Comments on: More food for thought: the Rookie of the Year Awards http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/ Media, Baseball, Boston, the Red Sox, Music, Literature, and Mnookins Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:43:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: johnw http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2195 johnw Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:12:27 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2195 Some teams are consistently successful at bringing their prospects to the major-league level, while others seem to consistently fail. And it isn't simply a matter of market size or intensity of fan base and media coverage. Detroit, Oakland, and Florida have a high success rate. They don't have the big-city, big-media scrutiny; but neither do Kansas City, Pittsburgh, or San Francisco. The latter franchises rarely manage to turn potential into big-league performance. So what do the former teams do? What does, to take one obvious example, Dave Dombrowski know that could be put to use in Boston? He is a proven a master of talent development in two cities: Miami and Detroit. I remember a Cla Meredith comment to the effect that he never got any useful instruction or advice in Boston; he blossomed into a first-class reliever in San Diego. Set aside the market differences; what can the Sox do to ease the transition from minors to majors? I'm sure management is working very hard to answer that question. It's probably the reason for the recent changes on the coaching staff as well as in scouting. Some teams are consistently successful at bringing their prospects to the major-league level, while others seem to consistently fail. And it isn’t simply a matter of market size or intensity of fan base and media coverage.

Detroit, Oakland, and Florida have a high success rate. They don’t have the big-city, big-media scrutiny; but neither do Kansas City, Pittsburgh, or San Francisco. The latter franchises rarely manage to turn potential into big-league performance. So what do the former teams do? What does, to take one obvious example, Dave Dombrowski know that could be put to use in Boston? He is a proven a master of talent development in two cities: Miami and Detroit.

I remember a Cla Meredith comment to the effect that he never got any useful instruction or advice in Boston; he blossomed into a first-class reliever in San Diego. Set aside the market differences; what can the Sox do to ease the transition from minors to majors? I’m sure management is working very hard to answer that question. It’s probably the reason for the recent changes on the coaching staff as well as in scouting.

]]> By: Ogie Oglethorpe http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2184 Ogie Oglethorpe Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:03:54 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2184 This post hits the nail on the head. The early returns on some of these moves have not been good but it IS still early. Pedro sadly has broken down. If we shelled out all of that cash for a season and a half the people who were complaining about letting him go would be saying that the Sox are not a forward thinking club. The Damon move may end up the same way. Crisp had a bad year in '06 but does that mean that he won't rebound in '07? Two seasons ago Carlos Beltran was almost run out of Queens, this past season he had a MVP type of a year. I know that Crisp isn't the same level of a talent as Beltran but the point is some of these guys need to get acclimated. I think Beckett will continue to get better. He has the talent, he just needs to make some adjustments. He also held up fairly well under a ton of scrutiny/pressure. He may have snapped at a couple of reporters but that is understandable. Now Matsuzaka will have a ton of expectations/pressure/scrutiny himself but our rotation also has Schill, Beckett, Papelbon and Wake. He won't be expected to do the majority of the heavy lifting his first season. He could conceivably be the 4th starter. Not a bad way to easy him in to the MLB and Boston. When we brought Pedro in here, he had to carry the whole load. It is a huge difference. This post hits the nail on the head. The early returns on some of these moves have not been good but it IS still early. Pedro sadly has broken down. If we shelled out all of that cash for a season and a half the people who were complaining about letting him go would be saying that the Sox are not a forward thinking club. The Damon move may end up the same way. Crisp had a bad year in ‘06 but does that mean that he won’t rebound in ‘07? Two seasons ago Carlos Beltran was almost run out of Queens, this past season he had a MVP type of a year. I know that Crisp isn’t the same level of a talent as Beltran but the point is some of these guys need to get acclimated. I think Beckett will continue to get better. He has the talent, he just needs to make some adjustments. He also held up fairly well under a ton of scrutiny/pressure. He may have snapped at a couple of reporters but that is understandable. Now Matsuzaka will have a ton of expectations/pressure/scrutiny himself but our rotation also has Schill, Beckett, Papelbon and Wake. He won’t be expected to do the majority of the heavy lifting his first season. He could conceivably be the 4th starter. Not a bad way to easy him in to the MLB and Boston. When we brought Pedro in here, he had to carry the whole load. It is a huge difference.

]]> By: Mr. Furious http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2182 Mr. Furious Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:22:08 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2182 HFXBOB, I remember that Simmons column... Seth, I would not exactly say the Yankees got four pitchers for <i>free</i>... In the case of the Tigers, they did give up Gary Sheffield. Now, it's true they were in the rare position of wanting to jettison one of the game's premier offensive players. They still gave up a monster for prospects...IF the trade was going the other way people would be crying foul. Ironically, I don't ike this deal as a Tigers fan. they gave up too much youth for too old of a player who is also coming off a major injury. <i>Well, it was free in the sense that the Yankees had no intention of picking up his option and only did so because they were going to trade him. -- Seth</i> HFXBOB, I remember that Simmons column…

Seth, I would not exactly say the Yankees got four pitchers for free… In the case of the Tigers, they did give up Gary Sheffield. Now, it’s true they were in the rare position of wanting to jettison one of the game’s premier offensive players. They still gave up a monster for prospects…IF the trade was going the other way people would be crying foul.

Ironically, I don’t ike this deal as a Tigers fan. they gave up too much youth for too old of a player who is also coming off a major injury.

Well, it was free in the sense that the Yankees had no intention of picking up his option and only did so because they were going to trade him.
– Seth

]]> By: HFXBOB http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2156 HFXBOB Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:24:27 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/11/14/more-food-for-thought-the-rookie-of-the-year-awards/#comment-2156 Anyone who criticizes this deal now has to be honest about what they thought when it was made. I liked it. You know who really liked it? Theo-knocker Bill Simmons, that's who. Simmons wrote an article then headed 'Ten things I like about Josh'. The opening paragraph: ---You know when Ebert and Roeper slap movies with their coveted "Thumbs way up!" tag? That's how I feel about Boston's trade for Josh Beckett, which somehow managed to wipe away all the rancor and hostility from the Epstein-Lucchino debacle faster than you could say, "Allwegaveupwere2prospects?" Now I can stuff my face on Thanksgiving in peace.--- You can't get the rest of the article unless you're an 'Insider' subscriber, but I remember clearly one thing Simmons did was produce a long list of the Sox most highly touted prospects of the past 20 years or so, and it was amazing what forgotten names most of them were. Of course when the prospects throw no-hitters and win Rookie of the Year it can change the hindsight perspective. I'll be watching you on this one, Bill. Anyone who criticizes this deal now has to be honest about what they thought when it was made. I liked it. You know who really liked it? Theo-knocker Bill Simmons, that’s who. Simmons wrote an article then headed ‘Ten things I like about Josh’. The opening paragraph:

—You know when Ebert and Roeper slap movies with their coveted “Thumbs way up!” tag? That’s how I feel about Boston’s trade for Josh Beckett, which somehow managed to wipe away all the rancor and hostility from the Epstein-Lucchino debacle faster than you could say, “Allwegaveupwere2prospects?” Now I can stuff my face on Thanksgiving in peace.—

You can’t get the rest of the article unless you’re an ‘Insider’ subscriber, but I remember clearly one thing Simmons did was produce a long list of the Sox most highly touted prospects of the past 20 years or so, and it was amazing what forgotten names most of them were. Of course when the prospects throw no-hitters and win Rookie of the Year it can change the hindsight perspective. I’ll be watching you on this one, Bill.

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