Francona

[dirtdogman5]

Quite frankly, Terry Francona is a mystery to me right now. I know he was formerly the manager of a sub-.500 Phillies team and is a players' manager, but other than that I don't know too much about him. Managers of course don't matter as much in the AL than in the NL, but don't tell Grady Little that. Nobody can be as bad as Gump, so I'm expecting good things out of Francona. LIke our first World Series title in 86 years.

[FourZeroSix]

Originally posted by dirtdogman5@Apr 3 2004, 12:43 PM
Quite frankly, Terry Francona is a mystery to me right now. I know he was formerly the manager of a sub-.500 Phillies team and is a players' manager, but other than that I don't know too much about him. Managers of course don't matter as much in the AL than in the NL, but don't tell Grady Little that. Nobody can be as bad as Gump, so I'm expecting good things out of Francona. LIke our first World Series title in 86 years.
I don't quite know what to think of him either. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how he goes about managing in regular-season and postseason games to really form an opinion on him. What I do know is, if the Red Sox win the World Series, he won't be getting most of the credit, and if they don't, it will probably be all his fault...lol

Curt said he can handle the pressure, so....

[yeszir]

Just so long as he knows to take out Pedro in the 8th, he's fine with me

[FourZeroSix]

Originally posted by yeszir@Apr 3 2004, 01:35 PM
Just so long as he knows to take out Pedro in the 8th, he's fine with me
Pedro doesn't always have to come out in the 8th, it's all relative to how he's pitching. If he's throwing a shutout, you leave him in the game...build up his durability... if he gets shaky in the 7th (like Game 7), then you take him out. Otherwise, don't hold him back from building his body up, especially when he is pitching excellent.

[yeszir]

I was half kidding, I know its all relative to the game.

[CalvnHobs6]

I'm not worried about Francona. He already made a great decision switching Manny and Nomar in the batting order, something that should have been done a while ago. The players seem to like him, especiall Schilling, so I'll just take his word for it. Hopefully he's not too nice.

[Benny9Sox7]

I too dont kno wat to think about him. i mean like ddm said about him being a players manager and manager of a sub .500 team but he also has a better team with the redsox... all i kno is this season should b interesting

[FourZeroSix]

Originally posted by yeszir@Apr 3 2004, 01:55 PM
I was half kidding, I know its all relative to the game.
Some people don't. Why can't they realize it all has to do with Effectiveness and Pitch Count? Innings aren't set in stone. Some nights Pedro will throw the same number of pitches in a 6-inning performance as he would in a complete game.

[Sinix]

Who cares about the sub .500 record (well I guess a lot of people do)? He's here, with an awesome ball club. I'm expecting good things this season.

[BSM]

Well just have to see how well he can hold the club house together, and how well he succeeds with the team. And here is another thing that might come into mind. If a BoSox manager is fiery, the majority of the fans will be prone to like him, if he's more laid back however, the majority might be prone to dislike him.

[RedSoxRooter]

Well, he's already made three moves I don't like...

The big one being that game in Baltimore where he used up all his pitchers waaaay before he had to. It was as if he never figured the game could go into extra innings. It totally screwed the staff up for a few games. McCarty pitching in the home opener say enough???? I'd say that move alone possibly cost the Sox 2 games.

Also in Baltimore, why replace Manny (at third!) for a pinch runner in the 8th inning of a tie game??? Enough of that.

The last is his refusal to pitch Pedro against the Yankees. I get the feeling Management pushed him to avoid it. How would the Yankees spanking Pedro look to a national audience on Fox? Not good. I do understand this. But he IS our Ace and if he expects to be payed like one, he should be forced to pitch in the clutch and not have Management worried. In the end it was Frank's call and I think it's a bad one.

[meliaant]

Originally posted by Benny9Sox7@Apr 3 2004, 03:26 PM
I too dont kno wat to think about him. i mean like ddm said about him being a players manager and manager of a sub .500 team but he also has a better team with the redsox... all i kno is this season should b interesting
Look at Torre's record before the Yankees, it was abismal...it all depends on the players & how they relate to the manager and his style...

[RedSoxRooter]

Originally posted by RedSoxRooter@Apr 15 2004, 10:32 AM
How would the Yankees spanking Pedro look to a national audience on Fox? Not good. I do understand this. But he IS our Ace and if he expects to be payed like one, he should be forced to pitch in the clutch and not have Management worried. In the end it was Frank's call and I think it's a bad one.
Put a feather into Managment's cap for this one. Imagine the crap-storm Pedro's start tonight would have caused in Boston if it were against the Yankees on national TV???

They obviously know Pedro's not at 100% (or even 75%) and THAT's why they flat out refused to pitch him against the Yankees.

Now, with the new rotation, you can look at it Pedro, Wake, Schilling, Lowe, Kim OR you can look at it Schilling, Lowe, Kim, Pedro and Wake. Either way's not bad, but who now do you really want to start a series? I still say if the Sox want to call Pedro on his Free Agency, they should have pitched him on Friday, but Francona didn't do it. Bad move - unless they know for sure they are not gonna sign him anyway and have no need for leverage.

And to Pedro, yeah it's cold and you can't get loose. YOU PITCH FOR BOSTON! You shouldn't want to re-sign anyway. You should pitch in a dome.

:angry:

[RedSoxRooter]

Ok, I will bitch again... Francona puts in Faulke in the 8th inning of a tie game. He obviously thinks a tie game at home in the 8th statistially can be won by the home team. Maybe true, we'll see. But this is no different than that game in Baltimore. What's after Faulke that can't come before him in the 8th or 9th??? Who pitches a tie game in the 10th?? A closer is a closer. A setup man is just that!

This whole "use the closer in the 7th" thing is going to kill me all year.

[TheFens]

Originally posted by RedSoxRooter@Apr 15 2004, 10:16 PM
This whole "use the closer in the 7th" thing is going to kill me all year.
Ah, but the question is: will it kill the teams winning percentage? If not, i cant complain. :D

[RedSoxRooter]

I think it already has (see the 2 losses based on bullpen tiredness). Back to tonight, the game's not over yet (or the season), but I'm wondering why we never gave thought to Mazzilli... He's a winner, proven too. He has Yankee "inside info". Does the Red Sox hatrid of the Yankees cloud what Theo is doing? We NEVER deal with them, and I like that but.... What could Mazzilli do with this lineup?- we'll never know.


uhh...


Mueller just flied out to the track - great. I thought it was over. DAMMIT.

[RedSoxRooter]

Well, great. Arroyo is in (#5 scheduled for Patriots day...) and he just gave up a homer. WOW, O's have their "closer" up - I'm not feeling so good. BTW, if the Sox tie it in the bottom of the 11th, who's gonna pitch the 12th?

BTW, the Yanks are in town tomorrow.

[RedSoxRooter]

Now Castillo's on. WOOHOO. Frankona is an idiot.

What I love the most now is that, even though they had the last 3 days off, the bullpen will be gassed again before the second game of the Yankee series. Great.

[roary]

Francona's worrying me. I just made a post in today's game thread about that dumbass decision to leave Williamson in against Posada. Nothing bad came of it, but it was still a bonehead idea in my mind.

[yeszir]

Like RedSoxRooter just pointed out, he's really really overusing the bullpen. He seems to be bringing in an uneccesary amount of pitchers when one or two could and would get the job done nicely.