devildavid

Here is all I wanted you to do. Type the following words: Terry Francona is a good manager. See how easy it is?

I don't blame lawyers for people's inability to comply with the law and get along with each other. I have not had any major issues with my limited use of lawyers. Some people use their lawyers in a negative way. They are a much needed profession but I hope continue to make limited use of them.

I'm not seeing that. He has had multiple batting orders, made substitutions, rested players, used various arms out of the bullpen. I really don't see any discernible pattern except what appears to be what he thinks is best at the time.

Hanley has been hurt from the moment the Sox signed him. I was concerned about this when they signed him. He had a worrying injury history, he is not in his prime, and he is unable to take the field defensively. At least he produced in 2016. That may be all they can squeeze out of him. Since he may still have value, the Sox should trade him for whatever they can get. At least he has a bit more value than Pablo. Time to clear out the dead wood

I don't see any evidence of a "formula" that Farrell is using.

The real point is that some observers think they can apply a label to moves as "smart" or "stupid" regardless of the outcome of the move. It is illogical.

Do you have trouble typing the words yourself?

I think car salesmen and lawyers get a bad rap. As well as accountants and meteorologists. They all get blamed for things that really aren't their fault. Maybe the same is true for baseball managers.

Yikes! Looks like we jinxed the bullpen by starting this thread. Just kidding!

You may like him but do you think he was a successful manager for the Red Sox?

No, you tell me, as you are the one expressing an opinion. Opinions of intelligence are normally based upon observations of behavior. You tell me what behaviors inform your opinion of the intelligence of baseball management. I don't think that baseball management needs any special kind of cognitive ability but they do need to understand the sport and how to evaluate talent. Just like an auto mechanic needs to understand the mechanical workings of an automobile. We all tend to have specialized knowledge of the jobs we do which has little to do with general intelligence and more to do with experience, interests, and to some extent with natural inclinations and abilities that lend themselves to the jobs we do. What kind of abilities do you think are required to succeed in management in baseball?

But no one in 2008 knew what Ortiz had left, just as you don't know today what Pedroia has left.

You have to look at his entire body of work. Was he overall good or bad for the Boston Red Sox. I think he passes the test. In 2011 he had a bad year and it showed on the field. He is still a good manager as his results so far in Cleveland clearly show.

What does that have to do with anything? You said to trade high. If a player is not starting off the next season very well you already missed your opportunity to trade high.

And back around we come to what is the basis of your opinion. Please don't say cognitive ability. Because you really have no way to measure it. What is it about the behavior of baseball management that brings you to your conclusion? Give some examples.

So they should they have traded Ortiz?

As Pedroia speaking bluntly for himself. He did not think retaliation was needed. He felt it was just part of playing hard, just as he does. He is his own man.

Calling managers extremely fungible is kind of meaningless. You either are fungible or you are not. Everyone is replaceable. It does not follow that the results from bad management are not that different from the results of good management. It is entirely different to say that all of baseball management is not very smart or good at their jobs. That is a claim that has nothing to do with being fungible since the results of different management does in fact vary in quality. Better management has more success. Prior to John Henry's team taking over the Sox had a spotty track record. The new ownership and management have done an excellent job in making the Red Sox organization more successful on the field as well as financially. As to the field management, you don't seem to accept that there are things other than on the field in game decisions that impact the quality of the results. Managers do a lot more than you are willing to give them credit for off the field in preparing their players. You choose to ignore that aspect of management but I do not. I don't think that Jimy Williams = Joe Kerrigan = Grady Little = Terry Francona = Bobby Valentine = John Farrell. It is also important to consider which manager fits best with the composition of the team. So your claim is really that all MLB management is so useless as to be mere figureheads at best and detriments to performance at worst. They could all be replaced by a computerized random decision program and get the same results in general. I think you are dead wrong.

Pedroia did not throw a teammate under the bus.

You used the word fungible to describe all of baseball management as if it meant something negative. If bad auto mechanics don't last doesn't bad baseball management face the same rule? Everyone in every profession is fungible, regardless of the cognitive ability needed to do the job. There is always someone just as good, just as skilled, or just as smart who can replace anyone in any job. You use fungible like it has a negative connotation. It simply means you can be replaced. We all can be replaced very easily. You also don't seem to think that there are gradations of skill in all professions. Some auto mechanics are better than others and can do more complex jobs. Same with baseball management. That being said, we all still are extremely fungible.

Using that logic , they should have traded Ortiz after the 2007 season.

This is similar to those buzzards who kept circling Ortiz, starting in 2008.

Welcome aboard!

I don't give much of a chance for Pablo to turn it around this season. I'm not sure he even has much time left in his career as a full time, productive player. Eat the money and move on for the good of the team's future.

How do you know they aren't better than Pablo? I think they are.