Monday, July 03, 2006
An open letter to the M's new manager...
Dear Bill Bavasi,
Yes, I'm calling for you to become the new manager of the Seattle Mariners. Why not? It worked for the Miami Heat, when Pat Riley fired one of those Van Gundy boys and proceeded to take an underachieving squad to its first NBA Championship.
Mr. Bavasi, you can NOT be too pleased to have traded a significant prospect in Asdrubal Cabrera for a benchwarmer. Watching Eduardo Perez sit in two consecutive close games against a team with a left-handed closer has to grate on your nerves. Yesterday's game went from ninth inning win with a Perez fly ball to an extra innings loss that cost you not only first place, but a centerfielder and a reliever as well. All due to the horrible mismanagement of the game by our current manager, who is making me long for the Bob Melvin era.
So, fire Hargrove already! He is killing us, and gonna cost you your job! And before you go to the Dan Rohn well, stop and think long and hard about making yourself the manager. You know what situations you brought players in for. Your GM job is on the line, so do you really want to go to some other option. Rohn can help you with the tactical decisions if there are any you don't grasp. Hard to imagine that you could possibly do a worse job than Hargrove. Don't bunt Jose Lopez, let your bench bats hit and even get the occasional start, try not to make runners steal when their have been six throws to first base already.
In this day and age, it is always the coach/manager who wants and gets more GM responsibility. So why can't the GM want and get more coaching responsibility? All these coaches think they can do the GM job without any business experience. Surely it would be easier for a GM who has grown up at baseball parks to do the manager job.
It would allow you to do everything you want to do with the Mariners. Serve youth by bringing up Snelling and Choo, knowing that your manager isn't going to just hinder their development by letting them rot on the bench. Leverage the great bench you built by actually using Perez and Petagine as pinch-hitters. Send Everett to the bench so that your option year that you never envisioned Everett approaching (and certainly not with a 300 slugging percentage) never vests. Actually try out a sixth starting pitcher. Let your dominant bullpen dominate.
If nothing else, the M's get a little more airtime on Sportscenter. Why should the next GM of the Mariners and whoever his handpicked coach is get all the glory for the M's resurgence? It can happen this year, if we can just get rid of the biggest obstacle to success.
The one major team that has won a championship in Seattle, the Supersonics, sparked the run by firing their coach in early season and bringing in Lenny Wilkens. This team has the pieces to make a run to the playoffs, and once there, anything can happen with this offense.
The window of opportunity is there to salvage this season, and your stewardship of the Mariners. You just have to get rid of the guy who is undermining your team, and replace him with a guy who understands the game.
You, Mr. Bavasi. You.
Yes, I'm calling for you to become the new manager of the Seattle Mariners. Why not? It worked for the Miami Heat, when Pat Riley fired one of those Van Gundy boys and proceeded to take an underachieving squad to its first NBA Championship.
Mr. Bavasi, you can NOT be too pleased to have traded a significant prospect in Asdrubal Cabrera for a benchwarmer. Watching Eduardo Perez sit in two consecutive close games against a team with a left-handed closer has to grate on your nerves. Yesterday's game went from ninth inning win with a Perez fly ball to an extra innings loss that cost you not only first place, but a centerfielder and a reliever as well. All due to the horrible mismanagement of the game by our current manager, who is making me long for the Bob Melvin era.
So, fire Hargrove already! He is killing us, and gonna cost you your job! And before you go to the Dan Rohn well, stop and think long and hard about making yourself the manager. You know what situations you brought players in for. Your GM job is on the line, so do you really want to go to some other option. Rohn can help you with the tactical decisions if there are any you don't grasp. Hard to imagine that you could possibly do a worse job than Hargrove. Don't bunt Jose Lopez, let your bench bats hit and even get the occasional start, try not to make runners steal when their have been six throws to first base already.
In this day and age, it is always the coach/manager who wants and gets more GM responsibility. So why can't the GM want and get more coaching responsibility? All these coaches think they can do the GM job without any business experience. Surely it would be easier for a GM who has grown up at baseball parks to do the manager job.
It would allow you to do everything you want to do with the Mariners. Serve youth by bringing up Snelling and Choo, knowing that your manager isn't going to just hinder their development by letting them rot on the bench. Leverage the great bench you built by actually using Perez and Petagine as pinch-hitters. Send Everett to the bench so that your option year that you never envisioned Everett approaching (and certainly not with a 300 slugging percentage) never vests. Actually try out a sixth starting pitcher. Let your dominant bullpen dominate.
If nothing else, the M's get a little more airtime on Sportscenter. Why should the next GM of the Mariners and whoever his handpicked coach is get all the glory for the M's resurgence? It can happen this year, if we can just get rid of the biggest obstacle to success.
The one major team that has won a championship in Seattle, the Supersonics, sparked the run by firing their coach in early season and bringing in Lenny Wilkens. This team has the pieces to make a run to the playoffs, and once there, anything can happen with this offense.
The window of opportunity is there to salvage this season, and your stewardship of the Mariners. You just have to get rid of the guy who is undermining your team, and replace him with a guy who understands the game.
You, Mr. Bavasi. You.
