Baseball Season Part Two
As the first game of the "second half" is about to start let me make a few comments.
Obviously the first half didn't go as well as we had hoped. We had a good April, and we thought that when our missing players returned from the disabled list, we'd really go into overdrive. Of course that's not what happened. Almost the opposite.
Seemingly, from the time those guys started to return, things got ugly. Is there a connection? I don't know, but I suspect that there might be.
A lot of fans and commentators are blaming this bad performance on new manager Terry Francona. They say that his easy-going style is too permissive, and that this "moneyball" concept, that they seem to be following, is disregarding the basics.
I don't think this faltering is Terry's fault, but it is his job to fix it. And if it keeps up much longer I may join the chorus of critics.
Nomar.
Nomar, Nomar, Nomar. What are we gonna do about Nomar?
From what I've read, he's extremely unhappy here. He's not happy with how he was treated last winter, and with the progress of his contract renewal.
I once felt that it was important for Nomar to play his whole career in Boston. I'm over that. It seems to me that his unhappiness must be affecting the clubhouse mood. If it's true that, one way or the other, he's gone at the end of the year, then I think it's time to make that move now. Get a little value for him now, get him out of the clubhouse. Move on.
I could go on and on here, but one last subject. Randy Johnson.
I dearly hope he does not come here. I confess that I was an early fan of last winter's plan to acquire A-Rod. But by the time it was all over I was glad that it didn't happen, and I hope the Randy Johnson thing doesn't happen either, 'cause I don't like the idea of spending big bucks to have some larger-than-life player come in here and win the pennant for us. I know I'm old fashioned, but that's not the way we should play baseball.
Maybe I'll add some more thoughts in the coming days, but that's all for now.
Go Sox!
Oh, one more thing, Jimi Williams is available.
Posted by jackhodgson at July 15, 2004 08:04 PM