October 04, 2004
We Like You, You're Fired
This has to be one of the strangest firings of all time. Bob Melvin is out as manager of the Mariners:
During a 55-minute news conference, Bavasi spoke highly of Melvin and insisted the Seattle organization liked him.
"To the untrained eye, I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth," Bavasi said. "We just let him go, but I'm recommending him. In this crazy business, that fits because he will do things differently the second time. He had some bad luck here."
Bavasi insisted there were no relationship or communications issues with Melvin, and he acknowledged that Melvin probably didn't have enough talent on the field to win this season.
He candidly said team officials recognized holes in their aging lineup as early as March. They privately predicted other AL West teams would need to slip for the Mariners to be competitive.
Bavasi emphasized that the front office wasn't assigning sole responsibility for the rough season to Melvin, saying there was plenty of blame available and listing the front office, scouts, the manager and the players.
They don't have anything negative to say about the guy. They don't even say we need to go in a new direction. I'm confused.
Here's the U.S.S. Mariner view of things, but it doesn't help much either. Any thoughts?
Posted by David Pinto at
10:13 PM
|
Management
|
TrackBack (0)
Here's a thought: Bavasi has quickly established himself as by far the worst GM in baseball.
1. He traded Carlos Guillen--now one of the better shortstops in the league--for Ramon Santiago.
2. Giving money to aging, lousy veterans, like Raul Ibanez, Scott Spiezio, and Rich Aurilia.
3. Refusing to trade the only commodities he had left--Brett Boone and Jamie Moyer--because they're "nice guys."
Bavasi has just been downright brutal as a GM, and has set the Mariners back at least five years in their development. To think that this was a team that was a 90 win team a year ago, and was a consistent playoff team as recently as two years ago. But the first to go is always the guy on the field. At least Bavasi is smart enough not to get up and say, "I totally ruined this team...but we're firing Melvin."
Bavasi was blaming the manager before people could get around to blaming him.
What he should have said, "It was either me or Melvin who had to get fired, what would you have done."
Bavasi has done a HORRIBLE job
He wasn't gonna get up there and say,
"Well, our 'Lose-Now De-Building Project' (as BP put it last year) has worked perfectly, but we've got to can *someone* for a season like this, right? Bob and I arm-wrestled for it, and he won, but I'm still his boss, so he goes. I stay. Any Questions?"
Can't fire the team, or himself. Bavasi doesn't believe in OBP or minor league stats. Why are we surprised?
