Tito gets it Options

[Foulkey Reese]

I absolutely love hearing this kind of talk from our manager.

How do you value RBIs?

I think there are some things that can be skewed. I grew up in an era where, if you hit .300, you were a good player. Well, you know what? That’s not the tell-tale. I was the perfect example. I could hit .300. I never helped our team. I hit all singles, I never walked, I wasn’t fast enough to score any runs. It was kind of cosmetic. Getting on base is a very important stat. It doesn’t mean we have nine guys up there trying to walk. But it means if they’re seeing pitches and working counts, they’re going to become more dangerous hitters. If they’re on base, we talk all the time about keep the line moving, You have to have a good enough team to do that. If you have four or five guys who are taking their walks, and four or five guys that can’t hit, that’s not going to work. If you have a balanced team, which we try to do, and you have that approach, it’s going to work.

You seem to bring both both sides — statistical analysis and scouting — together.

I think there is both sides. You have to kind of wed those and come up with the best way of putting a team together. I don’t think you can do just one or the other. I think you can make mistakes. Sometimes the game can deceive you if you just look at it with your eyes. That’s why we look at statistics all the time. At the same time, there are people playing this game and you try not to forget that. You try to look at both and make good decisions.

How difficult is it to maintain relationships with players and balance those with the business side of the game?

That’s actually a good question.

We had to release George Kottaras. I love George. He never played. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good kid.

[Relationships with players] never get in the way of what we’re doing on the field, but at the same time, I do want to enjoy these players. It makes the bad news a little bit harder but doesn’t change the message. I don’t want to go through this and not get close to some of these players. … When you get around these guys for a while, you can’t help but get close to them. But it doesn’t change the message. We’ve given a lot of guys difficult messages. It’s not fun, but we do what we think is right.

This is a very good interview and well worth reading.

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/ba...on-dale-holley/

This post has been edited by Foulkey Reese: Nov 19 2009, 12:27 PM

[JimD]

Buck Showalter
Ozzie Guillén
Jim Leyland
Eric Wedge
Joe Maddon
Mike Scioscia

The six guys the baseball writers have deemed better than Tito since he took over as Red Sox skipper.

I can’t think of another active manager in baseball that I’d rather have over Terry Francona, never mind those guys.

[Al Zarilla]

I absolutely love hearing this kind of talk from our manager.

Good stuff. Best Sox manager during my watch. The other one that's talked about a lot is Dick Williams, who, unfortunately, had some negative vibes with some of his players, allegedly. He also was with the Sox only 3 years and left kind of ignominiously; well, he was fired. He did get that young group of guys in 1967 to put out 100% and they of course accomplished the Impossible Dream. Unfortunately, they ran into Bob Gibson next.

I guess Tito is the one that "gets to tell" a guy like Kottaras that he's being released, even though Theo probably has the majority of the decision. Not a fun aspect of the job.

[Wade Boggs Hair]

Thanks for the link...I enjoyed this, too:

Do you believe the Gold Glove reflects the most deserving defensive players or is it a popularity contest and/or something driven by offensive performance? Specifically, how did you view Derek Jeter winning the Gold Glove versus Elvis Andrus.

I actually think that’s a pretty good point you make. I’m probably of the mindset that Jeter had a very good year defensively. I really do think he did. Elvis Andrus had a spectacular year.

I think we tried as a staff to give it some time. We didn’t just want to have the ballots show up and write in some names. There have been some things that happened from time to time. I remember one year Rafael Palmeiro got the Gold Glove, and I think he only played first base for 28 games. That’s not good.

The thing you have to remember, sometimes you see guys on SportsCenter make spectacular plays. That doesn’t mean necessarily that they’re a Gold Glove candidate. The other thing you alluded to, and I think you’re right, is that reputation comes into play. Sometimes, in this league, staffs, coaches, managers are a little bit wary of voting a guy in in his first, second year. They want to see him earn it and see it over time. It’s kind of like making the All-Star team.

[johnlimberakis]

My favorite bits that haven't been posted in this thread

The thing to remember with Gonzy, what he did the last six weeks of the season was really helpful. When you look at that .310 on-base percentage, for a full year, if that’s what you’re going to go with, you’ve got to recoup that somewhere else. That’s something to think about.

It’s not just on the road, but especially against the better pitching in the league, we have not done well. We got into Anaheim in the playoffs, the same thing happened. The first two road games, we did nothing. It’s not a lack of trying on our players. I don’t feel like we need to have team meetings. We just get into the bigger ballparks and we don’t score as much. Some of our guys don’t reach the fences as much as they do at home.
It’s been a problem for about the last three years. The flip side of that is that we’ve played so well at home that it’s outweighed how we’ve played on the road.

Question: Mark McGwire is back in the news after the Cardinals hired him as a hitting coach — should he be in the Hall of Fame?

Tito: I’m just here to talk about the future, not the past.

I actually laughed while reading that last bit.

[Worst Trade Evah]

I guess Tito has three things working against him in the national consciousness:

1. the Phillies record when he managed them
2. that the Red Sox spend money
3. he's not a big personality -- just a relatively normal seeming, kind of decent, really smart kind of guy (ie., boring)

I'm not sure at what point national sports media will realize this guy is an absolutely terrific manager. He's good at the in game decisions, he's good at balancing short and long-term views, and as far as I can see for all the talk of Tito and veterans here he does well with the younger players.

He's a terrific manager. There hasn't been a Tito on the hot seat thread since about July 2004, for a good reason.

[Alcohol&Over...]

I guess Tito has three things working against him in the national consciousness:

1. the Phillies record when he managed them
2. that the Red Sox spend money
3. he's not a big personality -- just a relatively normal seeming, kind of decent, really smart kind of guy (ie., boring)

I'm not sure at what point national sports media will realize this guy is an absolutely terrific manager. He's good at the in game decisions, he's good at balancing short and long-term views, and as far as I can see for all the talk of Tito and veterans here he does well with the younger players.

He's a terrific manager. There hasn't been a Tito on the hot seat thread since about July 2004, for a good reason.

It seems like "Manager of the Year" is really "Guy Whose Team Overperforms Relative to Expectations This Year" most of the time - and since the Sox basically do what they're supposed to every year, there's just no compelling storyline. I guess I'm OK with that in a holistic sense - but it means I don't really think the national media will ever recognize the guy.

[Cumberland Blues]

I forget the exact context - but at some point this season, around August I think, I was listening to the pregame in the car. Theo was on, and they were talking about an unusual move Tito made the night before. Like I say, I forget the exact context - but it was one of those moves that makes everybody scratch their head, then Tito elaborates on it postgame and it makes perfect sense. Anyway, when asked about how much time they spend rehashing stuff like that in meetings, Theo's comment was telling - he said something like (don't have the exact quote, going from memory) "It's nice to have a manager that I trust completely."

Now, I think sometimes we get a bit too sox-centric here and go overboard on the Tito-love, but there's no doubt he's really damn good.

[Rooster Crows]

It seems like "Manager of the Year" is really "Guy Whose Team Overperforms Relative to Expectations This Year" most of the time - and since the Sox basically do what they're supposed to every year, there's just no compelling storyline. I guess I'm OK with that in a holistic sense - but it means I don't really think the national media will ever recognize the guy.

How would that explain Girardi's votes though? All things considered, didn't the Yanks perform as expected, after not doing so for the first 2 months or so?

[Bowlerman9]

How would that explain Girardi's votes though? All things considered, didn't the Yanks perform as expected, after not doing so for the first 2 months or so?

Media sees they went from an 89 win team to a 103 win team and thinks the manager had something to do with it.

Spending $400M in one off-season helps too.

[underhandtofirst]

I think part of our perception of Tito is how he is a different manager regular season vs postseason. We've all learned that there are some moves (mostly pitching) he makes during the regular season that we know he would not make during the postseason. He understands the goal is to win the WS and to do that he needs to keep his team as fresh as possible and also learn who can handle what roles.

Some managers grind their team into dust and have zero left for the stretch drive. He always has the big picture in mind. Now he does have the advantage that his team in able to rest some guys during the season and still perform at a high level. Some teams arent able to do that for a couple reasons, one is to economics the other is poor roster construction.

There are few managers that are better in the postseason that in the regular season. We're lucky to have one of them.

[Steve Dillard]

If they’re on base, we talk all the time about keep the line moving, You have to have a good enough team to do that. If you have four or five guys who are taking their walks, and four or five guys that can’t hit, that’s not going to work. If you have a balanced team, which we try to do, and you have that approach, it’s going to work.

Sounds like he's talking directly about our JD Drew discussion -- they recognize that they were out of balance this year, 6 good OBP guys and then three dead spots who diminished the value of Drew's walking skills because they couldn't drive them in. Varitek was one, and another victim will be Gonzalez, as it sounds like he's as good as gone:

When you look at that .310 on-base percentage, for a full year, if that’s what you’re going to go with, you’ve got to recoup that somewhere else. That’s something to think about.

This post has been edited by Steve Dillard: Nov 19 2009, 03:03 PM

[BucketOBalls]

It seems like "Manager of the Year" is really "Guy Whose Team Overperforms Relative to Expectations This Year" most of the time - and since the Sox basically do what they're supposed to every year, there's just no compelling storyline. I guess I'm OK with that in a holistic sense - but it means I don't really think the national media will ever recognize the guy.

That seems to be pretty much what it is. Although this year it seemed to be the "Guy who's team suffered an over-hyped tragedy despite the fact that we never gave the award to any other manager for this." Tito isn't going to win unless the team wins 120 games or something. This seems to be pretty consistent, even across sports though.

[Buzzkill Pauley]

Sounds like he's talking directly about our JD Drew discussion -- they recognize that they were out of balance this year, 6 good OBP guys and then three dead spots who diminished the value of Drew's walking skills because they couldn't drive them in. Varitek was one, and another victim will be Gonzalez, as it sounds like he's as good as gone:

I think that's exactly right, and is why I suspect the FO is targeting Holliday rather than Bay as the first option to fill LF.

I agree that Tito's one of the top three managers in baseball today (imo, along with Maddon and Leyland). And by far the best fit among those three for Boston and its legion of knights of the keyboard.

[cannonball 1729]

Although this year it seemed to be the "Guy who's team suffered an over-hyped tragedy despite the fact that we never gave the award to any other manager for this."

Well, other than LaRussa in 2002.

[Kevin Mortons Gh...]

This is extraordinary:

I was the perfect example. I could hit .300. I never helped our team. I hit all singles, I never walked, I wasn’t fast enough to score any runs.

How many ex-ballplayers are smart enough and open-minded enough to have been far more talented and successful than most of us (ie just reaching the major leagues) but to realize that they were doing nothing to help their team win at that level of competition? To have achieved a spuerficial threshold of performance (ie hitting .300) but to admit that it was an empty achievement?

[Trlicek's Whip]

...another victim will be Gonzalez, as it sounds like he's as good as gone

I read this the other way. Tito's complete answer to the question seemed to say:

When the ball was hit, you're out. Nobody more than myself, I appreciated I a lot, because we had a lot of moving parts. Going forward, to have him back, from our front office's side, if we could get him back at the right price, yeah. We would enjoy that.

This could have been diplomatic mad libs, but to me it was more along the lines of "if you have no bat and a .310 OBP, you need to be a complete, reliable, steady-Eddie vacuum in the field to compensate." I suspect "at the right price" would be a one year deal at modest pay -- your Sox starting SS for 2010 as a last resort if no other deals are made by Opening Day, and/or someone that slides to the bench or gets DFA'd/traded with minimal budget or roster impact in-season.

[Laser Show]

I think that's exactly right, and is why I suspect the FO is targeting Holliday rather than Bay as the first option to fill LF.

I agree that Tito's one of the top three managers in baseball today (imo, along with Maddon and Leyland). And by far the best fit among those three for Boston and its legion of knights of the keyboard.

Brief thread high-jack: How would Holliday replacing Bay fix one of those three black holes? Wasn't Bay one of those six good OBP guys?

Back on topic though. At times, I can get frustrated with Tito's decisions, and wonder what the hell he's thinking. But it seems like his decisions always turn out to be good ones. It's truly incredible what he's accomplished here. Not just on the field, but in the clubhouse too. It's refreshing to hear these thoughts from a manager; there are very few managers, if any, in the game today that would say these kinds of things. I'll echo what everyone else has said. I'd rather have him over anyone else.

[MidnightC]

Stuff like this reminds me of why I love Terry Francona. By no means is he perfect, and sometimes he makes decisions I don't understand, but I really can't think of anyone else I'd rather have managing the Sox. He's a great manager and by all accounts a great human being too.

Did anyone here honestly expect Tito would be as good as he is when he was hired in 2004?

[Al Zarilla]

Stuff like this reminds me of why I love Terry Francona. By no means is he perfect, and sometimes he makes decisions I don't understand, but I really can't think of anyone else I'd rather have managing the Sox. He's a great manager and by all accounts a great human being too.

Not to get all maudlin, but, the hug after Lester pitched the no hitter, and Lester saying Tito was like a second father, and hearing that Tito was talking on the phone with Jon's father during Jon's recovery, that is all real good human stuff. And, I believe it all.