Macha out in Oakland per Gammons...and back in!

[KW34]

Gammons just reported Macha is out as A's manager (money issue). I'm guessing he winds up in L.A.

[Tedward]

Gammons just reported Macha is out as A's manager (money issue). I'm guessing he winds up in L.A.

 

Or Pittsburgh. I believe that's his home.

[USSoccer]

That ought to make the guy who writes "Elephants in Oakland" happy. He hates Macha as much as we hate Baker.

[CuseCubFan69]

He's the guy I really wanted when the Cubs had an opening and hired Baker. Now....so..so.

[CuseCubFan69]

Ohhhh...yes! Now Baker has the Bay AND LA calling for his services. I know, both GM's are the opposite of what Baker does but I can dream.

[RynoRules]

"We decided it's best to part ways at this point," general manager Billy Beane said on a conference call.

 

 

"We offered a three-year deal with a club option and they countered with a three-year deal without a club option," Beane said. "I don't think we were ever going to be able to bridge the gap. It was a significant gap."

 

The option would have allowed the A's to decide whether to keep Macha after three seasons.

 

"It was a compensation issue," Beane said.

 

That's a load of poop. I negotiate deals all the time in my practice - that's not a significant gap. More likely that they had a falling out.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

Gammons just reported Macha is out as A's manager (money issue). I'm guessing he winds up in L.A.

 

Or Pittsburgh. I believe that's his home.

I heard they were going after Tracy.

[Tracer Bullet]

"We decided it's best to part ways at this point," general manager Billy Beane said on a conference call.

 

 

"We offered a three-year deal with a club option and they countered with a three-year deal without a club option," Beane said. "I don't think we were ever going to be able to bridge the gap. It was a significant gap."

 

The option would have allowed the A's to decide whether to keep Macha after three seasons.

 

"It was a compensation issue," Beane said.

 

That's a load of poop. I negotiate deals all the time in my practice - that's not a significant gap. More likely that they had a falling out.

 

I don't know the circumstances, but Beane did mention "it was a compensation issue." Both sides may have offered 3 years but for significantly different amounts of cash.

[treebird]

i really doubt it was actually a money issue. macha sucksucksucked and now he's gone.

[Proven Veteran]

There have been reports of them not getting along for quite a while, not too surprising that he's gone. How about resurrecting Davey Johnson?

[BigbadB]

i really doubt it was actually a money issue. macha sucksucksucked and now he's gone.

 

96-66 in 2003

91-71 in 2004

88-74 in 2005

 

After '03, he lost Miguel Tejada, Ramon Hernandez and Mark Ellis.

After '04, he lost Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Mark Redman and Jermaine Dye

 

I don't know if terrible or sucky would be the proper adjective for a guy working with a 55m payroll.

[Jehrico]

i really doubt it was actually a money issue. macha sucksucksucked and now he's gone.

 

96-66 in 2003

91-71 in 2004

88-74 in 2005

 

After '03, he lost Miguel Tejada, Ramon Hernandez and Mark Ellis.

After '04, he lost Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Mark Redman and Jermaine Dye

 

I don't know if terrible or sucky would be the proper adjective for a guy working with a 55m payroll.

 

If you would have told me during the last offseason that they would only drop 3 games off of their record the next year after the Hudson and Mulder trades, I would have said you were crazy. And that was considering that Kendall was expected to have another .300+ year.

 

It does make you wonder how much a few studs over average replacement players really does for a team though...i.e. Mulder, Hudson, Tejada, and Hernandez (4 all-stars) only dropped them a total of 8 wins over two seasons. Granted, that is a pretty over-simplified, myopic way of looking at it, but it does strengthen my belief that no player is worth $15+ mil a year.

[treebird]

i really doubt it was actually a money issue. macha sucksucksucked and now he's gone.

 

96-66 in 2003

91-71 in 2004

88-74 in 2005

 

After '03, he lost Miguel Tejada, Ramon Hernandez and Mark Ellis.

After '04, he lost Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Mark Redman and Jermaine Dye

 

I don't know if terrible or sucky would be the proper adjective for a guy working with a 55m payroll.

 

he did a bad job. he played the wrong players. he mismanged the bullpen. his line-ups were ridiculous.

 

the a's won in spite of macha.

[biittner77]

I wish the Cubs had a manager that only sucked this much.

[RynoRules]

I wish the Cubs had a manager that only sucked this much.

 

Agreed. Macha's entire roster has been turned over on him in the last three years, and he had rookies in seemingly a dozen positions, yet they challenged for the div. title up until the last 10-12 days. Not bad.

 

The truth is that the Alderson/Beane philosophy is that managers are fungable and not worth keeping if they don't get with the program.

[CuseCubFan69]

I would have to believe that Tree has payed a lot of attention to this team like we do Baker. People could say that the Cubs lost ARam, Nomar, Wood, Prior and Sosa and still came close to 500. I myself don't know the breakdown on what Macha did during a game like an Oakland fan would have even though his overall numbers were good so to be honest I would like to hear what the A fans have to say.

[series65cubsfan]

i really doubt it was actually a money issue. macha sucksucksucked and now he's gone.

 

96-66 in 2003

91-71 in 2004

88-74 in 2005

 

After '03, he lost Miguel Tejada, Ramon Hernandez and Mark Ellis.

After '04, he lost Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Mark Redman and Jermaine Dye

 

I don't know if terrible or sucky would be the proper adjective for a guy working with a 55m payroll.

 

Not to push this thread in a different direction but Seattle lost Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez, Tino Martinez, and Griffey Jr. and then went on to a 116-46 record. So yes it does make me think no one is worth 15 mil a year also.

[RynoRules]

I would have to believe that Tree has payed a lot of attention to this team like we do Baker. People could say that the Cubs lost ARam, Nomar, Wood, Prior and Sosa and still came close to 500. I myself don't know the breakdown on what Macha did during a game like an Oakland fan would have even though his overall numbers were good so to be honest I would like to hear what the A fans have to say.

 

BTW, the Alderson/Beane philosophy I cited is not speculation on my part. You can find it yourself in the book "Juicing the Game", which I am currently reading. Alderson refers to managers as being even less than middle management, that they are fungible, and that the GMs are the true face of an organization.

 

Sounds a bit like a man whose nickname is "Crumbs", and who is currently a scout for the NY Mets.

[treebird]

I would have to believe that Tree has payed a lot of attention to this team like we do Baker. People could say that the Cubs lost ARam, Nomar, Wood, Prior and Sosa and still came close to 500. I myself don't know the breakdown on what Macha did during a game like an Oakland fan would have even though his overall numbers were good so to be honest I would like to hear what the A fans have to say.

 

As someone said earlier, the best way to learn about how lousy Macha was would be just to go read Elephants in Oakland. Zachary D. Manprin is pretty much my hero.

 

That'd require a lot of work though, so I'll just throw an example out there.

 

Jason Kendall played 150 games this year. Not many catchers do that. You'd think that the ones who do would be halfway decent. Kendall wasn't. He was reasonable at blocking and catching, but he was incapable of throwing. It was absurd. Also of note is the fact that he didn't homer this year. He had one triple and twenty eight doubles. 29 XBH's in 601 at bats. His SLG was .321. His .345 OBP was nice, but when it was essentially the ONLY skill he displayed this year (besides face first tags at home and scoring game-winning runs on defensive indifference), it doesn't make sense to not give him days off. His numbers don't show it, but Adam Melhuse was a hot hitter at times this year. When this happened, he just dh'ed at best.

 

To make matters worse, every single one of Kendall's 601 at bats came either first, second, or third in the lineup. When you add in the fact that, according to BP, he hit into 11 more dp's than expected (29 total!) and that this number is second in the major leagues only to Sean Casey, the playing time he received and the lineup preference he received appears to be borderline ludicrous.

 

And that's just one player. I could write as much or more on Chavez (needs days off due to sucking), Dan Johnson (why is he batting so low in the order), Nick Swisher (he's terrible for extended stretches, let's see some Matt Watson), Scott Hatteberg (should never play), Barry Zito (does he have to go one inning too many EVERY time out?), Ricardo Rincon (should probably never play, this one is on beane too, get him off the team), Huston Street (why is he pitching with such a big lead? why is he going out for a third inning?), Mark Ellis (why did it take 5 months to figure out that he's awesome and should be leading off?), Kiko Calero (got the Michael Wuertz pitching every day treatment at times) and Kirk Saarloos (5 inning pitcher. deal with it. when he throws his 75th pitch, someone should already be up in the pen).

 

On the plus side, the way he chewed his gum was kinda cool, so I'll miss that.

[Tim]

Who's going to break the guys out of the bathroom now?

[Outshined_One]

Who's going to break the guys out of the bathroom now?

 

Poor Joe Blanton. :cry:

[mhuber92211]

Actually according to LA Sports radio and the sporting news Macha is not on the short list for LA.

[KW34]

Wow, didn't realize how despised Macha is/was in Oakland. I retract my L.A. guess - no way DePodesta takes someone Beane doesn't like.

 

How many managers (not named Cox) are there that team's fans actually like? It doesn't seem to be very many.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Are there are young managerial candidates out there that Billy Beane would be comfortable in hiring? It seems like nearly every major league hire is a retread coach from the "old school". I'm curious to see if Beane can find a manager that is open to the statistical analysis that is so important to the A's organization. This will be a very interesting hiring season.

[goonys evil twin]

How many managers (not named Cox) are there that team's fans actually like? It doesn't seem to be very many.

 

I think Angels fans love Scioscia (although I'm sure many can't stand his affection for Erstad the Terrible). I have to assume Astros fans like Garner. Bochy is probably well liked. LaRussa is worshipped by many (despite a pretty vocal group of detractors). Guillen has to have a lot of fans. Gardenhire?

 

The first guy people look to when a team comes up short is the manager, and that sort of dilutes the argument against the true screw-ups in the job. But that doesn't change my stance on Baker; I'm confident in my assessment of his work.