. She was a DePo hire, so you know she's not an old-school baseball thinker; it's likely her philosophy jives with that of the Epstein-era Sox. She's young, but not so young as to be inexperienced -- she's 36, and worked with the Yankees before going to LA. We're talking about the youngest person -- and first woman -- to ever present a salary arbitration case in the major leagues. The woman deserves a shot. The Sox already hired a guy who was, at the time, the youngest person ever hired to run a baseball team. This ownership group shouldn't be afraid of rocking the boat a bit.
The Boston Red Sox were the last team to break baseball's color barrier. Why not be the first team to break the gender barrier?
Come on, Mr. Henry. Y'all broke my heart when you let Theo walk away.
Heal the wounds, stop the maelstrom of rumors, get this team back on track, and give the rabid Boston sports media something else to talk about.
Hire a trailblazer so I don't have to do it myself in ten years.
LA Times, 11/16/05
McCourt hires the guy he should have hired instead of DePo -- old-school, blustery, and fairly unlikely to draw the wrath of Bill Plaschke. (Y'all think CHB's bad? Check out this guy if you've got a chance. Or, you know, if you're dangling over a snakepit by your ankles and the only reading material your captors have given you is the LA Times -- and you've already read the classifieds.)
Note that I still think DePo's still got the better managerial baseball mind -- and as pissed off as I am at Sox ownership right now, I'm still eternally grateful that Henry/Werner/Lucchino won out over McCourt in the Sox bid. Christ, I would have bought that A's cap a hell of a lot earlier if that had been the case.
So, there's that. The Boston Red Sox are now the only team in MLB without a general manager. Aside from this being, oh, I don't know, HIGHLY EMBARASSING, it's an object of great concern. How many different issues do the Sox have to address? Manny? (Keep.) Damon? (Out.) First base? (Konerko, please.) Third base? (Give Youks his due.) Second? (Keep Graffanino.) Pitching? (I need hard alcohol to even think about this one.) And how, pray tell, are they supposed to address said issues without a general manager, or even an interim one?
I have two words for you, John Henry.
Kim Ng.
Every single candidate you've asked about this job has turned you down. Dayton Moore. Kevin Towers. J.P. Ricciardi. David Forst. Brian Sabean. Doug Melvin. Tony LaCava. Chris Antonetti. And the one guy who does want it -- Jim Beattie -- has a proven track record of mediocrity that makes a woman cringe. I'm dying over here, man. You've got a baseball operations staff -- if they don't flee to AZ, that is -- that's built for forward-thinking policies and statistical analysis, and Beattie is not the guy to manage that staff.
My opinion? You've got to keep the post-Theo core -- Jed Hoyer, Ben Cherington, Peter Woodfork and Craig Shipley. Theo's awesome, and you all know I think Theo's awesome, but there's no way that he did everything himself, even pulling 18-hour days and giving up, you know, his entire life. It's not humanly possible. He had a great support staff, and if you want to keep the organization moving in the same direction that won it a world championship a year ago, you've got to keep that staff. And Jim Beattie is not the man to manage that staff.
Maybe it's not even a man.
Look at it this way. Kim Ng interviewed for the LA job; she clearly has immediate GM aspirations. She was a DePo hire, so you know she's not an old-school baseball thinker; it's likely her philosophy jives with that of the Epstein-era Sox. She's young, but not so young as to be inexperienced -- she's 36, and worked with the Yankees before going to LA. We're talking about the youngest person -- and first woman -- to ever present a salary arbitration case in the major leagues. The woman deserves a shot. The Sox already hired a guy who was, at the time, the youngest person ever hired to run a baseball team. This ownership group shouldn't be afraid of rocking the boat a bit.
The Boston Red Sox were the last team to break baseball's color barrier. Why not be the first team to break the gender barrier?
Come on, Mr. Henry. Y'all broke my heart when you let Theo walk away.
Heal the wounds, stop the maelstrom of rumors, get this team back on track, and give the rabid Boston sports media something else to talk about.
Hire a trailblazer so I don't have to do it myself in ten years.
posted by Suzie at 1:29 PM
3 Comments:
I'm all for keeping Graffanino, too. Everytime I mention it, though, I get "B-b-but Dustin Pedroia!" They're saying he's ready. I guess it would save money on the payroll but then again, is money REALLY a big issue? Hmmm.
Graf can be kept on the cheap, and Pedroia could use another year. I'm a big fan of the farm system and all, but I'm not ready to throw Dustin and Hanley and Jacoby out there just yet.
in answer to your question in the title... i'm ready too. let's not be the followers this time
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