Connolly: Chris Holt to be hired from Astros

[24fps]

23 minutes ago, Frobby said:

 

I think it’s unrealistic to expect that everyone in management can or should be replaced, especially in the near term.     Most front office/coaching contracts run Nov. 1 - Oct. 31 (Rajsich being an exception).     Elias would be very hard pressed to find competent people to fill every spot in the organization right now.   He’d also lose all existing institutional knowledge of the players in the organization, and undoubtedly, some of the new people would be downgrades from the people they replaced.   I expect a lot of changes to get made, but 100% turnover is neither realistic nor wise.  

As to the “culture,” I appreciate that point but I don’t think it requires replacing everyone.   Buck changed the culture in the Orioles clubhouse without replacing everyone.     It’s a matter of establishing a proper chain of command and getting rid of anyone who won’t respect it, and otherwise, judging people by their abilities and willingness to implement the direction from upper management.   

Of course wholesale carnage is unrealistic and I'm certainly not suggesting anything close to 100% turnover.  I don't think Es4M1 was either.  My argument is that institutional memory can be viewed two ways and the way I'm seeing it with the Orioles is that it's central to the problem and only selectively part of the solution.  Looking in from the outside I see an organization that could use a good, hard shaking up and for the next 12 months that won't have a discernable impact on the field one way or another.

I'm quite serious about embracing the tech industry adage to move fast and break things.  Be intelligent, but don't waste the opportunity.  No more half measures.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, 24fps said:

Of course wholesale carnage is unrealistic and I'm certainly not suggesting anything close to 100% turnover.  I don't think Es4M1 was either.  My argument is that institutional memory can be viewed two ways and the way I'm seeing it with the Orioles is that it's central to the problem and only selectively part of the solution.  Looking in from the outside I see an organization that could use a good, hard shaking up and for the next 12 months that won't have a discernable impact on the field one way or another.

I'm quite serious about embracing the tech industry adage to move fast and break things.  Be intelligent, but don't waste the opportunity.  No more half measures.

The way you have explained your previous post here, I wouldn’t really disagree.    

[Es4M11]

23 hours ago, 24fps said:

I do as well.  The most important thing Elias can do is get rid of a culture that AM and DD ultimately couldn't overcome.  Do the decent thing and fire them quickly so they have as much time as possible to find new positions.  Then hire your guys as fast as possible so it's a done deal before the brothers have a chance to start "contributing".  There are enough capable replacements out there without the entrenched loyalties.

Move fast and break things Mike.  Pretend it's a startup, because it may as well be.

You and I often see eye to eye on baseball matters.

[weams]

13 hours ago, bobmc said:

Perhaps like CD, "God has a plan"?  Just noodling ...

I think he is being told it's not a baseball plan. 

[Es4M11]

On 11/27/2018 at 9:49 PM, atomic said:

Why would you throw the baby out with the bathwater?  If you have talented scouts it would be stupid to fire them.  Same with good minor league coaches.

I think it would be a good idea because I want to leave the past in the past. There was a serious disconnect in this organization all the way on down the line, and I think it would be best to remove any and all who were responsible for the culture that came to exist in this franchise. If it means a few good men/women get the axe in the process, so be it. Going forward I hope to see Mike Elias have the full ability and authority to remove anyone he deems necessary, and install anyone he deems fit for the position(s) that become available. My hope is that Elias can create a cohesive assembly of front office and coaching talent that is all on the same page and pulling in the same direction -- pretty much the exact opposite of what we have had in recent years. Any holdovers from the old regime, replace them all eventually because I don't want to take the chance of them trying to do things the old way. This is not to say that if Elias likes someone that I am not on board with keeping them, but in general I think it is a good idea to move on from the previous cast.

JMO

[Es4M11]

13 hours ago, Frobby said:

 

I think it’s unrealistic to expect that everyone in management can or should be replaced, especially in the near term.     Most front office/coaching contracts run Nov. 1 - Oct. 31 (Rajsich being an exception).     Elias would be very hard pressed to find competent people thto fill every spot in the organization right now.   He’d also lose all existing institutional knowledge of the players in the organization, and undoubtedly, some of the new people would be downgrades from the people they replaced.   I expect a lot of changes to get made, but 100% turnover is neither realistic nor wise.  

As to the “culture,” I appreciate that point but I don’t think it requires replacing everyone.   Buck changed the culture in the Orioles clubhouse without replacing everyone.     It’s a matter of establishing a proper chain of command and getting rid of anyone who won’t respect it, and otherwise, judging people by their abilities and willingness to implement the direction from upper management.   

Well in my post, I did say eventually. I don't expect it all to be this year, but over the course of the next two seasons should be time enough to cycle through the various positions. In another thread I talked about this a little, and I am fully prepared to give Elias two full seasons to get his people in place. If Elias thinks there are people in the organization worth keeping, then great, but I hope there is no pressure from ownership to keep people because they have history here. I want to see whoever Elias thinks is the best for the job land in the various available positions.

In regards to the culture aspect, I get that, I just want to see one direction from the entire staff -- all the way down to rookie ball. Even with Buck there was disconnect between what he wanted and the minor league development staff. Just one example, Buck and Rick Peterson were not very comfortable with each other and never seemed to be on the same page. With things like that in mind, I just want to see the whole team moving in one direction at the same time. If Elias has to clean house to ensure that happens, then I am all for it.

[weams]

1 minute ago, Es4M11 said:

Well in my post, I did say eventually. I don't expect it all to be this year, but over the course of the next two seasons should be time enough to cycle through the various positions. In another thread I talked about this a little, and I am fully prepared to give Elias two full seasons to get his people in place. If Elias thinks there are people in the organization worth keeping, then great, but I hope there is no pressure from ownership to keep people because they have history here. I want to see whoever Elias thinks is the best for the job land in the various available positions.

In regards to the culture aspect, I get that, I just want to see one direction from the entire staff -- all the way down to rookie ball. Even with Buck there was disconnect between what he wanted and the minor league development staff. Just one example, Buck and Rick Peterson were not very comfortable with each other and never seemed to be on the same page. With things like that in mind, I just want to see the whole team moving in one direction at the same time. If Elias has to clean house to ensure that happens, then I am all for it.

Buck Interviewed Dan. 

[Es4M11]

1 minute ago, weams said:

Buck Interviewed Dan. 

Buck, for as great as he was had too much influence in this organization. My opinion

[weams]

Roch brings the goods with Sig Mejdal

How does someone with your background end up in baseball?

“I’ve been fascinated with baseball before I had any of the background that you probably read about. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated with baseball and the numbers and the research that was going on. And as I got older that interest just never went away. I never imagined a person like myself working in baseball until 2003 and the book “Moneyball” came out. And so it was then that I tried to get into baseball, and I naively thought I would have a job by the end of the week. But it was about a year and a half of much effort, and it was then that it lined up in St. Louis. And with an owner who was fixing something that few people thought was broke. At a time when they were winning 100 games a year, he brought in Jeff Luhnow and then Jeff brought in me.”

What else were you doing over the past few years that put you in uniform in the minors?

“I was in uniform the summer before last, the entire season with our Tri-City team in the New York-Penn League, and then this past year, I was visiting all of our minor league affiliates and I would be in uniform then also. It was for a few things. A significant part of it is we ask a lot of our coaches and we provide them with a lot of data and technology, and the more that we could learn about how they’re using it, what they need, how we can make it easier and better, there’s no better way than seeing that than actually going there and witnessing it in person. And you can imagine that we’re the front office. We’re not coaches and so we’re ignorant, to some degree, on the constraints that exist in the minor leagues. And again, there’s no better way of enlightening yourself on their life and the constraints they deal with than to actually be there. And in my case, I was the lucky one to be there for the entire season.”

Could you see yourself doing that again in this organization, or is that to be determined?

“That’s to be determined. It was a tremendous learning experience for me personally, but also as a representative of the front office, those findings, we’re planning on taking advantage of in 

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2018/11/sig-mejdal-talks-about-his-arrival-in-baltimore-and-the-work-that-awaits.html

[Es4M11]

48 minutes ago, weams said:

Roch brings the goods with Sig Mejdal

How does someone with your background end up in baseball?

“I’ve been fascinated with baseball before I had any of the background that you probably read about. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated with baseball and the numbers and the research that was going on. And as I got older that interest just never went away. I never imagined a person like myself working in baseball until 2003 and the book “Moneyball” came out. And so it was then that I tried to get into baseball, and I naively thought I would have a job by the end of the week. But it was about a year and a half of much effort, and it was then that it lined up in St. Louis. And with an owner who was fixing something that few people thought was broke. At a time when they were winning 100 games a year, he brought in Jeff Luhnow and then Jeff brought in me.”

What else were you doing over the past few years that put you in uniform in the minors?

“I was in uniform the summer before last, the entire season with our Tri-City team in the New York-Penn League, and then this past year, I was visiting all of our minor league affiliates and I would be in uniform then also. It was for a few things. A significant part of it is we ask a lot of our coaches and we provide them with a lot of data and technology, and the more that we could learn about how they’re using it, what they need, how we can make it easier and better, there’s no better way than seeing that than actually going there and witnessing it in person. And you can imagine that we’re the front office. We’re not coaches and so we’re ignorant, to some degree, on the constraints that exist in the minor leagues. And again, there’s no better way of enlightening yourself on their life and the constraints they deal with than to actually be there. And in my case, I was the lucky one to be there for the entire season.”

Could you see yourself doing that again in this organization, or is that to be determined?

“That’s to be determined. It was a tremendous learning experience for me personally, but also as a representative of the front office, those findings, we’re planning on taking advantage of in 

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2018/11/sig-mejdal-talks-about-his-arrival-in-baltimore-and-the-work-that-awaits.html

I liked this last bit...

Roch: For this to work, everybody has to be on the same page. From ownership to Elias and on down to manager and everyone in the minor league system.

Mejdal: “Yes, and I think that’s something we did so well in Houston.”

[Greg Pappas]

I hope Holt likes and teaches Greg Maddux's way of thinking: 

 

[tntoriole]

On 11/28/2018 at 10:50 PM, Es4M11 said:

Well in my post, I did say eventually. I don't expect it all to be this year, but over the course of the next two seasons should be time enough to cycle through the various positions. In another thread I talked about this a little, and I am fully prepared to give Elias two full seasons to get his people in place. If Elias thinks there are people in the organization worth keeping, then great, but I hope there is no pressure from ownership to keep people because they have history here. I want to see whoever Elias thinks is the best for the job land in the various available positions.

In regards to the culture aspect, I get that, I just want to see one direction from the entire staff -- all the way down to rookie ball. Even with Buck there was disconnect between what he wanted and the minor league development staff. Just one example, Buck and Rick Peterson were not very comfortable with each other and never seemed to be on the same page. With things like that in mind, I just want to see the whole team moving in one direction at the same time. If Elias has to clean house to ensure that happens, then I am all for it.

I agree with you.  But until he fires Brady Anderson...I will not believe that he is truly in charge of the baseball operations of the organization.    Call it a test case of "pressure from ownership" credibility.  

[tntoriole]

15 minutes ago, Greg Pappas said:

I hope Holt likes and teaches Greg Maddux's way of thinking: 

 

Of course, if you are Greg Maddux and can hit the outside corner of the plate within a 1/16 of an inch 100 times in a row....yeah, it works fine.   For Sidney Ponson?  Not so much. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

Of course, if you are Greg Maddux and can hit the outside corner of the plate within a 1/16 of an inch 100 times in a row....yeah, it works fine.   For Sidney Ponson?  Not so much. 

You spelled get a pitch three inches off the plate called a strike wrong.

[Es4M11]

5 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

You spelled get a pitch three inches off the plate called a strike wrong.

Yeah, but Maddux could really paint that dirt .