Then, all of a sudden, it happens: the player just collapses.
As the Month of Gory Managerial Death fades away, is there some sort of central lesson that can be learned from the various dugout purges? Were the decisions to hire Davey Lopes, Phil Garner, Tony Muser, and Buddy Bell just bad decisions from the outset, or were they good decisions that just didn’t have good outcomes? Is there anything at all to be learned from this wave of firings? What will a smart organization take away from all this?
One word thrown around a lot when a manager is fired is “accountability.” At the end of the day, managers are accountable for what happens on the field–the wins and losses.
Just running through the AL stats, a month into the season, we marvel at Garret Anderson’s consistency, and try to keep Chad Bradford–the submarine reliever–straight from Corey Bradford, the NFL wide receiver.
Just running through the AL stats, a month into the season: Garret Anderson isn’t nearly as good the Angels, or many Angels fans, think he is, but geez, the guy is consistent. He’s at .315/.336/.528, which makes him an above-average AL left fielder. Anderson is only good when he’s at or near the top of…
You never see it coming. Player X is having a solid career, peaking in the .300/.380/.540 range for a run-of-the-mill franchise. He has a minimal history of injuries–the average aches and pains, an occasional stint on the DL, but nothing worse than that. He hits the other side of 30 as an accomplished player and…