Why does he think a balck baseball player will help him? I would suggest parents, brothers, sisters, uncles. If your family doesn't have your back....then yes, poor Tim Anderson.

:lol:

Because the out of wedlock birth rate is at 70% amongst blacks ? Needs that kinship .

Baseball managers used to all be crusty old dudes that sat you down if you didn't play winning team-oriented baseball.

Do not think I heard a baseball manager referred to as a "players manager" back when I was a kid and followed the Cubs religiously.

Wonder how Bob Gibson would have handled the bat flippers.

If you watch interviews with him his logic makes perfect sense, don't ever talk to the hitters, pitch inside so they can't cover the outer half of the plate.

He was all about getting any advantage possible because they paid him to win games.

Bob Gibson hates joy. Which is strange because he comes from a joyous race.

Don't they have the blues?....from their head down to their shoes?

What's LaRussa and Gibson think about players shooting steroids in each others asses in the bathroom stall? Pretty sure one of them thinks it's just fine.

I'd guess both of them didn't complain about whatever edge guys were using in the time they played.

I've never been a fan of LaRussa, but your obvious distaste for him is kind of strange. The idea that Dave Duncan was really the brains yet he agreed to take $300,000 a year while LaRussa was paid $5 million is just odd.

In any case, every team LaRussa's teams beat on the way to their championships was loaded with guys on performance enhancing drugs.

Dave's a little bit on the spectrum. Ever meet him? Think Tom Cruise heading to the blackjack table with Dustin Hoffman. It's a wild exaggeration but it makes the point. Without Duncan, LaRussa is struggling with a dog clinic and ambulance chasing law firm. LaRussa without Dave means fans are yelling at Tony to pinch run Engel.

I doubt it. This is an atrocious collection of ballplayers and LaRussa had them playing respectable, and sometimes great, baseball, in spite of many injuries. All without Dave Duncan.

I doubt it. This is an atrocious collection of ballplayers and LaRussa had them playing respectable, and sometimes great, baseball, in spite of many injuries. All without Dave Duncan.

I doubt it. This is an atrocious collection of ballplayers and LaRussa had them playing respectable, and sometimes great, baseball, in spite of many injuries. All without Dave Duncan.

I don't know about that. They got some excellent starting pitching during the first half of 2021 and enjoyed some success as a result. Outside of that three month stretch, this team has been mediocre or worse. The fact of the matter is, the players they acquired during the rebuild aren't good enough to win. There's no amount of coaching or free agent acquisitions that are going to solve that problem.

The players they acquired via trades and drafted haven't been good enough. Really, throughout this rebuild, who are the players they have drafted? They have acquired pretty much nearly all of their key players via trades or the international market. They drafted Tim Anderson, Garret Crochet and Andrew Vaughn. I'm sure I'm missing somebody, but if that's it, that's pretty brutal.

They also haven't complemented the core with "win now" free agency enough and/or have spent on middle relievers. They did sign some starting pitching (Lynn and Keuchel) and Grandall, but stopped spending in the last 2 years on significant free agents.

The front office is most responsible for this (outside of the players themselves), but it's a flawed rebuild and now they have limited ability to turn this around without the players suddenly reverting back to their play from 2 years ago.

I consider the players they drafted to be players they acquired during the rebuild. Of the young position players they brought in, they needed at least one to be a perennial All Star type and at least two or three to be above average starters. I would say Robert is an above average starter, but the rest are average at best.

All that being said, I think the young starting pitching they have developed has been good enough to win. That hasn't been part of the problem.