Brownie19

In my opinion, the role of a coach is to be there to support the players. Players decide how much, or how little support they need at the ML level. If the team sucks, the primary reason is because the players suck and you analyze whether or not you think they'll improve, or you move them. I understand why teams fire coaches - I just think fans grossly overestimate the impact they have on the players and team.

When the players fail - you get rid of the players.

You mean McMahon has regressed back to his career norms? Shocking from a 29 year old hitter with almost a 30% k rate.

I've told this before, but I know one of the Leafs skating coaches quite well. He says there are SEVERAL players who refuse to work with team officials. He says he sees videos of those players skating with other "personal" coaches and he sees them ignoring their weaknesses all the time. Most of them just want "yes men" who just tell them what they want to hear because they don't want to hear the truth. He also sees all kinds of pros who don't put in the time and effort to get the most out of their abilities. They get into booze, drugs, girls, etc. He says at the end of the day, it's up to the players and there's only so much he can do. I can't imagine how annoying it must be to hear fans screaming "fire the assistant coaches" when the team isn't having success. I'm pretty sure this similar experience spans across several different professional sports.

How about the players themselves? I don't understand why fans wouldn't start there.

I don't understand why anyone would want Ryan McMahon. He's essentially IKF who's locked up for 3 more years at $11.7M AAV. People HATED us taking IKF for 2 years at $7.5M AAV. He's a career 90 wRC+ hitter. I'm not sure I want him started at 3rd base if Colorado paid his entire contract. I think I'd rather platoon Ernie and Barger.

It's almost like Rogers knows what they are doing...

I said this when he was first acquired. The good news is he's also similar to Teo (albeit he's left handed). He's a high upside lottery ticket.

1. You're assuming all players accept guidance and direction from the team's coaching staff. This isn't true. It's not true in baseball or hockey from what I've read and heard. It's known that the Jays have flown in Vlad's team of relatives because he generally refuses to entertain suggestions from the Jays. To what level? I'm not 100% sure, but definitely mechanics related. I'm not entirely sure if this is still the case, or if Vlad has opened more recently. There are lots of professional athletes who only "trust" a select few (those who they've had success with in the past). 2. AA was on the Fan 590 a few months ago and when asked about their offensive woes, he said "if we knew what was wrong, we'd have fixed it already". I mean I guess you could conclude that AA and his coaching staff are all just "bad coaches" because they can't identify and/or fix the issue...but I somehow doubt that's true. To me, that was more clear evidence that A LOT of his is outside of the coaches control. The last time I raised this, I was told "it's just a SSS"....but the Braves offense has actually gotten worse and AA is now so desperate for a solution to their offensive struggles that he had to go trade for a 2nd fulltime DH in Soler. I simply think the impact of hitting and pitching coaches (along with all their supplemental coaches) is a lot less than most fans believe. I also say this as someone who's EXTREMELY passionate about coaching.

People were definitely claiming that new coaching philosophy (Donny Baseball?) was a root cause of the offensive woes last year (and early this year). I agree with you - we have the same hitting coach we did when we were a top 3 offense in baseball in 2021-22. It makes absolutely no sense for him to implement massive changes. Nobody watches a team be an offensive juggernaut and goes "we should really change it all up and do the complete opposite". Now do they need to keep up to speed with new trends? Sure, it doesn't change so fast that you go from great to s*** in the matter of 6 months. The Braves are another example of an offense that goes from great to s*** in the matter of a year for no apparent reason. There are all kinds of factors involved in something like that. Suggesting the coaches/FO are the primary reason and should all be fired because of it is just bizarre.

Didn't AA inherit a stocked farm system? He's kind of driven it into the ground hasn't he? If they didn't win that World Series, I wonder how fans would view him right now...

I can't imagine the Bisons games would be any different.

Probably better coaching. Telling them to hit it harder and where there aren't any defenders.

Not a chance. As soon as we saw Vlad in 2022, the FO made the right call to wait this out longer. If Vlad repeated 2021, or had a season like this current one, then yes - but there were REAL questions as to whether Vlad was elite and worthy of a long term commitment.

Just say you'd trade Vlad then...

I would not want to give Adames 6 or 7 years at $150-$175M Not for a guy who's like a 110 wRC+ hitter over the past 3 years. This has Dansby Swanson written all over it.

Man - two of my all time favourite hitters to watch. Edgar and Papi were incredible.

Nah man. That's weak. Don't be a snowflake sheep man.

Regardless of whether you're banned or not - we've been through this before. Why can't you just choose to use another word? It's not difficult and would make you look like less of an *******. Are you some word vigilante - out to save all the special words you used as a kid before they became offensive (or society finally grew the balls to tell you they are offensive)? Do you not care that the word retard is hurtful to the handicapped community? Or do you just not give a f*** if calling someone retarded hurts the feelings of some 12 year old handicapped kid who's already got a ton of challenges in his life. Is that the type of guy you are or want to be known as? You have no idea if there are people on this board who are handicapped or who have children or loved ones that are handicapped. It's just so f***ing ignorant man.

Pitchers are just so frustrating. Teams can lineup a f***ton of depth and have it all blow up in their faces. Look at what the Dodgers are going through this year and they're a top FO/franchise in the league. It's crazy to see.

I think this elite defense is what could separate him (especially from a Tatis, who was never going to stick there). Fair point about Elly - they'll be fun to watch over the next 15 years. Also a fair point about Witt's plate discipline, but he's been BB's up, K's down all 3 years now...so improving in that area.

1. Developing talent is going to be required either way. 2. You can hold all the impending FA's to field a "solid" team next year and then sell them at the deadline. There is risk in this and potential that you don't get as much for them as you could this offseason. Also potential you could get more (the markets at the deadline changes often). Could this approach hinder our path back to winning a division title? It could yes - but I'm not sure how "much" it would to give any opinion as to whether that's a good or bad idea. It might not be as much as you think - and thus it might be something that Ownership is comfortable and the FO is comfortable with as they'd prefer to build a "winning culture" and value that benefit as much, if not more, than the added benefit of tearing the team down more, or faster. There are lots of examples of teams that re-set the franchise without tearing the team down to the bare bones. 3. The Vlad/Bo decisions are separate from the rest of the team IMO. They are very important. Personally, I could see them extend Vlad this offseason and them keeping Bo up to the trade deadline. He'll be motivated as s*** and if he rebounds, should provide more value then, than he will during this offseason (after such a brutal year).

How good is Bobby Witt Jr. going to be? What an incredible season he's having as a 24 year old. I think there's a possibility we're watching the start of a career that could end with him being known as the greatest SS in MLB history. That might need an asterisks beside A-Rod who only played half his career at SS and full of PEDs. I also discount Honus Wagner because that was like 7 light years ago.

I agree with this. And to be honest, there's probably a lot of "pro's" to this approach (v. a full teardown where you don't try to win for 3-4 years). Build a winning culture. I think DickPole has spoken to this well in the past. It just aligns with the new reno's too well for them not to take this approach (IMO).

That is crazy. All well Jordan Montgomery is rocking an ERA over 6.50 (through 15 starts) and Eduardo Rodriguez hasn't pitched for them. They've also given Slade Cecconi 13 starts and his ERA is about 6. Sewald hasn't been good for them either and Carroll's wRC+ is still <90. It is pretty remarkable they're winning this much!