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Manager Merry-Go-Round Posted by Ted Rossman at 10/13/2006 3:06:00 PM View more posts by this author

Is anyone else sick of the carousel that spins round and round every time a manager is fired? It seems like every vacant job is filled with rumors of erstwhile skippers looking for a fresh start. Now, I understand the argument that you want someone with experience. That is true in any business. But instead of retreads like Lou Piniella, Bob Brenly, Tony Pena, Dusty Baker, et al, why don't teams hire up-and-coming coaches? A young hire could provide long-term stability and breathe life into a franchise. I think the upside is higher. Even if the first-timer fails, it's not like Frank Robinson, Jim Tracy and Buddy Bell, to name a few recent retread hires, would certainly have done better.

Comments....

I have a hard time calling Piniella or Robinson "retreads." Robinson has done a fantastic job in an impossible situation with the Expos/Nationals... and Piniella has won everywhere he's been (except Tampa, and that's Tampa. Casey Stengel, with Miller Huggins and John McGraw as bench coaches, wouldn't win in Tampa.) Posted by czegers at 10/15/2006 8:14:00 AM

But the thing is, it's hard to feel too terribly sorry for Piniella when he engineered his way out of Seattle to go home to Tampa, knowing full well what the situation was there. And, for that matter, making his new team worse by costing them Randy Winn as part of the way out of there. He was a spectacularly bad fit for a young team - even granting the poor management above. Posted by Erickson at 10/15/2006 11:47:00 PM

I wouldn't call Piniella a re-tread either, but Jeff makes a good point about his fit with Tampa Bay. Piniella is noted for his dislike of dealing with two things: pitchers and young players. And if you are a young pitcher, God help you. So, beyond Tampa's financial woes, etc., it wasn't surprising how his time in Tampa turned out. Posted by Jason Thornbury at 10/16/2006 4:27:00 PM

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