We love Joe Maddon. We really do (Actually, not all of us love Papa Joe. DRG hates Maddon and and threatens to punch me in the face every time I write something that even remotely supports him). Even though we love Papa Joe, we admit that we can be hard on him from time to time and THIS is the number one reason…
At least 81 (wins), from what manager Joe Maddon envisions. “I think it’s a reasonable goal,” Maddon said.
Actually Joe. It is not a “reasonable goal”. It is not a reasonable goal when you have three stud starting pitchers, a solid 8th and 9th inning duo and at least five players in the everyday lineup with all-star potential.
You wanna know what a “reasonable goal” is? THE F#@%ING PLAYOFFS! That is a reasonable goal. Will it happen? Maybe not. But that should be your god damned “reasonable goal”.
81-81 should be the bare minimum with this collection of talent. I don’t give a rats-ass how young they are. This team has talent. The core of the team are VETERANS. They may not all be old, but Kazmir, Shields, Crawford, Pena, Iwamura, Floyd, Navi, Reyes, Wheeler and Percy have all been through the fire. It is time to start performing or get the hell out of the way for somebody that will.
And that goes for you too Joe. I know you are still learning as a manager and you are not the sort to EVER put pressure on your players in public, but if you can’t win 81 games with this group, I will gladly drive you back to Anaheim myself.
2006? Sure why not. 2007? Got a little stale, but we understood. 2008? No. Stop. Just stop. Stop low-balling the players and the fans. Stop being afraid to bruise their fragile little egos, and tell us that the goal for 2008 is the playoffs. We won’t hold it against you or them if you don’t make it. But we will hold it against them and especially you if you don’t win 81 games.
This is not what we needed heading into the weekend. If anybody needs us, we will be the drunkards trying out how to hack firejoemaddon.com, and making a game plan for starting FirePapaJoe.com.
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- I think I had a couple of afternoon links for you, but I am too frustrated. It’s gotta be 5 ‘o clock somewhere…
