October 30, 2008
Macha, Macha, Man(ager)
The Brewers hired Ken Macha as manager today:
The 58-year-old Macha, who managed Oakland to a pair of American League West titles, agreed to a two-year contract. He replaces Sveum, who became interim manager when Ned Yost was fired with 12 games left in the regular season.
"It means a tremendous amount to me," Macha said. "The players are the guys that go out there and win or lose the games for you, and I think the job of a manager and a coach is to get these players as prepared as you possibly can."
Macha is famous for being fired and rehired by the Athletics between the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Jeff Sackman at Brew Crew Ball is happy:
f the three finalists, Macha is by far my favorite. We may have been able to do better, but if we're choosing only from experienced big-league managers with recent success, there aren't many guys I'd rather have.
Ken inherits a good group of hitters, but with both Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia possibly leaving, he'll need to depend on young pitchers developing quickly to keep the team in contention.
Posted by David Pinto at
07:11 PM
|
Management
|
TrackBack (0)
Given the fact that the A's players openly mutinied against Macha at the end of their best season since Tony Larussa was in town, I think maybe Brewers fans might come to regret this early enthusiasm.
Isn't a two-year contract a bit on the short side for a newly-hired manager? Might indicate that the Brewers themselves aren't completely sold on Macha: they want to see some results before making a longer-term commitment.