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MLB 2019: Mad Max Beyond Astrodome

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There is a section of Jays fans who think Charlie Montoyo should be sacked because of what they perceive to be him not having a clue what he's doing...and this is a team and fanbase that loved John Gibbons. I don't know what he was expected to do with a team of scrubs before they recalled Vlad, Biggio, Bichette and even afterwards, the Jays had no pitching and were already in too big of a hole.
 
There is a section of Jays fans who think Charlie Montoyo should be sacked because of what they perceive to be him not having a clue what he's doing...and this is a team and fanbase that loved John Gibbons. I don't know what he was expected to do with a team of scrubs before they recalled Vlad, Biggio, Bichette and even afterwards, the Jays had no pitching and were already in too big of a hole.

Well, yeah, that's what happens when the team hires new management (Shapiro) with the explicit instruction to cut costs and payroll, because Rogers doesn't need to field a competitive team due to rolling in money from ancillary sources.
 
The Oakland A's are playing 600 ball right now and still aren't guaranteed a playoff spot. Amazing.

Oakland makes it in, and the Indians with their .581 record are out. Still, I'm not sure I'd change a thing. It's always been about the divisions. The wild card just gives a couple more teams a chance at the post-season.
 
Oakland makes it in, and the Indians with their .581 record are out. Still, I'm not sure I'd change a thing. It's always been about the divisions. The wild card just gives a couple more teams a chance at the post-season.

I think the three divisions per league plus the two wild cards is pretty much a perfect setup. A genuinely great team shouldn't be denied the chance at the postseason just because they have the misfortune of being in the same division as a team that goes on a steamroller run like, say, the 2001 Mariners, but it's also not like MLB's postseason is set up like the NBA's, where literally half the teams in the league make the playoffs.
 
I think the three divisions per league plus the two wild cards is pretty much a perfect setup. A genuinely great team shouldn't be denied the chance at the postseason just because they have the misfortune of being in the same division as a team that goes on a steamroller run like, say, the 2001 Mariners, but it's also not like MLB's postseason is set up like the NBA's, where literally half the teams in the league make the playoffs.

Not forgetting the 2 month playoff run in the NBA. Thanksgiving day WS game anyone?
 
Well, yeah, that's what happens when the team hires new management (Shapiro) with the explicit instruction to cut costs and payroll, because Rogers doesn't need to field a competitive team due to rolling in money from ancillary sources.

Oh they know all that too. After the hockey team went out and threw money at the best coach they could find a couple years ago, Jays fans feel that they went the bargain route for Montoyo. I don't know what would make Rogers want to sell.
 
So after today, the Astros will have home field throughout all the playoffs and World Series (if they make it). Since Houston owns the tie breaker between them and LA, it doesn't matter what happens tomorrow. :)
 

Not surprising. I've said it, the oddball approach worked 15 & 16 because it was different, but it wore out pretty quickly. Players need a lot more of the firm-hand approach than Maddon, and apparently this year's hitting & pitching coaches were capable of providing.

Winning that WS was the most amazing thing in sports history, but how many years of diminishing returns does that buy you?

I'm hoping for a complete overhaul of the coaching staff. It's not like we have a Chris Bosio that would be worth carrying over.

It probably won't be Girardi, but it might be nice to see how much managing ability he really has outside of New York. He might be the hard nosed guy we need to get back on top. That and about a half dozen new pitchers.
 
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It probably won't be Girardi, but it might be nice to see how much managing ability he really has outside of New York. He might be the hard nosed guy we need to get back on top. That and about a half dozen new pitchers.

I mean, it's known that Girardi wants the job (and declined interviews last winter because he believed the Cubs job was going to open up after the team very publicly declined to give Maddon an extension), but I can't see him and Epstein getting along. Both are very intense, aggressive Type-A personalities, and Girardi is the only guy I can think of to get fired twice immediately after winning Manager of the Year (happened in Miami, too).

The true fact of the matter is that this season's faceplant was on the front office, too. They bound up a ton of money in bad bets (Chatwood, Morrow, Heyward, etc.), have failed to draft and develop anything resembling quality pitching for almost a decade now, and traded away everything not bolted on the walls of the farm for Quintana, Chapman and Justin fucking Wilson. Maddon was handed the exact same team that floundered last year, except with fucking Descalso and Brach tacked on, and asked to turn it around. Meanwhile, the Cardinals added Goldschmidt, the Brewers added Grandal, and the Reds added Gray, Puig and others. The Cubs stuck their fingers in their ears and screamed "95 WINS!!!" and plead poverty at anybody who pointed out the holes in the roster.

Ultimately, the quality of the new manager is going to be irrelevant if we get an offseason of Theo doing nothing but signing Castellanos and a fringe reliever, crying poor, and then starting next season with almost the same roster that's failed to win the division for two seasons now.

My legit guess for next Cubs manager is that it'll be an internal promotion of a yes-man who will do whatever the FO wants them to do, like David Ross, because Epstein and Hoyer love to huff their own farts about how smart they are. No way that actually go out and get Girardi or any other established guy who'd get all the analytics data from the FO and just immediately toss it in the trash.
 
The Angels have scheduled a press conference for noon Pacific tomorrow; belief around the league is that Ausmus is going to be fired and that they're already deep into discussions with Maddon.

Edit: David Ross says he wants the Cubs job. :barf:
 
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I mean, it's known that Girardi wants the job (and declined interviews last winter because he believed the Cubs job was going to open up after the team very publicly declined to give Maddon an extension), but I can't see him and Epstein getting along. Both are very intense, aggressive Type-A personalities, and Girardi is the only guy I can think of to get fired twice immediately after winning Manager of the Year (happened in Miami, too).

A shame, Girardi might be the guy we need, but won't get.

The true fact of the matter is that this season's faceplant was on the front office, too. They bound up a ton of money in bad bets (Chatwood, Morrow, Heyward, etc.), have failed to draft and develop anything resembling quality pitching for almost a decade now, and traded away everything not bolted on the walls of the farm for Quintana, Chapman and Justin fucking Wilson. Maddon was handed the exact same team that floundered last year, except with fucking Descalso and Brach tacked on, and asked to turn it around. Meanwhile, the Cardinals added Goldschmidt, the Brewers added Grandal, and the Reds added Gray, Puig and others. The Cubs stuck their fingers in their ears and screamed "95 WINS!!!" and plead poverty at anybody who pointed out the holes in the roster.

I won't deny a lot of bad signings and trades added to the misery. Plus we might have gotten Yelich without them crying poor. But the team we had on the field was better than the record indicated.

Ultimately, the quality of the new manager is going to be irrelevant if we get an offseason of Theo doing nothing but signing Castellanos and a fringe reliever, crying poor, and then starting next season with almost the same roster that's failed to win the division for two seasons now.

Unless there's better options than Castellanos, I think we should try to sign him, just not to another monster contract we can't afford.

My legit guess for next Cubs manager is that it'll be an internal promotion of a yes-man who will do whatever the FO wants them to do, like David Ross, because Epstein and Hoyer love to huff their own farts about how smart they are. No way that actually go out and get Girardi or any other established guy who'd get all the analytics data from the FO and just immediately toss it in the trash.

Ross is a good guy, and would probably be good at developing talent, but not the firm hand type of manager that we really need. Hoping Ricketts gets involved to balance out what you're pointing out about the other two.
 
Word is that the Red Sox are looking to shop Mookie Betts and decline JD Martinez's option, because despite being a billion-dollar franchise that prints money hand over fist and is a year removed from a World Series, of fucking course they want to slash payroll.

They also announced a ticket price increase.
 
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