drewski6

My only thing here is dont start looping people together, which is tough because you are relatively new. So for example, you responded to moon, but quoted joe. Moon is great, joe is a clown. Try to keep the posters distinguished if you can.

Of course people think that! Ive thought that! (Fear that its put up or shut up time) The most recent Celtics championship. The team had fallen short of winning it all a couple years in a row, and the excuse that Brown/Tatum were still young had been used up by the previous years of falling just short, and you cant really point to supporting cast either because the duo had played with a lot of different players. It was put up or shut up time for the dynamic duo of Tatum and Brown, and they rose to the occasion and met the expectations. But going into that year, I was getting nervous because more was at stake vs lets say 3 yrs prior when JT was 22 and Brown was 24 where even a playoff birth would be gravy. But the point is the stress/expectations werent there when your team is super young but they come as that team matures. My beloved PC Friars, our coach Kim English has not had a last good couple of years. I like Kim English, so Im more nervous this year because the excuses are running dry. Same thing with a QB. If you love Drake Maye and he struggles year 1, you are like no biggie, rookie. If he struggles year 3, and you are a fan, you start getting nervous. When its put up or shut up time when its do or die time, there is an elevation of nerves. Some people dont like that and seek to convince themselves that its not put up or shut up time, that any year is just like any other. But not every year has the same amount on the line. Look at the Bruins a couple years ago. THey had such a good reg season, it was bergy and krejci last year, it was a huge year. We were supposed to win it all. But we fell on our face. That was a harder end to bruins season than most because of what was at stake. Being backed against the wall is scary. Last chance is scary.

Like I said, I think readiness is a lot about the body and Tolle's body is ready. Its not Baileys job to develop through the minors. With TOlle's body and arm and left-handedness and mustache and poise I honestly dont see how hes not ready IF you think he needs to improve his secondaries, this isnt as long as a process as you think. Guys tinker with their mixes with their grips, work in new pitches every year. It takes years to develop a body that can throw a hard slider consistently without injury. But once you have that, the only thing stopping you is what ? Grip refinement? That stuff is important too but it doesnt take years He may need a little time in the beginning, Tolle, but if the body/arm/poise are there, the secondaries are coming and I think they are coming very soon I think by June, hes our #2

I dont think you get it. Who wins a team of 100 WAR with a 300m payroll (.3 WAR /$) or a team with a 50 WAR with a 100m payroll (.5 WAR/$) I posted an article for you about 1.5 months ago that went into how WAR / $$ will only get you far and becomes a trap. I understand that we cant assume a 300m payroll; however, the concept still applies. Chasing value non-stop will only get you so far. Its not the teams with the deepest discounted players that win, its teams with the best players. Understood that WAR/$$ can help you get great players and still have room for more, I get that. But if you have a good foundation of WAR/$$ , its time to pivot and stop chasing value. If you chase WAR/$$ exclusively , youll have a team of min wage players because nobody can 4x their $$ like a min wage player can, but teams full of pre-arb players aint winning anything. WAR/$$ is a great metric to help you get the ball rolling, but it eventually becomes time to get the studs.

With your sense of humor, I have 0 doubt

Ive never bought a house because I try to zag when everyone else zigs, and Im over here kind of wishing I bought a house 15 years ago.

I can tell by Tolles mustache that he's ready. That aint a boys mustache.

When Lebron was 18 he had the body of a 28 yr old. Tolle is like that too.

He's 6'6, filled out, with a very live arm With those boxes checked the difference between say and MLB caliber slider and a slider in development is on a tweak. If Tolle isnt ready than Bailey is a sham. Whne guys arent ready its usually a body issue. TOlle is a man in every sense of the word. The dude is like Greg Oden. He looks 35 at 20

Top 3 now

cold-stove season has been a snoozer for sure.

Im a duran guy, but speaking for only myself - my willingness to trade him went up significantly when he buttered that fly I would assume that the flip side is that potential trade partners desire to acquire him went down when he buttered that fly I dont want to over-emphasize one play, but that drop was bad and the worst thing about it is that Duran lapsing in focus in the field is a pattern more than it is a one-off. I once had a friend who put the moves on somebodys girl at a party knowing she was there with someone (who we knew but not well). My friend asked me to defend him when he was asked to leave. I said I cant because this is a pattern of behavior from you. Cuz he be like that.

I think we 2 of the best 4 pitchers in the entire AL and their names are Crochet and Tolle. Tolle is 6'6 fully filled out with a monster of a pitch mix. He has confidence and swagger. I think the more time a pitcher faces a batter the more that favors the batter and the fact that nobody really seen Tolle too many times will make him a hoss.

I chose Ultimate Maniacs (Macho and Warrior) over Mega Powers (depicted here) because I assumed neither of us wanted to be Hogan.

this guys has packed a lot of insight into 155 posts (to date)

And now I have Ja Rule in my head Where would i be without youuuuu thought alone drive me crazyyyy cuz every thug needs a ladyyyyy

I feel the word cliff coming on

Someone grasped the true meaning of the movie. Its not about chasing OBP, that was never what money ball was. It was about zigging when others zagged.

This post isnt going to get the appreciation it deserves , so im commenting for a double like.

Yes, those of you channel your inner Irwin R Sheister (from a baseball fan standpoint) need to swirlie yourselves because you dont want MVP and I to show up at your door dressed liked the Ultimate Maniacs MVP - you wanna be Warrior or Macho Man? I was a bigger Warrior fan growing up but currently own more Macho Man gear so Im fine with either.

Its not always true, man. Liquidity does not come only from profit. Maybe in your business' case because you are a proprietor and not backed by a team of deep-pocket investors. Sofi financial had the naming rights to a stadium and commercials running non-stop before they ever turned a profit. Because they had deep pocketed investors. How profitable you are is just one factor when determining whether to ramp up or ramp down your expenditures.

Lets go back 35 years and compare how many championships were won by a team that either had a big contract that was going to run well into that players 33s vs the championships won by team that had no contracts that were going to look scary by the end of it. IF you play this game, and manage via minimization of risk, you wont sign any bad deals. But I assure you the majority of championships are won by teams that take risks or teams that are willing to carry a contract that will one day be ugly (but helps in the short term) What Im trying to say - if you play ultra conservative, you wont make any major blunders. But you also probably wont win the game.

I wasnt calling you a wimp, and I wasnt trying to bully JH into spending money (although maybe I would if I could, lol - "Bregman or wedgies, choose 1") There was a distinct time, an actual moment, when I was watching Bloom - and thought he was punting on accountability. There is a thin line between providing context and providing excuses, and I think Bloom crossed that line. When asked why the team fell apart 2 years in a row "but look at the pipeline" when asked why his FA adds struggled "but look at the prospects" when asked why he couldnt do a deadline deal "but look at the prospects" why last place? Look at the prospects!!!! You know me, you know I embrace cyclicality, and not everybody here does. WE both do. We have that in common. So there are points in the cycle, where what bloom is saying would be valid. "Hey dont look at this year, or next, look 3-4 years out cuz thats the window we are building towards" - Im okay with hearing that someimes. But theres an inherent comfort in that. Like a honeymoon period in a new job. Low expectations. Hey dont me accountable for what Im doing currently, because Im in development mode. Judge future me, not present me! Theres a comfort in that, that I think Bloom started hiding behind. Similarly, I think there are a few Red Sox fans who are hesitant to make their move. Its human. I have friends at the poker table who play scared. They are not the best players. Taking a swing is scary. Putting chips in the middle of the table is scary. Asking a girl out is scary. You cant miss if you dont swing. If one was to say , hey "2028 is the year" it takes pressure off 2026. ANd Im okay wiht that. Where I get frustrated personally is when 2028 comes, and then some of those people get nervous, and start talking about 2031. There is a shiny new toy syndrome that applies to prospects as well. Hey this guy on sox prospects I just read about , hes 19 , hes going to be soooo good. 4 years later, hey this new guy who is 19 is going to be soo good. And these things kind of run together. The people who are afraid to say this is the beginning our window its time for results (and I acknowledge that is scary) generally are the people who will then go find a 19 yr old and say well, even if we fall on our face this year - we'll still have that guy coming up - and they'll use the existence of a good prospect to take the pressure off any year. And if it helps their nerves, thats okay. They are not bad people. BUT the poker player who plays scared is not the best player at the table, and the GM who operates scared is not the best GM. The baseball fan who is scared to acknowedge that certain years have more pressure than others is not the best armchair GM. These people are letting hesitancy get the best of them. Bloom got fired for this reason. I have firends who never evere ever make fantasy trades in our league. Because they are scared they are going to give up something good. They arent the best managers in the league. Sometimes , its time to pull the trigger and acknwledge a window. Sometimes, you look around and you say there are expectations and pressure on this team THIS year. That is scary. And sometimes, people deal with that fear by finding a way to take the pressure off. Well, even if we fall on our face this year , we still ahve x,y,z coming up. And thats okay. Worse things to be than optimistic. But when those fans start saying (in those widows) well , I dont want to sign x because it could wind up overpaid, or I dont want to trade prospects because already too many eggs in the short term basket.....Sometimes this is valid, but sometimes its someone's hesitancy clouding their ability to be objective. Theres a comfort in knowing that better days lie in front of you. It takes the pressure off that year. But there comes a time when you need to meet expectations and face lofty goals, and acknowledge that if we fail to win this year or next thats a larger failure than it otherwise would be because we've had these years circled and have been building for them. One could, instead, alleviate some of that pressure by kicking the can further down the road....IN 2025 you say wait until 2028, in 2028 you wait until 2031, in 2031 you wait until 2034....And youll never have to confront expectations/pressure and its a shield to prevent dissapointment. I get it, dissapointment stinks.

Agreed 100% My point was that there was a gap between our projected rankings for pitching and position players between objective third parties (Steamer and others) with the pitching looking much rosier. I understand that Contreras (and any future signings) will close that gap, and your comment was worth pointing out, TY. Im not sure how much Contreras moves the needle. I would assume a decent amount but not a ton. The context for my post was to express disagreement with people expressing we need another pitcher more than another hitter (or at least that was my initial submission - conversations twist and turn).

Im not sure which thread it is but its buried by now. BUt we are projected to have one of the very best pitching staffs in the league and one of the very worse offenses. TO imply that pitcher vs bat is preference is just not reality. We have an excellent pitching staff and bad position players. FUll stop.