ThisismineScios

40 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

If Perry fully concluded that it is impossible to do his job properly under Moreno, that still doesn’t mean it would be the right decision for his career going forward to just leave right now.  There is value in finishing out your contract and showing the rest of the baseball world you can handle adversity without leaving in what could be perceived as a tantrum.

Agree with this. I think sometimes I think Front Office people see what we see as fans, or that it is as nebulous to them as it is to us. They know what conditions he is working under, and in fact they probably know from Eppler, DiPoto and Perry exactly what those conditions are. As @aznhockeyguy said it's nearly impossible to judge Perry because we don't have a clue the extent of Arte's meddling. And...it doesn't matter. Very little will change so long as Arte is calling the shots. 

8 minutes ago, T.G. said:

The way I see it, this season has sucked about as bad as it can and if fans want to vent, they should vent.  Call out the GM.  Call out the players, the owner, the hot dog vendor, whoever.  It's a frustrating time for some.  Being angry is better than being apathetic.  When I see threads like this, it just means some fans care.  That's not a bad thing. 

Now, is Minasian a coward?  I have no idea.  We're not privy to his conversations with Moreno.  But hey... if someone wants to call him out - more power to them.  Again, it just shows someone gives a rip. 

 

Thanks, I'm just a fan I get it. I'm not trying to be a keyboard warrior or act superior but I was. I recognize that it's easier to type something than to say it to someone's face, and even though I'll never meet Perry Minasian in my life (unless he also loves Tacos Los Cholos), I felt really guilty thinking about calling him a coward. I don't actually believe this. I treat this board (and Twitter) the way I feel people should not  -- as an alternate reality. I'm responsible for what I say, so acting like this is childish. I can talk about this in a better way, so my bad for slinging mud like this. 

I am an Administrator but have others over me as well. I try to be cognizant of what I am asking others to do, and how much responsibility I take. My point was that if my boss put mandates on me, took my autonomy away, controlled the aspects of MY job that are in my job description -- even though technically he has a right to do so -- and then allowed me to field all the blame when this micromanagement caused failure, I'd find another job. I also recognize that education is a much different field than having an MLB GM job, so I'm in no position to call him a coward because 1) I don't actually know who is making every single decision and 2) This is his first GM job, his dream job, and I am sure he tries as hard as he can to get it right. 

Where I actually am is somewhere in between my tantrum and saying it's all Arte's fault. Perry's decisions have not been good either, especially the ones we know Arte wasn't involved in. So I guess I'm at the point where I don't blame Arte for everything, but I recognize he is the main problem with the last 10 years of incompetence. I partly feel bad for Perry, but also know he is in control of his own life/job, so it's on him to make the team good or, if he just can't, to leave. 

14 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

But why do you expect the outcomes to be different? Other than Trout and Rendon, neither of whom are ever available, no one on the team has any real track record of sustained success at the major league level.

Estevez had a good first half last year as a closer, but has been wildly inconsistent since then. None of the young/young-ish starters have established themselves yet. Anderson had a great 2022 and a pretty good rookie season, but is a mediocre pitcher overall. 

The young position players have varying degrees of promise, but, again, you can't really count on any of them at this point. 

You and Swordsman78 can keep saying they "should" be doing this or that, but the reality is, the team isn't talented or healthy enough to be competitive right now. You can't look at a team that has a -43 run differential after 43 games and reasonably say they should at least be .500.  

I'd offer that even Trout doesn't really know how to play winning baseball. How many meaningful games has he played in in his career? Rendon and Sano are the guys on the team with the most playoff experience. They've been in really big games. I can't think of any other regulars that understand what it takes. So we see these silly mistakes night after night because the focus and intensity doesn't change in big moments. 

18 minutes ago, mmc said:

I'm sorry this happened to you

LOL

We can argue all day and night about Perry's abilities as a GM. About his spending power. About his autonomy. About who is making the calls. 

The fact of the matter is that he is a coward. I don't care how much each individual believes it's Arte's fault. Of course a lot of it is. Most of it? Sure. But I don't feel bad for Perry at all, because he continues to allow himself to receive all the blame for the moves -- the trades, the non-trades, the offseason spending, the trajectory of 2024 and beyond. He flat out told us in October they were going to try and be competitive. Build a quality team. Spend money. And then he only signed mediocre bullpen guys, or guys that have had exactly 2 good months in their career. Didn't sign a starter. Didn't sign a single lineup addition. AND...didn't offer an explanation about the fact that the team was having a rebuilding year. In fact, pushed back against that notion. Why? We all know why. 

Because Arte won't let him. Which makes him a coward. 

Arte isn't letting him hire an AGM. Perry absolutely would hire one. His decision when asked was complete nonsense; every other team has at least one. It's obvious Arte won't pay for one. 

Arte wouldn't let him trade Ohtani. Perry would have. But he is the GM, so he willingly take the blame. 

Arte clearly cut him off this offseason. His explanation was again nonsense, not logic or reason. 

Arte clearly is focused on financial aspects. What does Perry repeat like a good little boy 3-4 times a year? "Arte and Carol Moreno are great. Arte has set no limits and is competitive and wants to win." 

Arte clearly won't let him sign actual MLB players, instead forcing him to pick the waiver wire. What is Perry saying? Nothing. Hasn't spoken about it at all. In fact, he's been in hiding. 

Arte flat out disrespected the best player in franchise history by NOT making any moves to improve the team in the offseason, despite reports that Mike was more vocal than ever and was asking every day. Who had to answer for it? Perry. Again, not a single word about Arte, just more nonsense. 

Who do you think the directive to draft quick-to-the-majors players came from? We know who would make a suggestion like that -- forget the farm, sell out to win. So 3 straight years under slot with our 1st round pick. Rushing guys to the majors, with bad results. Did Perry put his foot down to restock the system? No. 

Perry has covered for Arte for years. And I get that that is most likely what the job of a GM under Arte looks like. But no self-respecting person is going to work like that AND take every single piece of the blame. This happens because Arte never once explains anything or says, "No that was my call." He is happy to let Perry take all the flak. And if that was my boss, I'd quit. Perry looks like a foolish, incompetent, terrible decision maker. And if a lot of that is out of his control, it's better to save your dignity and a shred of your reputation than get fired, inevitably, for not getting results when it wasn't in your control, and have to work as an AGM for 3-4 more years before you can get another job.  

I guess I'm wondering why everyone thought or thinks Wash is a good manager? I've not really said anything one way or another, but it seemed that from the start it was just a given. But what impact has he had so far?

We've seen really bad spot decisions being made. 
The infield defense has not been great.
The base running has been laden with mistakes
Failed squeeze plays like it's 1993
Constantly getting the facts wrong in press conferences. 
Emphasis on first pitch strikes, except we're dead last in the league at it. 
Trotting out Estevez over and over.
Putting Suarez in high leverage spots multiple times.
Taking almost 3 weeks to start playing Adell regularly while Hicks played every day.
Letting Drury play hurt AND sucking.
Letting Sano play while his knee was clearly bothering him. 
Putting Goodrum and Tucker at 3B when they are really bad fielders
Not PH for Adrianza, Goodrum, Guillorme in key situations
Saying, publicly saying in a very embarrassing fashion, that they are trying to make the playoff with a record worse than the A's. 

That presser was a disaster. Did he even know Romero had walked 2 guys already? Did he know he threw 16 balls and 15 strikes? It's Guillorme's fault the ball was, once again, out of the zone? 

But what I think is interesting is listening to Estevez, Canning, Sandoval, and Detmers. These guys have no conviction. They have bad games and it sounds the same as a lights out game. Detmers responses tonight were just baffling. He said he felt great about it. He had a bad hitter with two strikes two outs and he floated a Curve over the middle. He gave up 8 hits! That's not good. Ultimately, his first response should be, "I didn't get it done, we lost. I put us in a 5-0 hole." That's all. There is no culture of winning being built; losing and winning feels the same to these guys. They don't get upset about losing, or letting their team down. Detmers doesn't even think he pitched bad; he seems completely lost. Where is the coaching? As @Jeff Fletcherwrote today, the coaches are saying a bunch of stuff but nothing is changing regarding first pitch strikes. The pitchers said, "We're scared of getting hit." What the heck are the coaches doing besides just saying that they need to try and change that? 

This whole organization, top to bottom, is a complete dumpster fire. There is nothing positive about them right now. Not a thing. Including the coaching staff. 

On 5/1/2024 at 6:03 AM, T.G. said:

What's with the "Cheatin' Castellanos" comment?

It means Castellanos was selling out for a Fastball. Stupid thing is pitchers throw a 1st pitch fastball 60% of the time, and it's a worthwhile gamble. In other words, Castellanos was swinging away first pitch. Oh by the way....Estevez does it 53% of the time. So technically it wasn't even "cheating", it was a likely thing. 

It was a dumb excuse for what he thought was a well-located ball; "he just got lucky cheating fastball". 

There's a hundred things to look at here, but I just can't stand Estevez. He's been bad since the All Star Break, but he acts like he's a dominant closer. His quotes are just outlandish. I actually went back and looked at some Rockies ones from blown saves. It's always, "Look, Ok, it happens. Guys get lucky. Tomorrow's a new day. I am full of confidence." 

He has no confidence. I watched this guy end our season on a grand slam last year to a guy that is currently struggling in AAA. Quote? "It's tough, but we got a lot more games." And still, it's always excuses. The Rays blown save? "It's unfortunate we lost on a weak grounder." Giants? "Honestly I feel good. Felt really good." 

Tonight? Castellanos "Cheated fastball...he's really strong...and unfortunately it went out." Rojas, he of the 3 career HR? "It happens...hopefully next time I'll go out with the same mentality." 

The arrogance and ignorance just bugs me. You have an ERA over 7.00. As a closer. Have some pride and acknowledge letting Anderson, Rengifo, and your entire team down. 
 

Trout keeps saying he’s figuring it out, blah blah. The difference between his RISP and his regular at bats is huge. It’s sad to watch my favorite player of all time be so incredibly bad in big situations. Your best players are supposed to be a part of winning. He is historically bad in these situations. It’d hard to watch him let us down so badly. 

Wash has stopped starting Hicks at least. Needs to stop starting Moniak except to spell. Let Jo play 5x a week. I really want him to have consistent time. 

He has such elite speed he just needs to make better choices. He’s like top 5% 

Just have to follow up with some interesting info from metrics: 

Sano is murdering the ball -- but his OBP is higher than his SLG. 

Rengifo is not squaring up the ball at all. Not even a little. No barrels, and is chasing almost exactly at the worst rate in the league. Defense has been awful

Adell's offensive numbers are very solid except for his Chase/Whiff. But I'd live with that if his OPS stayed around .800. .250/.320/.480 with 25HR and 25SB would be golden with him batting 7th. 

Sandoval has solid peripherals, he's due to revert to the mean (average). 

Drury's numbers are very solid for a guy hitting .203, I think he will revert back soon. He's been great fielding wise. 

*I think their ideal lineup right now with how guys are performing is 

Schanuel
Trout
Rendon
Ward
O'Hoppe
Sano
Drury
Adell
Neto

In hindsight, I don't think the Adell base running thing was AS stupid as I originally thought. He was trying to make something happen on a backhand/long throw and needed a perfect throw from first. It was a poor decision but not as completely idiotic as I originally thought. I think that's why he keeps trying to steal (Wash implied it's been Jo's go) -- he wants to show he can contribute badly. 

But by golly, taking strike 3 was a massive error. Just atrocious with 1 out. Neto too -- what good does Ball 3 do in that situation? Protect the plate; also, you're losing! That's when you should be more aggressive. Neto's 1st AB told me all I need to know about where his head is right now. Thought it was strike 3 looking, turned around and started marching to the dugout. Called a ball, he came back...and struck out. He expects to strike out right now. Ever since he tried to hit everything out in Miami he's been wildly inconsistent at the plate. And his Defensive Metrics are actually pretty bad, surprisingly. 

Finally, I find it pretty odd that Rendon, Sano, Neto, and Rengifo all have 0 HR. You'd think they'd luck their way into one over 20 games. I know HRs across the league are way down, but still odd that all those guys haven't punched one out. 

The game yesterday (I definitely didn't scare my Dog with my yelling) was interesting. The top of the lineup--who has completely carried us--was 2-19. And we still manufactured some runs. If Trout or Ward have their ball fall in, like they have been doing, game's over. So I think in some ways it was a positive offensive game in that Moniak, Neto, and Sano were the ones that helped get runs across. I hate saying that. 

Yesterday was "Classic Jo Adell Game" Case no. 44. Crushes a 113 mph single, then gets the absolute latest start to 2nd, is out by 10 feet. Broadcast tried to call it a H&R, but here's the thing -- Jo has been awful on the bases, and Neto has been whiffing and chasing with the worst of them. You're going to call a H&R with those two involved? Don't buy it. I think Jo went on his own, was late on the jump and didn't bail. That's three straight awful, awful base running decisions the last 3 times he's been on base. And he clearly is just trying to make up for the last one each time. After this, he struck out 3 times in 3 really bad at bats. 

My point is I have no idea if he's going to be a positive or a negative, and as a huge Adell fan I am starting to think it will always be like this. Whereas guys like Drury, Rengifo, and even Neto we know are going to come around at least some. Moniak you can see starting to make better swing decisions. But Wash just gave Adell 3 straight starts. He went 2 - 10, got caught stealing twice, and K'd 4 times. He continues to be puzzling in his ability to crush the ball, show incredible speed...and then make a really awful play that hurts the team. 

. 

Good to see Estevez was back to his old self -- blowing multi-run leads and then afterwards saying it either wasn't his fault, the guy got lucky, or he has absolutely zero concern because he's the man and he will be back out there again soon. 

I never understood spending big money on RP from non-competitive teams. Estevez, Cisneros, and Garcia were not in many high leverage situations and were on fairly bad teams. Is it really any surprise they have been wildly inconsistent? Since the All Star Break last year Estevez has been really bad. It wasn't fatigue, it was teams figuring out that he has very poor control and throws 80% fastballs. 

Starting to really think between the draft picks, rushing guys all over the playce bullpen signings, not pursuing a single starter/hitter, and the trades that Perry is not as good of GM as we hoped he would be. 

I think it was a major mistake to draft guys with the *idea* that they could come up soon. Baseball is so different, and there's a reason this concept has not been practiced by good teams. College hitters -- I would think especially small school college hitters -- are not ready to face major league pitching. Schanuel, Neto, Bachman, and Joyce are evidence of that. They were all rushed to the major because of a desperation to compete. And now Bachman is completely off the radar, Joyce is struggling in the minors, and Neto and Schanuel are Livan Soto and Kevin Padlo. These guys are so young, it's actually kind of sad to watch their at bats. Schanuel gets frustrated at every strike he guesses wrong on, and when he gets fooled at strikes out looking, he stands there for 2-3 seconds in shock. Neto looks like he knows he's going to strike out, and when he does he just turns and storms back to the dugout. Their confidence at the plate is shot. This will likely go down as one of Perry's greatest mistakes because this has nothing to do with Arte. We could drafted Spencer Jones, Cam Collier, etc...but instead we took a guy we thought could play right away. There is still plenty of opportunity for these guys to become good major leaguers, but the point is that doing this really hindered their growth by putting a ton of pressure on them and in turn putting a major roadblock in the way of their development. 1B and SS were easy positions to fill well we let guys develop. Just so frustrating. 

I think they have both settled in to kind of who they are. The thing is, with video and analytics what they are, if you don't have movement and deception, hitters are not going to be fooled. There is just zero way the Red Sox didn't figure Canning out. 

Canning has been barreled/hard hit every year. His FB doesn't move, his Change sits at 88-89, and he regularly rides his slide in the middle of the zone. I watched that first Red Sox game. They had him figured out. Even today, they didn't hit it as hard but they made tons of contact. He just doesn't miss enough bats, and even when he is guys are squaring up the ball when they make contact. To me, it's more like the batter is guessing wrong than not tracking the ball. I think this year they are tracking and he may be tipping a bit. 

Sandoval also has a stupid flat fastball, but his problem is location. Even if he could just locate it, pair it with his Change and his Slider and you'd had a functional arsenal to be a #3/4 guy. Besides his walks, he actually hasn't been a horrible pitcher. But his Fastball is close to the worst pitch in the majors. It's been absolutely awful. It gets crushed, he doesn't strike anyone out with it, and overall it has horrible metrics. 

To me, Sandoval has to do something different with his FB. Likewise Canning needs to make a change. His FB is actually as bad as Sandoval's, and his Slider has been a worthless pitch so far this year. 

5 hours ago, BTH said:

I think it's the opposite: Washington is under no orders from the front office.

So, as is said below, Washington is playing the "vets" until/unless the youngsters earn his trust.

 

And I think it is wrong of him to do that, but we will see. I only say he is acting like a playoff contender because it doesn't seem everyone (Perry and Arte) are fully on board with that notion. Spending and signing didn't seem to indicate it was a "go-for-it" year. 

5 hours ago, BTH said:

The last thing I’m worried about is getting guys playing time.

If Adell is healthy the entire season and only has 200 PAs or whatever at season end, then we can talk.

Guys will get injured or struggle, and everyone will get plenty of playing time.

I get it, and it's very very early. But it speaks to a complete lack of direction with those two in particular. They didn't sign a single starter because they wanted to see if their own guys could bounce back under new coaching, and they're all still pretty young. They didn't sign a quality INF or JDM/Soler/Turner because, in theory, they wanted to free up at bats for quote "some guys that are out of options" (Perry). So to bring in Hicks when OF was your positional strength and you have two young talented guys that are out of options, just doesn't make sense. 

I get the premise of the article, but Ron Washington is certainly not managing like someone intent on "seeing what they have." Otherwise you're playing Adell and Moniak over a so far awful Aaron Hicks. And mixing Adell in with Sano, and finding ways to get Rengifo at bats too. He has like 15. And 5 hits. Ron is managing in reverse--my vets can be trusted, my young guys need to earn playing time. That's what playoff contenders do, hoping to get a spark or catch lightning with a young guy. 

Just to emphasize -- Adell and Moniak are OUT OF OPTIONS. They either sit the bench watching Hicks go 0-4 with 2 k's every night, or they play. They can't send them down to get at bats. It's just plain silly to have brought in Hicks if this was your goal all along. 

Hope we see Adell tomorrow. Glad to see Moniak drawing some walks. More he shows he can do that, the more he will get better pitches to hit. 

Not really understanding the Hicks thing. He's getting a lot of rope for a guy that has two young, out-of-options hungry guys behind him. Almost like the roles should be reversed--the young guys feeling the pressure of a vet looking to steal their time. He's not hitting and has struck out a ton. 

Lol

But really I think Ward could be a borderline All start this year. But what do they do with him? He's 30. Is he your LF for the next 4-5 years? 

The thing that struck me as I was watching this game was how 7-8-9 we went O'Hoppe, Adell, Neto. Those are 3 guys that can hit. If Rendon can turn these liners into hits, the lineup is actually pretty deep. And you can PH Sano/Adell against a lefty or Moniak against a RHP, and Rengifo is just sitting there also. It's interesting. 

Rendon is actually making good contact. I’m a little more annoyed about Adell losing ABs to Sano. But we will see. 

I’d rather wait until 20 games to overreact. The thing I don’t get is, “We aren’t signing any free agents because we have guys without options we want to see a lot of,” and then Sano and Hicks both against RHP. 

10 hours ago, Stradling said:

You wish we would let our prospects play?  That is exactly what has been happening for 3 years.  

In the minors. Without the discussion constantly centering around, “When will they make their debut?” EG this year if we need a starter, let Wantz, Soriano, Plesac, and Rosenberg pitch and let Dana and Bachman have 20 starts in the minors.