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Kimmi

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Everything posted by Kimmi

  1. I agree that baseball ops does not work in a vacuum. That said, a GM's job is to build a winning team, not to worry about ticket prices. Again, Cherington did not control ticket prices, nor did he control the payroll, so blaming him for the high ticket prices is silly.
  2. Everything you have stated about Seattle's preferences and why Ben didn't interview is speculation. Your opinion that Ben is not suited for a #1 slot is simply that, your opinion.
  3. Thank goodness for modern metrics. I am not debating Boggs' HOF credentials, but I don't think he should have his number retired.
  4. I fully understand that loyalty runs both ways. I still haven't forgiven Theo for trading Arroyo. I also fully understand why Damon took the Yankees offer, and I have no problem with that, in and of itself. I have no issues whatsoever with Ellsbury signing with the Yankees. It was the manner in which Damon jumped ship, and the comments he made afterwards. I also think the Sox were right in not matching the Yankees price. Damon was not lowballed. It was a fair offer. The idea that the Sox should simply outbid the Yankees might work today, but during the days of George Steinbrenner, it wasn't happening. If the Yankees wanted a player, they were getting the player, unless the player was willing to take a discount to play elsewhere.
  5. The reasons you stated prove nothing. Again, you do not know that Dipoto was the guy that Seattle wanted all along. You also do not know that Ben declined the interview because he knew he wasn't getting the job. It's pure speculation on your part. And if Seattle thought so poorly of Ben, why ask him to interview in the first place?
  6. One of the areas of disagreement between Theo and Lucchino was with the baseball ops side of things versus the business side of things. Theo wanted players who would help the team win. Lucchino wanted players who would put fans in the seats. Winning is what puts the fans in the seats for the long haul, not the splashy signings. The GM is charge of baseball ops. There is someone else to take care of the business aspect of the team. At any rate, my point was that the GM does not control the ticket prices, nor does he control the payroll. So, criticism of any GM for not signing a bunch of expensive free agents when the ticket prices are so high is misplaced criticism.
  7. The reason why Dipoto left LA has nothing to do with whether he was a front runner in Seattle. You have no way of knowing why Ben didn't interview for the job, and you have no way of knowing who Seattle wanted in the beginning. Seattle and Philly had an interest in Ben for their GM position. Believe it or not. No one is going to change your mind about Ben.
  8. Detroit is currently dealing with aging players at the back end of large contracts and they have no farm system to speak of. This is what typically happens when the team is in "win now" mode. The team will be very good for a while, but they eventually hit that brick wall. Same thing happened in Philly.
  9. No doubt. I think fielding contending teams while rebuilding is more difficult than most people think, regardless of the payroll available. Especially when there is a directive from Henry not to hand out large contracts to the All Star free agents, in particular, older pitchers. Ben has acknowledged, however, that he was in full agreement about that. As I've said many times, I can't blame Ben for the underperformances of the players. His job is to assemble a team that looks good on paper, and he did that. I know that Panda, Hanley, and Porcello are not in the same class as Price, but if Price pitches like a #4/5 pitcher this season instead of pitching like an ace, will that be Dombrowski's fault?
  10. My understanding was that the Sox did make an offer to Damon, it just wasn't as much as the Yankees offer. I can understand Damon going where the money is. But he shouldn't have told his devoted fans, the ones that made him an icon in Boston, that he would never sign with the Yankees, and he shouldn't have taken shots at the Sox after he left. I don't think she's a trophy, but I'm not a man. I'm glad that you don't think she is either.
  11. He has done nothing so far that makes me scratch my head either. My only gripe so far has been the cost of acquiring Kimbrel and Price, but even with that, acquiring Kimbrel did not gut the farm, nor did it keep us from getting Price, and acquiring Price should not handcuff the team financially, even if he does not opt out.
  12. What sad news. RIP Henderson.
  13. I loved Damon when he played for the Sox, and I am grateful for all he did for this team. He always gave 100%, I can't deny that. All of that is probably a large part of why I can't stand him now. He broke my heart. Anyone but the Yankees Johnny. But like most players, he went for the most money. Along with saying that he could never play for the Yankees, once he signed with them, he took a couple of back handed shots at the Sox, which I did not appreciate. IMO, Damon, with his trophy wife, is a rather shallow human being.
  14. I would not classify it as strong either, though it could be. Pretty much any rotation that his decimated by injuries to the point where you have to go 8, 9, 10 deep into your depth chart for more than a spot start or two is going to be in trouble. As always, it's going to largely come down to health.
  15. The large market prices are on the owners, not the GM. A GM should not base his team building philosophy on what ticket prices are.
  16. Thank you for this post Spitball. Very well said. As I mentioned, the dynamics of free agency are changing, and I believe Ben recognized this, as does Cashman (or the Steinbrenner boys). Because of several factors, throwing the most money at superstar free agents is not the way to build a franchise that can sustain long term success. The Phillies and the Tigers are two examples of teams that might be in a long rut due to dealing with unmoveable contracts of aging players and a gutted farm system. It has to start with young, cost-controlled players, and when you supplement through free agency, it should be with shorter term contracts, except for in rare occasions. In the post steroid era, those long term contracts to players in their 30s are going to be even worse than they used to be.
  17. I don't think that I have the cart before the horse. I don't remember reading anything in the Seattle papers about Dipoto being a frontrunner until after Ben declined the interview and the interviews were more or less completed.
  18. I'm not sure I agree that he had a small market mindset. IMO, it was more that he had the understanding of the changing dynamics of baseball's free agency. Either way, it is much more difficult to be a successful small market GM than it is to throw the most money at every free agent superstar that you want.
  19. I can't argue Dombrowski's success, but he left the Detroit organization in very bad shape, with no championships to show for it. Ben left the Sox organization in very good shape with a championship to boot. I can get over the two years of last place finishes (and I don't even think Ben is largely to blame for those) because I understand and can see what the long term plan was, and I can see it coming to fruition.
  20. Dombrowski certainly deserves at least a couple of seasons to see where this team is headed and how things pan out. I think some people (not you) mistake my defense of Ben for a dislike of Dombrowski, which is not the case. I think Dombrowski is a very good GM, though I do think that he's old school and I don't agree with what I perceive his overall philosophy might be. That said, I like the state of the team heading into the season. I think we are contenders, and if the team fails to contend this season, it will not be Dombrowski's fault.
  21. I read an article several weeks ago that talked about how it was very realistic for the Sox to get under the luxury tax in 2017 and to more or less stay there, even if Price does not opt out after 3 years. I don't remember the specifics of what the article said, but it made a good argument for why the Sox were able to afford such a mega contract for Price. I have to believe that this is part of the reason why Henry gave the OK for that deal.
  22. I disagree that Henry doesn't care about the cap. The new CBA might be different, but as you know, the penalties get increasingly steeper with each successive year over the cap. With 2016, it's not even so much the tax rate, but the loss of revenue sharing for being over the cap for the second consecutive year. For the Yankees, the last I read was that it amounts to somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 mil a year, on top of the luxury tax penalty. Even for the richest teams, that is no small chunk of change.
  23. The thing about signing another decent free agent pitcher is that it will cost a draft pick. I don't think it's that dire a need that it warrants giving up our pick.
  24. A couple of months into the season, Dombrowski will have a much clearer idea of what our needs are. Just like last offseason, unless a deal comes along that Dombrowski simply cannot refuse, I think it makes a lot more sense to wait until June/July to make another move. Perhaps our #2-5 pitchers pleasantly surprise us and we don't need another starter. Perhaps Vazquez doesn't recover from his injury and we really need Swihart to catch. Or perhaps Vazquez is everything we hoped he would be, some other contending team suffers a loss with their starting catcher, and we can get a king's ransom for Swihart.
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