Hot range takeaways for a lukewarm vacation season.
When Craig Counsell talked about “solving for wins” on the MLB winter conferences in Nashville, Tenn., I believed I had misheard him.
Then I noticed the brand new Chicago Cubs supervisor was merely talking a unique language, like Theo Epstein when the previous Cubs president arrived on the scene in 2011 and started utilizing phrases reminiscent of “parallel tracks” and groups “evolving” like “Galápagos Islands — that type of thing.”
“If you can get one player that adds up to a lot of wins, that’s helpful,” Counsell stated. “There’s no question about it. But you’re solving for wins and that’s a puzzle you’re putting together. That’s the hard part about roster building, and it’s the challenge that every team faces in an offseason with player movement.”
That puzzle-solving capability is what helped make Counsell one of many recreation’s most revered managers in Milwaukee — and now the richest in Chicago. But if the Cubs don’t herald a star starter or assist at first, third and middle, it merely would put extra concentrate on Counsell’s “solving” capability come opening day.
Doing extra with much less was form of his factor in Milwaukee. Would he need to comply with the identical script in Chicago?
Cubs followers don’t need to discover out.
The Cubs had but to make a major signing or deal as of Saturday, regardless of the pursuit of Shohei Ohtani and curiosity in Tyler Glasnow, each of whom can be employed by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There’s loads of time for President Jed Hoyer to make strikes, and free brokers Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery stay out there.
But after a lot speak about Ohtani, followers count on Hoyer to make no less than a few “name” signings as a comfort prize, and their impatience was exhibiting on social media.
Since MLB has no deadline for signings, free company may drag on into spring coaching for some gamers, significantly these represented by agent Scott Boras.
Bellinger, Chapman, Snell and Montgomery all occur to be in that unique membership.
Hoyer stated on the winter conferences that gamers “always want to have a job before Christmas,” which he known as a “natural” deadline. But that’s one week away, and the motion has been gradual, so don’t count on a mad rush of superstars just like the week earlier than the house owners lockout.
Hoyer dreamed of a winter through which a selected free-agency signing interval could be in place to assist transfer alongside the method. The synthetic deadline earlier than the house owners lockout in December 2021 spurred a lot motion.
“I’m sure the union would balk at it, but I know everyone would love that if there was a date beyond you couldn’t sign a major-league deal or couldn’t sign a multiyear deal,” Hoyer stated. “I’m sure that would spur activity and would give us our lives back.”
Hoyer laughed, understanding the reality: Being answerable for the Cubs means by no means getting your life again.
After a lifetime of listening to baseball folks converse — and generally misspeak — I’ve realized fairly a number of of them appear reluctant to confess once they’ve stated one thing silly.
But it occurs, even to the neatest males within the room.
Former Chicago Cubs supervisor David Ross bumped into such a state of affairs in September when the Cubs misplaced to the Pittsburgh Pirates to drop an important sequence of their stretch run for a wild-card spot.
“That’s not a good team that just took two out of three from us,” Ross stated afterward. “Or not our caliber of team, I believe.”
Ross was right in his evaluation, nevertheless it was additionally one thing higher off left unsaid.
The comment was throughout social media and shortly discovered its option to the Pirates clubhouse, the place outfielder Brian Reynolds informed the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “If we’re such a bad team, maybe he should have managed his team a little better and beat us.”
Ross went into apology mode the subsequent day, saying he texted Pirates supervisor Derek Shelton to let him know he was simply “frustrated after a game.”
Ross informed reporters he revered the Pirates and “thought I corrected myself within the context of talking to you guys,” including: “Part of this job, you’re not always going to be perfect in these (media sessions) and sometimes after a game postgame, you’re going to say things that probably don’t come out the right way and what you’re really truly feeling and the respect you have for everybody in this league.”
Uh, certain.
The information story had an appropriately quick shelf life, however you understand what occurred subsequent: The Cubs’ late-season collapse continued, they missed out on the postseason, Ross was fired and Counsell was employed on a document five-year, $40 million deal.
That stunning chain of occasions led to Pat Murphy, a baseball lifer and longtime bench coach below Counsell in Milwaukee, to get promoted to Brewers supervisor. Murphy, 65, has the troublesome activity of going from wing man to main man, one seat over in the identical dugout, and attempting to maintain the established order within the National League Central.
It was a small victory for these in baseball who wait their flip in a sport through which hiring managers with no expertise has change into commonplace.
But if didn’t take lengthy for Murphy to make his first verbal miscue. While praising the Brewers re-signing veteran lefty Wade Miley throughout the winter conferences, Murphy informed reporters: “A lot of these guys aren’t that smart, and he’s one of those guys getting smarter.”
Again, it might need been true however most likely was higher off left unsaid. If he had stated it in an workplace with a number of beat writers, Murphy may’ve caught his mistake and requested them to not use it of their reporting. But there was no security web right here, and the remark would quickly be dispersed on the web.
When requested a couple of minutes later what he meant by “a lot” of gamers not being “that smart,” Murphy admitted he had stepped right into a pile of his personal making.
“I was just throwing stuff out there,” he stated. “It was probably a stupid comment, to be honest with you.”
The request for forgiveness was refreshing to listen to. Everyone says one thing dumb generally and needs they might have it again. Murphy didn’t make any excuses and took accountability for what he stated.
Here’s hoping many others comply with his lead in 2024.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com