Quote:Nobody is accusing Caldwell of being perfect, but the fact that he got value for a player who was in the final year of his contract and was going to hit free agency and provide no value to the team made that a smart move.  Especially when you take into consideration the fact that they had drafted the guy who was expected to step in as his replacement.  The consensus on the board at the time was apprehension over the move because of the timing and the lack of experience Monroe was being replaced with, but it wasn't as broadly panned as some here would like to imply until AFTER Joeckel got hurt.  Then it was suddenly a terrible deal that never should have happened. 

Well to be fair a lot of people didn't have time to post between the time Monroe was traded and the time Joeckel got hurt.

Quote:That line as a whole struggled last year because they had no coaching to speak of with Yarno taking leave to deal with his cancer, and his assistant line coach pretty much having no clue how to develop the crew.  I think that was as big a contributor to their struggles as anything, and we're seeing how things can improve with a good coach at the helm to develop the talent.  We'll see how things progress this year now that Marrone is in charge.

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Cyprien and Lee have been hurt.  Is that the GMs fault? 

 

There's absolutely nothing wrong with criticism if it's properly directed.  Caldwell has made some mistakes, but there have been moves made that remain a question mark for a variety of reasons that are beyond the control of any GM.  To blame him for injuries seems a bit misguided.  Things can happen in the league that are out of his hands once the guys are on the field.