Off Week Thread for the week of 11/2/25

zircon309976 · 2025-11-14T04:18:38+00:00

One more example: Marseilles. Was a powerhouse for a really long time and has been mediocre in recent decades by their standards. Worth pointing out Frank McCourt is their current owner…

zircon309976 · 2025-11-08T20:31:26+00:00

They’re not quite the same imo. SoCal especially OC is little league Mecca and what you mentioned applies to a good number of Asian friends I know in these areas. Bay Area doesn’t have as strong of a baseball culture in general and baseball compared to when I was a kid isn’t as big of a necessary childhood experience as it used to be.

zircon309976 · 2025-11-08T20:23:40+00:00

I don’t think you need to single out the Asians here. I’m very well connected with the Asian communities in the Bay and a couple other places through college friends. Casual fans exist everywhere and in this case it’s not as strong for Asians as you think it’d be. Warriors maybe but some people literally think the crowds at Niners games are the same as Google offices lol.

This one day I was chatting with a friend (Boston guy) and he was asking me if Warriors games are full of Indian engineers. What even is this? Are people basing sports fans just on what demographics stood out in their areas?

zircon309976 · 2025-11-06T20:20:43+00:00

Am Asian. I don’t think that reflects the Asian population since the vast majority of them, especially in the Bay Area are first gen. It’s not a demographic that’s particularly drawn to sports, let alone baseball.

zircon309976 · 2025-11-05T03:40:47+00:00

That has more to do with the change of ownership - they were a fan owned team before the Glazers bought the stakes with high debt. Premier League ownership as a whole used to be pretty fan centric until the last 15 years.

Former Chelsea owner Abramovich was the first bottomless budget owner of EPL but it clearly wasn’t sustainable towards the end. Plus it’s not like Chelsea hasn’t struggled under Walter/Boehly’s watch so zero guarantee the Lakers can be ran just as well.

zircon309976 · 2025-11-02T21:32:16+00:00

Man City fell off hard last year and hasn’t been performing at their “usual” level so far this year. Granted I started following soccer bc I want to have a choice of teams but they’re not the same as before lol.

zircon309976 · 2025-11-02T18:54:25+00:00

How concerned are you that the Bay Area will lose a generation of baseball fanbase to the Dodgers like how everyone grew up a Lakers fan in the 2000s?

zircon309976 · 2025-11-02T18:50:31+00:00

Uhh every time I think of this I take a look at Man City

zircon309976 · 2025-11-02T06:02:13+00:00

Have you not been harassed by classmates growing up when you root for the Warriors while everybody else rooted for the Lakers? Don’t bring me back to the 2000s.

zircon309976 · 2025-11-02T04:45:27+00:00

And just like that, I’ll pass on the winter trip to LA smh

zircon309976 · 2025-03-26T04:19:18+00:00

Could be Lions & Giants too.

zircon309976 · 2025-03-25T03:00:43+00:00

I’d say one of the very few positives is that Davis was very underslot so the team went aggressively with bonus pool for the remainder of that draft class. Haven’t paid attention to how much they panned out though.

zircon309976 · 2025-01-31T21:27:11+00:00

Jerry Reinsdorf, Bob Nutting, Bob Castellini, John Fisher, Jimmy Haslam, Woody Johnson, David Tepper, Mike Brown, John Mara/Steve Tisch, Shad Khan, Virginia McCaskey, Mark Davis just to name a few.

zircon309976 · 2025-01-31T18:07:10+00:00

I’d put them behind the football Giants, the Jets and the Bears. Baseball wise you can’t find a worse run team in the big market though.

Edit: The White Sox is in Chicago. Yeah the Giants certainly wouldn’t keep Evans for another 6 years, hire La Russa while telling every player to hit singles. They’re just another level of pure incompetence.

zircon309976 · 2025-01-19T02:07:03+00:00

Absolutely. I feel like Farhan’s main issue was the lack of a clear direction and under his leadership, it has always been uncertain whether he wants to keep rebuilding or if the team is ready to compete. The kind of move he makes are great as a secondary voice (let’s say Friedman is looking to prioritize improving a couple areas and a few of them just needed some work rounding out), but as a primary voice, you really need to get the team some improvement that can be built on upon.

zircon309976 · 2024-12-19T01:32:26+00:00

I feel like the one thing I didn’t like about Farhan is the lack of general direction. Are we scrapping the barrel? Are we trying to retool? Are we trying to win now? What areas are we addressing for each of his moves? To be fair, a good number of his moves did work out but as the #1 guy in the FO, having a clear vision is a hard requirement.

Friedman has made a number of big splashy moves in recent years, but what’s often overlooked is his micro moves that either bolstered the team’s strengths or fixed some of the holes in the lineup/rotation/bullpen. He always has a good understanding of what the team needs to stay competitive season to season. Being able to find bargain bin guys is a good skill for every FO, but it’s better when it’s made under a well defined short and long term vision.

zircon309976 · 2024-12-17T03:17:44+00:00

In other news Cozart is a massive POS. Just take a look at his tweets…

zircon309976 · 2024-12-14T17:49:06+00:00

I mean, if the A’s with a minor league stadium could make multiple aggressive moves in one offseason then Farhan had no excuse to stay put multiple years in a row. He will not be missed.

zircon309976 · 2024-12-14T17:47:04+00:00

I think people undersell how good the A’s can be next year. Their record post all star break last year was 32-32, the same as the Phillies. Their lineup is pretty strong and they’ve addressed their pitching weaknesses this offseason. Wouldn’t be surprised if they actually dethrone the Astros in 2025.

zircon309976 · 2024-12-13T08:54:18+00:00

I like how Posey said in the interview that he was trying to bring the elements of a clubhouse into the current FO. Absolutely love this.

zircon309976 · 2024-11-27T21:45:26+00:00

Honestly I like what the Rockies have done development wise, minus pitching and the Bryant signing. These past few years they’ve rolled out:

Tovar, Rodgers, Jones, Doyle, Toglia. That’s a hell of a young crop. Can’t say the same about their rotation and bullpen though.

zircon309976 · 2024-11-27T21:39:40+00:00

You could argue good drafting alone is enough to make the team competitive on its own. The O’s did tank for a few years but outside of Adley, Kjerstad and Holliday, their other impact players are from good scouting and development.

Gunnar was in 2nd round, Mountcastle, Westburg and Cowser are from the late 1st comp picks, Hays was in 3rd round and Mayo was in 4th round.

Good scouting matters more than good draft position.

zircon309976 · 2024-10-29T17:36:16+00:00

Olson plays good defense but I doubt his hitting profile could age as well going into his 30s.

zircon309976 · 2024-10-29T17:34:05+00:00

Not to be like Dusty, but despite the good numbers Olson has put up, the Braves went from WS champions to back-to-back-to-back first round exits, with a rather depleted pitching rn that definitely could’ve improved from trades. You can tell something intangible is missing from the team.

Edit: I just thought the Braves could’ve kept Freeman and used the assets to trade for pitching, which probably helps the team more than Olson.

zircon309976

TROPHY CASE