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Don Walcott

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Everything posted by Don Walcott

  1. Don Walcott
    I don't recall saying anything about Molitor's use of Grossman as opposed to Morrison and Buxton. In an attempt to be clear, all I said was that it wasn't Molitor's fault that he has Grossman on the team, and that having Grossman in and of itself is very limiting to a manager. And just in case that point is not clear, it's because Grossman is very limited defensively and doesn't make up for his defensive limitations with anything special offensively.
  2. Don Walcott
    I didn't say I would be okay with Molitor advocating for Grossman. But, assuming he did, the advocacy would have had to have been at Clarence Darrow levels for me to excuse the FO for making that decision because of Molitor's advocacy. We don't actually know who advocated for Grossman, but as Jimmer said, we do know for sure that the FO kept him on the team. And they didn't have to keep him if they didn't want him. Molitor, on the other hand, doesn't have that authority, nor that responsibility. Of course, if you want to make roster construction Molitor's fault in addition to managerial responsibilities, then there's no argument that he's been terrible. I choose not to criticize Molitor for GM responsibilities unless and until they give him a new job title.
  3. Don Walcott
    If the FO sat in a room with Molitor all offseason and decided against going after a free agent to replace Grossman on the roster because Molitor advocated for him, I’m very disappointed in the FO.
  4. Don Walcott
    First t-shirt with a name on it I’ve ever had, as a Father’s Day gift (at my request).
  5. Don Walcott
    1) Wrong. Magill pitched 12 times in his first 30 days with the team. Then, in June, he got pounded as a long reliever, which probably led to him not pitching much in the beginning of July. He's pitched 10 times in a more traditional role in the last 31 days. This is a complaint that only seems valid because it's repeated so many times. 2) I honestly have no idea whether Molitor takes responsibility for his decisions, and I never said anything to imply that he was or was not taking responsibility. But if the decision he has to make is whether to put Belisle or Magill into a tie game in the 10th at Fenway, he's been set up to fail. There have been a lot of times this year when it seems there is no good option in the bullpen, which makes it easy for critics to claim that he made the wrong decision after the fact. And if he's not listening to his bullpen coach and pitching coach about who is ready to pitch at any given time, and just making decisions on his own, then that would be problematic.
  6. Don Walcott
    I understand your point. But assuming Molitor was stuck with Grossman by the FO, he has to play him, partly because that’s the directive from the FO, and partly because he has limited options. (Partly because having Grossman on the roster is, in itself, limiting.)
  7. Don Walcott
    I honestly have no idea what you are talking about.
  8. Don Walcott
    I think the one phrase you critiqued is at least close to accurate, if not accurate. I wasn't attempting to defend Molitor's use of the bullpen completely. I have been and continue to be critical of his use of the bullpen. However, I do believe the FO also has some responsibility for giving Molitor the players he needs to have a good bullpen. You point out how much Magill was used. That's one guy, and you have no idea whether he would have gotten the job done whenever you wanted him to pitch. You also don't know to what extent our relievers pitched poorly or got hurt as a result of being overused. What we do know is that the talent in the bullpen was never very good, and that's not Molitor's fault. We also know that we did not have someone like Big Erv to eat up innings as a starter, and our starters have not been going very deep into games, which has required a lot more innings from the bullpen. That also is not Molitor's fault. And at least one post here opines that Molitor hasn't pulled starters quickly enough, which would have required even more innings from the bullpen. And to the extent he had people to consult about it, they were the FO's guys. If neither the pitching coach nor the bullpen coach ever voiced an opinion about the overuse of relievers (assuming that was actually the case), that's a coaching staff problem as well. There is blame to spread around, and Molitor isn't the only person to blame for the use of the bullpen.
  9. Don Walcott
    Has Molitor had a say in his coaching staff? It seems like the FO has been choosing his staff for him. In which case, the FO should probably bear more responsibility for some of the sloppy play we've seen and some of the failure to develop players. I'd also defend Molitor's lineup decisions and bullpen usage by pointing out that he is using what the FO makes available to him. I'm not sure how much input he has into who is on the 25-man, but for position players, the options have been severely limited this year. The bullpen talent has also been limited, and he no longer has Pressly, Duke and Rodney. I doubt he's responsible for Belisle being on the team, and he tried his best to not use him in high leverage situations. However, in Boston when we traded Pressly right before the game, it gave Molitor very little to work with, and Belisle was needed. I blame that one on the FO. I do think that managers can have a big impact on the success of the club. I would point to Bud Black taking over in Colorado as a great example of this. I also agree that it's hard to quantify the manager's impact without a lot more access than any of us has to the team and the decision-making processes. I wouldn't be upset with Molitor coming back next year. Continuity could be a good thing. He knows this team, and they know him. He knows our division rivals very well by now. He's implemented shifting, and appears to have an open mind to doing things differently. So if he works well with the FO, they might be better off keeping him than upsetting the apple cart before next season. However, it could be that the FO thinks that change is what is best and what is needed. If they make that change, there will be a lot of pressure on the new manager to produce better results. The new manager may want his own coaching staff as well. The pressure to succeed could be a good thing, especially because there will be even more pressure on the FO to set up the team for success. I'm fine with either option, and trust that the FO is in a better position to make this call than any of us. However, my patience with the FO will wear thin if we don't make some major signings this off-season, with a ton of room in the budget. Whoever we have as a manager next year will perform much better with better players at their disposal. And if the FAs don't work, we can dump salaries before the trade deadline and bolster the farm system, like we did this year. Ultimately, given the unexpected crap he's had to deal with this year, and how the team seems to be playing better after the trade deadline, I'd give Molitor a B.
  10. Don Walcott
    Okay, I'll bite: Who is on first for Whom?
  11. Don Walcott
    Nice play, Jorge. Thanks for ending it that way.
  12. Don Walcott
    Has anyone else been drinking too much tonight? Other than the Twins and White Sox, of course.
  13. Don Walcott
    This is great intro music in the Twins broadcast. Unfortunately, they missed the perfect comic opportunity with their choice of highlights.
  14. Don Walcott
    Annnnd, Polanco is thrown out at second. That wasn’t at all predictable.
  15. Don Walcott
    To quote Bert. (Quoting myself to be clear about that).
  16. Don Walcott
    Must be a Puerto Rican thing!!
  17. Don Walcott
    Walking Mauer to get to Rosario . . . . That’s just the kind of sane decision-making this game was crying out for.
  18. Don Walcott
    I love this game! The only thing missing for me, and I’m waiting and hoping for this to happen, is for a base runner to just suddenly run out into the outfield for no reason whatsoever.
  19. Don Walcott
    It will take less time to wait for the replays on mlb than it will take to explain those plays.
  20. Don Walcott
    Way to go, Trevor!
  21. Don Walcott
    Classic ALCentral matchup.
  22. Don Walcott
    Queue the circus music.
  23. Don Walcott
    Lol!! Ninja’d
  24. Don Walcott
    This White Sox team seems top drawer!
  25. Don Walcott
    Have fun posting to yourself then, Snepp!
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