That crappiness stands out quite a bit in CF, but is not so bad in RF. Especially considering the offense he provides.

I'd gladly do 5 years, $75 million for Choo. That would take him into his age 35 season, but you'd get most of that value out of him, IMO.

Much better than spending that money on Ethier, IMO.

Can we just close this thread and be done with all things Royals yet?

News reported LeadHead Ned exploded after the game yesterday. Then they show him giving his lines in his usual monotone demeanor about spanking players and threatening to send them down, etc. Bastard can't even do a rant properly.

kicking the tires?

Yost fired yet?

Nope, go back to sleep.

While Yost is deserving of criticism, I will be pissed if GMDM is permitted to hire a third skipper. Moore and his talent evaluators must go.

I think Moore's talent evaluators are fine, actually. They are identifying talent.

Where it is failing is development. Starting pitchers have hit a wall at AA. Hitters have hit a wall in the majors.

After seeing the moronic comments of Jack Maloof - the guy who spent the past 5 years as the minor league hitting coordinator, the guy who sets the tone for hitting development for the entire system and who has ultimate say on what a hitter does - I have to place the hitting development blame at his feet.

I'm not sure what the situation is with his counterpart on the pitching side of things. I know at one time, they made a change to Rick KNapp, but I think he's been gone a year or so now.

I believe Knapp was replaced by Steve Foster late last year, but I can't confirm what Knapp is up to these days. Bill Fischer, who has been here since Moore arrived, is the Sr. Pitching Instructor. Haven't heard good things about him.

Basically, the consistent problem I've heard with development is that they take a cookie-cutter approach with pitchers and hitters.

All pitchers are pushed to be FB-CB-CH pitchers, using the same off-day program (though I think they've relaxed a little on the long toss/conditioning programs). Hitters are all preached the middle of the field approach.

Holy shit, Bill Fischer is older than Bill Muir. We really have an 82 year old pitching coach?

Yes. And until Rick Knapp was hired in 2011, Fischer was the pitching coordinator for the minor leagues, setting the overall plan and tone for pitching development.

Okay, so I just can't stop giggling at the prospect that Fescoe put forward this morning:

Tony LaRussa.

Oh lord, that would be beautiful. With as long as you fellas have hated LaRussa, I would just crack me up if you hired him.

That said - not gonna happen. He's not leaving California to come back to Missouri to manage. He wouldn't have walked away from a WS winner if that was what he wanted to do. However, what could happen, is that you could throw a boatload of money his way to be the GM. He's talked about wanting to come back to baseball in a front-office role.

Would Royals fans flip their shit if LaRussa came in as a GM and brought Oquendo in as his manager? I think that would be his managerial move, IMO.

Lets just give the Royals to Oklahoma City in exchange for the Thunder.

Well, he is up on blocks at the moment.

I've long thought Tony La Russa was a brilliant manager who was ahead of his time. His ability to innovate and accept new data and trends was impressive, IMO. I like him individually, too. (Even if he IS friends with that crusty old bastard Buzz Bissinger).

That said, as a GM... he's a novice. And I honestly would be pretty scared by the way he treated Colby Rasmus (a very naturally talented but frustrating player) in the media.

The Cardinals' return for Rasmus helped them win a World Series, but it would have been higher if La Russa hadn't run him down so much in the press.

I don't think this would be a good fit for La Russa as the GM.