Do you have confidence in Dipoto? or his plan?

[D-train]

JKs OPS up to .412 now. He is going to burn the Pot Roast!

[TraderGary]

I've felt that with the job JD did to take one of the worst farm teams and turn them into one of the best, that he deserved to see it through. I also think unloading the Cano contract and getting valuable pieces in return on top of it was a stroke of genius. And picking up Nola off the scrap heap and flipping him for valuable pieces was also notable.

I also realize that prior to the 2021 season, no one expected the M's the be in the hunt. But the fact is, we are, or at least we were until recently. And with a couple shrewd moves, we could have been legitimate. And we didn't have to give up any of our top prospects or mortgage the future in order to add some pieces that would have kept us competitive throughout the remainder of the season.

But the moves he made I would argue has actually made us worse. Toro looks like a nice player. But the bullpen has been our strength the entire season. They've been the reason we're where we are today. But we have taken two of our best bullpen pieces, Graveman and Chargois, and turned them into Castillo and Smith.

Some will argue that we gained 3 more years of control on Castillo, and yes that's true. But from what I've seen in the first two games, I don't see anything I like. He already has one blown save in two chances, and his stuff looks average at best. And on the Rangers feed yesterday, they were saying that Castillo has one of the lowest spin rates in the entire majors.

Also don't forget, Castillo is the pitcher Shed fucking Long hit the walk off grand slam against in the Rays series. The Rays fans were very happy to see Castillo go and I'm beginning to see why. The guy looks gassed before he even throws his first pitch. I would argue that 3 more years of club control for Castillo may be a net negative. I can potentially see a lot of blown saves.

But here's the biggest reason I would like to see him replaced. After the Graveman trade, one of the players in the clubhouse (Seager?) stated that JD just sits up in his booth and plays fantasy baseball. I think there's a lot of truth in that comment. JD views players as chess pieces. He has no clue about chemistry and building a cohesive unit. This tweet by Heyman that "AT" posted in another thread is spot on.......


@JonHeyman
·
Jul 30
Deadline winner heading into the big day today: Dodgers (obvious reasons and they are working on more big things).

Deadline loser: Mariners (who traded their beloved and dominant closer, killing the team’s mojo at a time the players had something special going)

I like what I'm seeing from Toro, obviously. But turning Graveman and Chargois into Castillo and Smith and significantly weakening what was our greatest team strength, and in the process, ripping the heart and soul out of this team when it appeared we had something special going, tells me JD is out of touch with the pulse of the team. I've lost all trust in him going forward, and I don't think he's the right man to add the pieces we need in the offseason to become legitimate contenders as he's promised.

Oh and since the Graveman trade, we've lost 3 of 4 including a blown save last night against one of the worst teams in the league, and two losses against our biggest division rival immediately following one of the most exciting, emotional, and what should have been momentum-building wins in many years.

I'm ready for a change, though I don't realistically see it happening because JD is making them money.

[Big Mike]

Confidence in Dipshito?

[Big Mike]

Evan White, Jarred Kelenec, Diego Castillo, Justus Sheffield, etc. etc. etc.
How des that inspire confidence?

[ddraig]

Because what they did this year exceeded everyone's expectations and some her think this "luck," or whatever you want to call it, will continue next year. This year's performance does not automatically translate into better performance next year. And that's what a lot of people don't understand. And that is also exactly why so many teams within spitting distance of the wild card berth made moves to improve their team THIS YEAR. The other GM's understand that performance is fleeting. Maybe you have a window of two years, but that often doesn't happen. A "lucky" team today can revert to being "unlucky" tomorrow. You don't fuck with it this year with the presumption it will be better next year. Especially with fluky teams like the M's. Dipshito doesn't understand that.

Not only did he fuck with the team this week, but he did absolutely nothing to fill obvious holes on the team in two or three places. How can the people on this forum, with far less baseball acumen, know about those holes and he doesn't? How can he not go to ownership and persuade them to spend a little money (not even half again of what they were spending this year) to improve the team. Is he incapable of explaining that to ownership? Did he even try?

He seems out of touch with ownership, the team, and the fans!

[GL_Storm]

Not only did he fuck with the team this week, but he did absolutely nothing to fill obvious holes on the team in two or three places. How can the people on this forum, with far less baseball acumen, know about those holes and he doesn't? How can he not go to ownership and persuade them to spend a little money (not even half again of what they were spending this year) to improve the team. Is he incapable of explaining that to ownership? Did he even try?

The unwillingness to spend in the offseason to put together a solid roster without holes, or during the season to fill gaps that emerge as the team progresses through the schedule, is a long-term characteristic of this team and organization. My theory is that this is embedded in the particular way that this team handles their core budgeting and finance processes and the relationship of the organization with the ownership group. They've often been willing to spend money, but not willing to go beyond a certain point. It's very corporate and risk-averse, which makes sense when you look at who the owners are: local businessmen, guys that are rich but not multi-billionaires (at least as far as I can tell). And at least some of these guys are fairly old. Stanton is 76. Frank Shrontz is 89. Lincoln is still on the board and he's 81. Ferguson is pretty old just based on images of him. And I'm sure some of the others are getting up there too. The thing, I doubt any of them want any part of providing extra funds for the team out of their personal assets, most of which are probably tied up in complicated investments having to do with estate planning for their heirs. And I'm sure they haven't had to do that because that was probably the part of his job that Kevin Mather was awesome at. He guarded their investment in the team and made sure there was never a need for a cash call to the ownership group, and that's how he kept getting promoted and why they kept him on after that first sexual harassment scandal.

It seems like this ownership group will spend money, but they have to be sort of convinced, and there's a forecast and budget process that happens in the offseason that may include reserves for in-season moves, but probably only in certain years. And this was the "hat in hand" year so probably no reserves for taking on much extra salary.

As for DiPoto, I like the overall arc of the rebuild. He's done a solid job of collecting players with upside and building a roster. I think the Graveman/Toro swap was an offer he couldn't refuse. Toro was a player the org had been targeting for a while and once it was on the table, he had to do it. Chargois for Castillo may have been a bit try hard, a little too cute. Anderson was a good pickup that I would have loved to see happen a month ago, but maybe Pittsburgh wanted to start a bidding war.

Going forward, and assuming he's extended, the test will be what he does this offseason to turn the current collection of talent into a Division winner and true contender. I think there will be deals this offseason. Trader Jerry will be back in action, maybe to the point where our collective heads are spinning. The roster when spring training starts may be completely unrecognizable.

[Donn Beach]

Might give Castillo a little more time

[SpokaneCoug]

It just seems like it's always "we're 2 years out". I really want to high five someone during a meaningful game in Sept.

I fear a big losing streak coming - like 12 of 15 or something to put this team to bed. Hope not.

[AZOldDawg]

Here we go again: You lose with potential. You win with performance. We had the opportunity last spring to add a couple of proven performers and chose not to. We had the same opportunity last week and chose not to. Meanwhile our potential is still unsuccessfully struggling to get above the Mendoza line. I also think JD misjudged the "chemistry" of the team going into the Graveman deal. For me that's strike one, two and three. I just have a hunch based on the comments that made their way to the media that there are some issues in the dugout. I would advocate for change in leadership. Did we get a tad better at the trade deadline? Probably . . . did our competitors get better? Significantly I think. That my friends in a management issue.

[bpj]

At the same time, I loved seeing the A's ship off a top prospect and was glad we didn't do the same.