"Paul Wylie" <paul.TakeThisOut@teamwylie.removemunged.org> wrote in message
news:cc4091$fak$3@reader2.panix.com...
> BTW: On a related note, I just don't see much point to firing Brenly at
> this point in the season. It's not as though the season can be salvaged
> by changing managers, and it's not as though the players have given up on
> Brenly and are agitating for a change. Jerry didn't fire Showalter during
> the 2000 season, despite the grumblings in the locker room and Pedro
> Gomez's out-and-out campaigning for it in the Republic. And that team
> still had a shot at righting the ship and winning the division.
The sole reason Bucky-boy wasn't axed was Brenly's (allegedly) principled
refusal, on two separate occasions, to force another manager out in
mid-season. (I say "allegedly" only because we have no way of knowing what
Brenly's true motives were and can only go on what has been reported in
various places over the years, not because I think there is any reason
whatsoever to be suspicious of him.)
> This team has no chance at the postseason. All that's left to do is trade
> the valuable veterans for promising young guys and start working for next
> season.
No. What's left is to dump healthy veterans with expiring or exorbitant
contracts who don't want to hang around for the next shot (which, health
permitting and taking the team's division opponents into account, isn't
entirely out of the question for next season) and fill holes accordingly.
Danny Bautista wants to be here. Randy Johnson, at last report, wants to be
here. Steve Finley would dearly love to be here (though he =could= be traded
for the stretch run and reasonably be expected to resign after the season).
Gonzo isn't healthy. Mantei isn't healthy. Mayne isn't healthy. Colbrunn
isn't healthy. Baerga isn't healthy.
What does that leave to be moved? Elmer Dessens as a set-up man? Shea
Loserbrand as a righty-DH and corner backup? Steve Sparks as a
5-starter/swingman? Robby Alomar if he proves to be healthy again (and
exactly which contender would need a starting 2B, anyway)?
And what would you get in return for some combination of the above (adding
the possibility of loaning Fins out as a summer rental)? Maybe a low-priced
back-of-the-rotation starter (Justin Duschsherer?), maybe a veteran bench
guy (Miguel Cairo? Placido Polanco?) but, more likely, a whole lotta
complete question marks.
> If Jerry thinks that Brenly's not a good teacher of young players, that
> could be a good enough reason to make a change, but it's not as though
> Mark Grace has a lot of experience with that.
The naming of a new manager will speak volumes about whether this is a
serious reorganization or an effort at organizational face-saving. With all
these kids around, the best possible candidates to develop them are all
in-house: Chip Hale, Wally Backman, Al Pedrique. All of these guys have
significant experience both working with young players =and= working with
the crop currently in the DBacks' system. Any one of these guys would have
immediate credibility with veterans in the organization, as well (plus each
has some cause to want to smack the Twins around this weekend).
At the other end, there are the figurehead-only guys who could wind up
managing despite not being either serious candidates or serious, period:
Robin Yount (who doesn't want the job and would be without question a purely
interim candidate) or Mark Grace (who has credibility only among the more
credulous of fans -- and with "journalists" hungry only for the morning
"money quote").
My own prediction is that we'll either get a retread guy for the remainder
of the season or Yount will take over as a caretaker (regardless of whether
or not he's saddled with the dreaded "interim" tag). We'll see later this
afternoon.
> Sadly, the best guy for turning a collection of young kids into a
> professional team is the guy Brenly replaced--Buck Showalter.
Who has Showalter nursemaided along? He had Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter
under his watch for about twenty minutes in the Bronx; he couldn't manage to
make serious, legitimate major-league regularrs out of (among others) Travis
Lee, Erubiel Durazo, David Dellucci, Nick Bierbrodt, John Patterson, Jason
Conti or Danny Klassen (and did much in 2000 to try to turn Byung-Hyung Kim
into a headcase with that nightmare inning in Arlington); even in Texas,
the only young player to truly blossom as one of Buck's boys has been Hank
Blalock (Mike Young has been on this kind of trajectory for years now; only
the batting average has improved much beyond expectations).
He's good at winnowing out the undisciplined of =any= age, and he's good at
reacquiring the guys who have shown they can fill roles within his
Queeg-like system, but there's precious little to suggest he has any
particular facility with young players as a teacher on a day-to-day basis.
--
_____
"'s been widely reported that the first-weekend box-office receipts of
"Fahrenheit 9/11" set a new record for documentaries. Blogger Frank J. notes
that this isn't true. "Jackass: The Movie," released in 2002, grossed $22.8
in its first weekend, a million dollars more than Michael Moore's gross-out
flick".
-- James Taranto, OpinionJournal.com's Best Of The Web, citing the
following report:
http://www.imao.us/archives/001629.html#001629
_____
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