54.15: End of Season Presser

[KJChmura]

On 67-95 season

I speak for everybody in the organization when I say we are not happy with a 90+ loss season. We knew taking over with 56 games left, the chances were high of losing 90+ games, but our goal is to never be below .500 in any season. Regardless of if we are “rebuilding” or not, we need to field a competitive team. We expect to be playing meaningful baseball in September.

As we took over, we wanted to take time and learn the team before making drastic changes. It became clear early, however, that a few things needed to happen. We take pride in building a team with the right personalities and talent profile. At the time of the change, Chicago had some pieces that did not fit our style. Now, Mike Dunn did a great job building the minor league system and setting us up for long-term success. I just don’t think we have prioritized the same attributes in players on the major league roster. That’s not to say the prior way is wrong or that our way is right. It is strictly a preference on how to build an organization.

If you review our transactions and player movement, we prioritize personality traits, speed, defensive & flexibility (able to play multiple positions). The roster we had in 2054 failed to meet many of these criteria. We had players that were locker room cancers, and we had the worst defensive team in the league. In addition, we had 38 total stolen bases, which was lowest in the Frick League. Our team failed to meet our core standards.

On Roster

I know Chicago had plenty of roster turnover this past year, with 19 new 40-man roster members at the beginning of Spring Training. As I look at the roster today, I see us bringing back 18-19 players that ended the season on the 25-man roster. We have a lot of question marks heading into the offseason. Who will be our starting middle infield? Who will start in center field? What does our rotation look like? Who is our catcher? These are all very valid questions and they need to be solved for a team that went 67-95.

Here is what I can say for certain. Asil Çölasan and Daniel González will not be back. We will actively try and move Albert Krant, Brody Bond, & Garry Mihalsky. Krant, Bond & Mihalsky all have value and can help teams, but they do not fit our core values and our best plan forward will be to move on.

Bruce McKinley & Jorge Rincon both have team options for next year. We have thought long about this, probably more than we should. As of today, McKinley will have his option picked up. We are leaning into picking up Rincon’s option, but it is 60/40 at this point. McKinley – we need a veteran backstop and he has experience being a valuable backup in this league. The big selling point – he has a strong history with our Manager Alberto Sanchez, as they are both from Yellow Springs. With Rincon, like his skillset. We also desperately need outfield depth, but it is easier to find outfielders. The question becomes – can we find a similar player, but younger in free agency?

On Staff

We have made several adjustments to the staff, both majors & minors. Our commitment is to build an elite development staff & program for the organization. This starts with building a staff. In the minors, we did a totally new staff and are one position away from being completely full (AAA Manager). We feel strongly about our new staff, which is a mix of new coaches & experienced. The plan is to treat the staff similar to the players and create a pipeline, where coaches develop and stick with players as they grow.

In the majors, since taking over we have replaced every role except manager. Now, we considered replacing Alberto Sanchez as manager, but after meeting with him in our end of the season meeting, I am convinced he is the right man for the job. Getting the manager role right is essential. If you look at Chicago’s history, you see that managers do not last very long. We do not want that to be the case. We heavily value consistency and we believe we have a consistent, valuable manager with Sanchez, who is a proven winner. Outside of Sanchez, we have 2 coaches that have BBA managerial experience (Andy Curry & Antonio Velasco). The rest of the staff feature strong expertise in areas that will help our team.

[ae37jr]

I keep staring at Garry Mihalsky thinking that he'd be a good fit for my team. Then I realized I have the exact same player in Nayer.

Good decisions to prioritize personality and coaches. I did that also when I took over Twin Cities a few years ago. All you can do is put yourself in a good position for developmental "luck" to happen.

[Jess64]

Be interesting to see how this all works out...can you move the players and the personalities play out?

[KJChmura]

Be interesting to see how this all works out...can you move the players and the personalities play out?

Not sure what you mean?

[Jess64]

Be interesting to see how this all works out...can you move the players and the personalities play out?

Not sure what you mean?

It means I need to have some more coffee before I answer these, LOL. I am interested how those youngsters will gel with the players who are returning, I know how personalities can be a factor in the team management as well as the cohesion....that is what I was referring to.

Sorry for my incoherent comment...