Quote Originally Posted by the_real_MSU_is_us View Post
I see 3 issues:

1) this game can be played for every sport in every season. "We have A and B returning, so if C takes a step forward we just need to find D from somewhere!" and then in reality B gets hurt and C doesn't take that step and D never gets found and ABCD combines to be the worst position group on the team.

2) your list of pitchers relies a LOT on guys taking steps forward. The entire week's rotation is guys who are coming off TJ or can't get through 2 innings of SEC play today. That's a lot of big steps forward to become serviceable starters. But the Portal can flip a team in no time so we may put together a rotation that way.

3) Lemonis has flaws in other areas. First he makes some... interesting roster decisions. For example he expected Hancock to play C this season. 2 years on the roster and Lemo never noticed he had a weak arm, or thought to actually see his arm at catcher. He just said "We have hancock, no need to pursue a transfer!". SO going into next season, I can't trust him to evaluate our RF options, or evaluate our 3B options, etc. Moreover our defense is league worst this season. These can't be blamed on FOx.

Overall, I recognize he may bounce back next year, that we can't find anyone decent to replace him, that we don't have the $6m to replace him, whatever. Keeping Lemo might be what we have to do, and it may even be the right call. But I doubt it is. You dont' miss Hoover back to back and still get to claim to be a good coach, anymore than a football coach that goes 4-8 back to back seasons can.
1. We don't know what will happen but at a minimum we will be very strong up the middle next year with Highfill, Mershon, Cupp, and Dakota Jordan. Teams that are typically good are strong up the middle. We know Hines is a 20 home run guy as well and Chance appears to be a quality player who should be better. Improving a team ERA of 7 is hardly unrealistic as well. Lemonis has hit pretty good in the portal on position players- Dubrule, Yeager, Larry, and Ledbetter to name a few.

2. I don't think most of our fans fathom how bad Foxhall was. If we can improve our team ERA to five which is still not very good but significantly better than this year then we will easily be in a regional. Foxhall was essentially Lemonis's Peter Sirmon. Which is a lot more relevant comparison compared to the Moorhead comps. If our rotation next year is Loo, Loftin, and Holcombe that would be three top 200 MLB draft prospects in our rotation alone. Our fans don't think someone average as a pitching coach even could do something with that? Not to mention Dohm coming back. And by the way- having a winning record with an ERA of 7 and setting a school record for walks by a mile is unheard of. And actually in a morbid way kind of impressive.

3. Hancock had not had any problems before this year. And it's not like Highfill didn't get better as the season went on. A lot of those stolen bases early on were on our pitchers not holding the runners on. So yeah- even that is on Foxhall. We made 65 errors as a team this year 28 of those were by two players alone. Seems like an easy fix- in fact Lane Forsythe won't be back from what I've heard. So there goes 15 right there. I haven't heard anything about Alford yet although there are rumors he will enter the portal. But at the same time I wouldn't be shocked if we bring him back and see if he can improve while bringing in a UTL type INF that profile at third if he can't figure it out. He may be a douchebag but he also got some of our biggest hits this year too. None of us are around the team but losing can turn people into assholes sometimes. Essentially he's our Roger Dorn.