Thread by @PadreFanDan

After sleeping on it here are some takeaways from yesterday's Ron Fowler experience. (Thread)

1. When Ron showed up I was absolutely shocked that he would be willing to come face to face to interact with social media types like myself who have been very critical of him.

2. The very first thing he did was to go around the room and shake fans hands and thank them for being fans. (This was at least 10 minutes of time and any fan who was willing).

3. When taking a selfie with him I asked if he minded the Uncle Ron moniker. "Not at all" he said, "I'm an old man, but I'm still vertical." He then made reference to how stuff like that can't bother him. Basically life's too good to sweat the small stuff.

4. When he sat down to take the mic I was fully expecting diplomatic answers about trust the process and it's all part of the plan, etc. But instead his opening salvo was just how immensely disappointing this season had been. Essentially, he *believed* the team would compete.

(I can't underestimate how strange this is to me. Another fan even asked something about how, with the rotation we began the season with, he could have expected anything other than a below .500 record? He just seemed to think that players were better than they actually are.)

5. The questions from the fans were pretty good for the most part. Just honest questions, the kind you see on Twitter every day, not the typically couched and careful to not offend type questions that local sports media types ask in interviews (shots fired, I guess?).

6. I think the straightforward questions and the intimate feel of the room is the reason why Ron felt comfortable *venting*. Some of it was just emotional, but some revealed his deeper understanding of the team's evaluation tools.

7. He mentioned 5 of the 25 players as meeting or exceeding expectations. Yates, Paddack and Garcia were mentioned by name. I can only guess that Tatis and maybe Lucchesi were the other 2.
This seems fair. Obviously Garcia wasn't great, but he did meet expectations.

8. Regarding Manny, Ron clearly wasn't satisfied with his play. But was grateful that Manny himself publicly said himself he has to do more.
Ron blamed part of this on lack of a regular off-season.

9. Regarding Hosmer he specifically was upset about his defense and for some ret the final 6 weeks.

I think he'd like to see Hosmer own more of his deficiencies the way Machado has (in Ron's mind).

10. The Wil and Hedges comments were undoubtedly connected as well as addressed specifically. The fact that he's backtracking a little on Hedges makes me think the plan for 2020 is to keep Hedges and platoon him with Mejía. He made no backtracking with Wil. Wil's gone.

11. On these guys and others the questions were made about sports psychologists and Ron mentioned they've hired a guy from New Zealand who worked with the Rugby team. I've heard this before and clearly this isn't working, so I don't get why he's so proud of this.

12. Regarding the starting pitching this REALLY concerned me. He said that Randy Jones talks to him daily about the pitchers and that they need to become better "pitchers" rather than "throwers".
W/ all do respect, we don't need more "old school" with our pitchers...

We need more analytics, more technology, more proven strategy. Like Ryan Weathers said later in the summit, "My Dad's a dinosaur." If David Weather's is a dinosaur, Randy Jones is primordial.

It's concerning that Uncle Ron is paying so much attention to RJ.

13. About the analytics Ron said we have a deeper hidden team of 15-16 people working in this area but they aren't yet at the level of our scouting. Yet he didn't think we needed to add to this department despite that disparity.

I might add to this thread later but I gotta get the kid ready for school.

At the end of the day Ron's candor and approachability should be applauded by this fanbase. But that being said, his statement that his head needs to roll if things don't change is true. He really should step aside from *any* decisions about the roster and what's expected.

He should have a team payroll that corresponds directly with fan attendance. E.g. if the team is 14th in attendance they should be 14th in payroll. Give AJ that budget and step aside.

Ron, if you're reading this with your burner you know this is true. Let go and enjoy!