OnlyBucs

36080D05160E0E052500170453610 wrote: Great play by Marcano to end it. Very good game! Outstanding pitching, defense, timely hitting, contributions from the "kids."


Cherington’s foundational work through the past couple of years is beginning to pay off at about the time one would expect as the first group of youngsters are now here.  I’m starting to get excited by what lies ahead.
I never thought I would say this in 2022- Could we be buyers? No we won’t be. This is a nice little stretch here and it’s been fun to watch but this team wins no more then 70 games probably as it’s ceiling. Hopefully the young guys continue to come up like we have been seeing here recently and keep getting better so that they are better for next season and beyond when the team is expected to compete and be at or over .500.

0E29383C39241B2F383939245D0 wrote: Great play by Marcano to end it. Very good game! Outstanding pitching, defense, timely hitting, contributions from the "kids."


Cherington’s foundational work through the past couple of years is beginning to pay off at about the time one would expect as the first group of youngsters are now here.  I’m starting to get excited by what lies ahead.
I never thought I would say this in 2022- Could we be buyers? No we won’t be. This is a nice little stretch here and it’s been fun to watch but this team wins no more then 70 games probably as it’s ceiling. Hopefully the young guys continue to come up like we have been seeing here recently and keep getting better so that they are better for next season and beyond when the team is expected to compete and be at or over .500.


I agree, Was just thinking on the keyboard

102E2B23302828230326312275470 wrote: Great play by Marcano to end it. Very good game! Outstanding pitching, defense, timely hitting, contributions from the "kids."


Cherington’s foundational work through the past couple of years is beginning to pay off at about the time one would expect as the first group of youngsters are now here.  I’m starting to get excited by what lies ahead.
I never thought I would say this in 2022- Could we be buyers?


I still think the plan for this year is to be in a position for one more high draft pick. That’s why I think the team will be sellers at the Deadline. I wouldn’t be surprised if every older veteran is dealt away come August.

0C5A4C58574D5D565B4C7E59535F5752105D3E0 wrote: Great play by Marcano to end it. Very good game! Outstanding pitching, defense, timely hitting, contributions from the "kids."


Cherington’s foundational work through the past couple of years is beginning to pay off at about the time one would expect as the first group of youngsters are now here.  I’m starting to get excited by what lies ahead.
I never thought I would say this in 2022- Could we be buyers?


I still think the plan for this year is to be in a position for one more high draft pick.  That’s why I think the team will be sellers at the Deadline.  I wouldn’t be surprised if every older veteran is dealt away come August.


The subject of tanking is interesting. I've gone back and forth on it this season because of what has often looked like deliberately counterproductive decisions. But if they are trying to tank, they're doing a terrible job of it. Nearly a 3rd of the way thru the schedule they are only 4 games under .500. 10 teams have worse records. So what are the possible scenarios?



(1) Cherington and Shelton used suboptimal rosters and lineups but the players came thru anyway and won too often.



(2) Cherington and Shelton saw that their counterproductive strategies had not resulted in the desired losing and switched to a new strategy of trying to acclimate prospects into MLB with as much success as possible.



(3) There was never any attempt to tank and the team was victimized by poor decisions by Cherington and Shelton. And as more prospects make it to the MLB roster and contribute, there are fewer opportunities for poor managerial decisions.



I tend to go with (3). Cherington seems to have strengthened the roster with talented, enthusiastic prospects instead of the usual dumpster dives (Yu Chang notwithstanding) and this has resulted in fewer opportunities for the poor decisions that have marred Shelton's tenure to the extent that it has often looked like he isn't even trying to win. I believe that the roster has been improved to the extent that, despite Shelton's shortcomings, there is talent in the lineup and on the bench to win not too much less than half of their games. This looks good for the rebuilding effort and there will likely be some selling at the TDL to further strengthen the rebuild.

193439282F3E29696A5B0 wrote: Great play by Marcano to end it. Very good game! Outstanding pitching, defense, timely hitting, contributions from the "kids."


Cherington’s foundational work through the past couple of years is beginning to pay off at about the time one would expect as the first group of youngsters are now here.  I’m starting to get excited by what lies ahead.
I never thought I would say this in 2022- Could we be buyers?


I still think the plan for this year is to be in a position for one more high draft pick.  That’s why I think the team will be sellers at the Deadline.  I wouldn’t be surprised if every older veteran is dealt away come August.


The subject of tanking is interesting. I've gone back and forth on it this season because of what has often looked like deliberately counterproductive decisions. But if they are trying to tank, they're doing a terrible job of it. Nearly a 3rd of the way thru the schedule they are only 4 games under .500. 10 teams have worse records. So what are the possible scenarios?



(1) Cherington and Shelton used suboptimal rosters and lineups but the players came thru anyway and won too often.



(2) Cherington and Shelton saw that their counterproductive strategies had not resulted in the desired losing and switched to a new strategy of trying to acclimate prospects into MLB with as much success as possible.



(3) There was never any attempt to tank and the team was victimized by poor decisions by Cherington and Shelton. And as more prospects make it to the MLB roster and contribute, there are fewer opportunities for poor managerial decisions.



I tend to go with (3). Cherington seems to have strengthened the roster with talented, enthusiastic prospects instead of the usual dumpster dives (Yu Chang notwithstanding) and this has resulted in fewer opportunities for the poor decisions that have marred Shelton's tenure to the extent that it has often looked like he isn't even trying to win. I believe that the roster has been improved to the extent that, despite Shelton's shortcomings, there is talent in the lineup and on the bench to win not too much less than half of their games. This looks good for the rebuilding effort and there will likely be some selling at the TDL to further strengthen the rebuild.


I lean towards your first option.  I've said all along that the plan was for the Front Office not to win.  But the players aren't going to try to lose.  They want to win because that's what all players live for.



Some of the young talent BC has acquired is beginning to arrive for various reasons, either due to injury or underperformance by guys on the 26-man, or because they've shown they're ready to be here.  BC's unable to control any of those reasons.  Those new guys, given the opportunity, are performing well.  As long as they do, they deserve to stay up here and to remain in the line-up.  So if BC's plan gets an earlier start than he anticipated, I'm sure he'll live with that even if it costs the club a higher spot in the draft order next summer.



What I'm finding interesting is that the young guys seem to be pulling each other along.  They seem to be gaining confidence as a group.  It's like, altogether, they believe they belong here.  I don't want to get ahead of myself because they have a lot to learn yet and some amount of failure is inevitable for every player, but I'm becoming excited by what I'm seeing from them.  They don't seem afraid of the moment, maybe because they're going through it together.

6E382E3A352F3F34392E1C3B313D3530723F5C0 wrote: Great play by Marcano to end it. Very good game! Outstanding pitching, defense, timely hitting, contributions from the "kids."


Cherington’s foundational work through the past couple of years is beginning to pay off at about the time one would expect as the first group of youngsters are now here.  I’m starting to get excited by what lies ahead.
I never thought I would say this in 2022- Could we be buyers?


I still think the plan for this year is to be in a position for one more high draft pick.  That’s why I think the team will be sellers at the Deadline.  I wouldn’t be surprised if every older veteran is dealt away come August.


The subject of tanking is interesting. I've gone back and forth on it this season because of what has often looked like deliberately counterproductive decisions. But if they are trying to tank, they're doing a terrible job of it. Nearly a 3rd of the way thru the schedule they are only 4 games under .500. 10 teams have worse records. So what are the possible scenarios?



(1) Cherington and Shelton used suboptimal rosters and lineups but the players came thru anyway and won too often.



(2) Cherington and Shelton saw that their counterproductive strategies had not resulted in the desired losing and switched to a new strategy of trying to acclimate prospects into MLB with as much success as possible.



(3) There was never any attempt to tank and the team was victimized by poor decisions by Cherington and Shelton. And as more prospects make it to the MLB roster and contribute, there are fewer opportunities for poor managerial decisions.



I tend to go with (3). Cherington seems to have strengthened the roster with talented, enthusiastic prospects instead of the usual dumpster dives (Yu Chang notwithstanding) and this has resulted in fewer opportunities for the poor decisions that have marred Shelton's tenure to the extent that it has often looked like he isn't even trying to win. I believe that the roster has been improved to the extent that, despite Shelton's shortcomings, there is talent in the lineup and on the bench to win not too much less than half of their games. This looks good for the rebuilding effort and there will likely be some selling at the TDL to further strengthen the rebuild.


I lean towards your first option.  I've said all along that the plan was for the Front Office not to win.  But the players aren't going to try to lose.  They want to win because that's what all players live for.



Some of the young talent BC has acquired is beginning to arrive for various reasons, either due to injury or underperformance by guys on the 26-man, or because they've shown they're ready to be here.  BC's unable to control any of those reasons.  Those new guys, given the opportunity, are performing well.  As long as they do, they deserve to stay up here and to remain in the line-up.  So if BC's plan gets an earlier start than he anticipated, I'm sure he'll live with that even if it costs the club a higher spot in the draft order next summer.



What I'm finding interesting is that the young guys seem to be pulling each other along.  They seem to be gaining confidence as a group.  It's like, altogether, they believe they belong here.  I don't want to get ahead of myself because they have a lot to learn yet and some amount of failure is inevitable for every player, but I'm becoming excited by what I'm seeing from them.  They don't seem afraid of the moment, maybe because they're going through it together.
Agreed- better things are on the horizon

Geez, Dave. That's the problem.  They're on the horizon!



:))

5164737378417373787F73160 wrote: Geez, Dave. That's the problem.  They're on the horizon!



:))
It was good enough for Captain Jack Sparrow, and he's the best pirate anyone has ever seen.

1E383F2A232F382E264D0 wrote: Geez, Dave. That's the problem.  They're on the horizon!



:))
It was good enough for Captain Jack Sparrow, and he's the best pirate anyone has ever seen.
That's right, Surg. If Weenie had paid attention in his World History, he would have learned that Rome wasn't built in a day!!

My history book says that if Bobulus Nuttingnus was in charge of building Rome, it would still be under construction, and he'd be telling everyone that it's on some horizon.