Tarver

Who was the 80's outfielder (I believe at one time for the Sparky Anderson Tigers) who pulled himself out of a game for "Sleeping on his eye wrong"?

According to Cots:

I didn't think some of those guys were still in baseball. Take out he first week and C. Patterson has to be near the top.

That was my point, both of these guys were out of line.

We aren't arguing minutiae. The GM is the boss's boss. He's got a problem employee who is under contract and refusing to act accordingly. Getting on him for "redassing" a player while eating in front of others is ridiculous. You're simplifying it. We're still talking unions here, and if Chacon were bolting Ford Explorers together and someone in management came down while he was eating lunch and started in on him, with no steward present, there'd be hell to pay. This was Cooper's responsibility, pure and simple. They could have suspended him for insubordination to the manager, the way the Angels handled Guillen in '04. Wade had no reason to make it personal. Do you consider an exec raising his voice and using profanity towards a union member appropriate behavior?

That's the point, he refused to attend a meeting. He's an employee under contract. The team is obligated to pay him, he is obligated to do his part for the team. The fact that his agent requested a team does not void his obligation as an employee. Simply releasing him doesn't help the team. The fact that he quit is more than enough reason to be confrontational with an employee. His version of quitting still gets him paid. It's not like he walked out the door and refused any further paychecks. He wanted all the benefits of being under contract without performing the duties of being under contract, and you don't see the reasoning for a manager to confront the employee for such behavior? The field manager yes, the GM, no. If Cooper engenders that little respect in his clubhouse that players openly defy his orders, he needs to be fired, too. I think we're arguing minutiae here. Both guys are detrimental to that franchise, and both have some level of culpability. But if this was all some elaborate ploy by Wade to take advantage of Chacon's instability and avoid having to pay the remainder of his contract, his stock just went up in my book.

But rotoworld adds this to it... Bizarre! Taking Chacon at his word (which is probably a mistake), I guess Wade's not only one of the worst GMs in baseball, but an unprofessional hothead as well. Redassing a player in front of the team while they're sitting down eating? What kind of behavior is that for an exec? He should have just quietly ended the conversation after Chacon refused to meet with him, walked into his office, and drew up the walking papers. But it sounds like he was yelling at the guy for refusing to meet with the manager and GM about his demotion to the bullpen which he also refused. There are tens of thousands of execs who would "redass" an employee for that kind of behavior, regardless of whether they were in front of fellow employees (or perhaps especially if they were in front of fellow employees) and eating. He's a bad GM, but I don't see anything wrong with that. Reading this: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5857104.html It sounds like Wade was being a little confrontational about the whole thing after Chacon refused to meet with Cooper. Chacon's an obvious putz, but his agent is on record as having requested a trade earlier this week. Considering that, what is there to talk about? Wade should have just informed Chacon's agent he was being released after refusing to meet with Cooper. I don't understand Wade's reasoning for confronting someone who had for all intent and purposes quit.

But rotoworld adds this to it... Bizarre! Taking Chacon at his word (which is probably a mistake), I guess Wade's not only one of the worst GMs in baseball, but an unprofessional hothead as well. Redassing a player in front of the team while they're sitting down eating? What kind of behavior is that for an exec? He should have just quietly ended the conversation after Chacon refused to meet with him, walked into his office, and drew up the walking papers.

Their offense sucks and Hafner may be toast.

That's priceless. Unbelievable that he traded for him only six months ago.

Didn't see that Haltz already answered the question, but here's more info: http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/transanctionsprimer.html

Haha. "The poor play isn't his fault. But uh, I'm firing him anyway at 3am." This is the guy that was once called one of the 5 best GMs in baseball. I'm guessing that this wasn't Omar's call. Bad execution but for the right reasons though. What are the reasons though? The Mets biggest problem is that all their very old injury prone players are either injured or completely not performing. A team cannot fire the players. I don't think Willie is a particularly good manager. You can trade or release them. I don't think he's particularly good or bad. But I think the GM made some really bad decisions with some really old and injury prone players. I don't see Willie abusing talented young arms. The only argument I have heard is that the team looks flat or dysfunctional. I think they just look old and injured. The free Metro paper listed 3 mistakes by Willie and Omar. They are: Willie - slow start to season because they "lacked energy to start season". Race comments. And "his young team lacked leadership last September and Randolph did nothing to push them into performing better." That's gibberish, and that's the excuses I've been hearing as the reasons for his firing. He can't push them to perform better or add energy. He's a freaking manager. Agreed. Omar is the one who gave Pedro a contract two years too long, and expected a mummy like Alou to actually play the field. I don't remember Randolph making the same egregious mistakes like I see Guillen or Baker make on an everyday basis. He was scapegoated, pure and simple.

Leyland didn't trade for Willis. And Detroiters have bigger concerns than Tigers baseball. So if I understand you correctly here, a manager's job security is negatively correlated with the quality of life in the city he manages? I was really just venting about Michigan. My comments weren't as objective as I'd like. That said, there's no reason to compound a huge mistake like trading for Willis by giving him an extension, but that's not Leyland's fault.

That lineup is was too injury-prone to stay on the field long enough to score 1000 runs. I'd call living in Detroit a big concern.

Leyland didn't trade for Willis. And Detroiters have bigger concerns than Tigers baseball.

They still have time to pull out a division crown. The Phillies aren't that good. And the Mets are?

Fire the guy who was actually able to put Ollie Perez together and who Maine credits with all his success? Good job. Minaya needs to fire himself.

If people believe it's entertaining, then it's not a myth whether you fall in that category or not. Personally, I'd rather not have the DH, but I think both leagues need to have the same rule. Yep. If the AL is going to continue to dominate with DH, it's time to level the playing field. And who else feels cheated that our generation is going to have to put up with Hank Steinbrenner? Say what you will about Ozzie Guillen, at least he's an original horse's ass.