Again, where does it say the grade is for the results THIS season? How can you say the plan isn't working when the plan is only beginning? If we don't go to the WS this fall it doesn't mean the plan isn't working, it only means it hasn't worked yet. Since last season we've dropped Crawford, Rollins, and Guerrero, among others. They've been replaced by Trace, Seager, and Pederson. That's just the first wave of youth, more will follow. The pitchers that were added are for the most part stop gaps until that wave of youth arrives, as Urias has done a bit prematurely. Sticking to a plan is the only way to know if a plan works. Having a new plan every year is a sure sign of poor planning.
It's called a pivot, and companies do it all the time to succeed and grow, especially in tech. You recall Apple pivoted to cellphones and tablets instead of desktops. That's not poor planning, that's breaking the mold. HP didn't and look where they are.
Except that we have clearly demonstrated proof that Apple GETS THE JOB DONE. They make fat fistfuls of cash selling the slickest telecomm on the planet. They are smart and they produce #1 results. Reliably. Repeatedly. Exactly how does that relate to the Dodgers? Apple pivots. The Dodgers.. well they slide. They stumble. They balk. Then they waffle and blame those departed while praising future farm positioning . Then they hire broken wing pitchers hoping for a bargain in the repair bin while another year slides away. Oh yeah I said that they slide didn't I?
The issue about pivoting was to illustrate the point that not all plans are meant to be kept if there are problems to the plan or you see an opportunity to capitalize on a window. Just keeping to a plan for the plan's sake is not an admirable trait. You need to be flexible, not rigid. Apple by no means was a guarantee to succeed in its mobile strategy when Steve Jobs came. In fact they had one foot in the grave. So when they pivoted, it was with great risk. Does it take good leadership? Yes, which I thought we had in the Guggs. But maybe Farhan and Freidman are not it? Who knows. But if they are as smart as they say they are, they should be able to pivot and take advantage of this window in time when we have the best pitcher in baseball. Best for the past few years. The risk of not pivoting? Look at HP. Long known for the "HP Way", they were the paradigm tech company. They were known for executing on new businesses. But they got stuck in their own thinking and got left in the dust. They can't pivot now even if they tried, and their window into the mobile world shut tight when they shutdown their Palm business. That is the price of waiting too long because of your "plans." This sums up the Dodgers is some ways. Used to being the west coast power, owner after owner just used the team as a money bank....knew people would still come....and hey, everyone gets lucky sometimes...."we're the Dodgers!" Well it doesn't work that way, and hasn't for decades. Just frustrated.
As a POINT OF REFERENCE AND NOT A DIRECT COMPARISON OF TALENT Theo Epstein was hired by the Cubs in 20111 and they got really good in 2015 (BUT not a champion yet) which is 4 years. Friedman took over in 2014 using my fantastic math skills that would mean 2018 unless you to be a franchise that changes direction every year. The bill is coming due but really really early in the process, baseball is unique because of the ages we are dealing with so there are no ready made players in the draft.
I already pointed out the parallel with the Cubs and the time line in another post. I'm not smart enough to link to it but it's out there. I agree 100%, this plan is still fermenting (not to be confused with rotting) and the real proof will not come for at least 2 years. The "FO sucks cause we're not in 1st" mentality has no vision, no long range goals, and is only concerned with immediate gratification- much like irish and mousey in a dark room.
glad that they're building for the future but they also said their goal is to win a world series every year i don't see that with this team as currently constructed friedman is now on record for saying he will target "elite-level players" at the deadline so i'm curious to see what he does between now and then because the key/nebulous word in his statement is "target" and if he does nothing to drastically improve this team, then he's a disingenuous lying piece of shit as far as i'm concerned :soapbox:
Actually, my trusty Wikipedia says Theo Epstein became the youngest GM when he was hired by the RedSox on November 25, 2002. The RedSox went on to win it all in 2004. He resigned and was rehired as GM Exec VP in 2006 and they won again in 2007. So that is 2 years to win their first, and barely a year when they won their second. I recall the team spent dump trucks worth of money on FA like Schilling, Ortiz and Kevin Millar. So your timeline is off. He won almost immediately, and guess where he is now? Yup, the Cubs. If by patience and long haul you mean 2 years, we are in year 2 of the Guggs.
He was and still is a wunderkid so like I emphasized in my post that I'm not comparing his talent to Andrew strictly time to BUILD and he built the Cubs by deconstructing and reconstructing. He got lucky with Schilling and Papi and he didn't build the Sox the guy he took over for did. It took him 4 years from 2011 to 2015 to get the Cubs going.
true but he also had credibility w/those ws titles before going to chicago the nerds still need to earn their's and (obviously) hoping their on their way to doing so
Again not trying to compare careers only trying to point out that shit takes time and 2 years to rebuild an entire organization isn't nearly enough.
credit where credit is due they've done a good job stocking the minor league shelves but their work on the big club has been shit signing guerrero was stupid and giving multi-year deals to journeymen/scrubs like mehcarthy and kazmir makes zero sense i have less of a problem with them being unwilling to trade prospects but they get get failing marks for (not) signing free agents it only takes time if you allow it to take time
Hp way was that the employees were the focus and new product every 5 years kept them ahead of the curve. That hp way became the silicon valley way. Then carly fiorina became the chief and she fucked the employees over with her sales and profits first pov and slashed innovation and burned employees. Put all her eggs on the dying PC field and stopped investing in RnD. Instead she bought big name but now shitty companies like compaq. In other words she went after expensive veterans to try and win now and sell season tickets with star power and corporate sponsorship while sacrificing faithful scouts and depleting the farm system. Im glad our team is finally not run by sleazeballs like that.
You should try keeping your Wikipedia in the frame of reference, which was and is the Cubs, not the Sox. I've already said the Sox went from worst to first to worst again, which is what happens when you spend dump trucks worth of money on free agents. The Cubs are constructed NOTHING like the Sox were, they were built from the ground up and free agents were used to fill the gaps.
