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Something Ventured, Nothing Gained: DePodesta To Be Fired
2005-10-29 10:19
Won't take long to analyze this one. I have spent too long showing why Paul DePodesta has, while not being perfect (a standard no person meets), improved the Dodgers and positioned them to be a perennial title contender. Like Jim Tracy or not, like DePodesta or not, the firing of first one and then the other proves that the McCourt ownership is incompetent. The McCourts can't even follow their own counsel. "The tremendous success we had last year and the huge disappointment this year just reinforced that it is a path, a plan, an overall approach to win consistently," Frank McCourt told the Times on October 6. "You can't get too high with the highs and too low with the lows. We're not as smart as we seemed in 2004 and not as dumb as we seemed this year." Despicable. It's not the end of the world - the Dodgers will have a winning season perhaps as soon as next year and intermittently down the road. But there's no celebrating having your team run by folks with the sophistication of 3-year-olds in the sandbox. Stay cool, everyone. Other reaction: 6-4-2, Baseball Analysts, L.A. Observed
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I woke up to see the LAT story, too. Unless McCourt has something up his sleeve that we're currently in the dark about, this would be so embarassing. You'd think they'd have a better understanding of PR, for one thing, and this would be bad PR, a sign the franchise is basically in disarray, instead of how it appeared, which was, franchise with a bad season behind it, looking for a manager to get the team back on the winning track. I don't understand this at all - we were supposed to believe in DePo's system for another year at least, to give him time after his first full year was a mess caused by mostly injuries and, arguably, a mediocre manager that he hadn't hired.
Now what are we supposed to believe?
Maybe he's going to hire Collins as GM and Hershiser as manager?
Well, if he does fire DePo he could solve some of the PR chaos by hiring Kim Ng to replace him. Or, uh, Theo Epstein (won't happen). Otherwise, this is a serious mistake. I'll keep my eyes and ears on it...
Lastly, help! Is there anything we can do? A McCourt batphone we can call?
(I'm asking rhetorically, not trying to inflame anything)
When a franchise has a down year or a rebuilding year, what gives fans hope is the thought that there is a plan in place. When McCourt hired Depo, it seemed very clear there was a plan in place. Even when Depo's moves were controversial, the plan was being followed and led to a division title and a playoff win. It also seems clear that it'd be so easy to write off this year to tremendous injuries and continue with the plan in the off-season.
Now, we can look forward to months, if not years, of more turmoil -- and how can anyone believe anything McCourt says again? (And I say this as one who's given him every benefit of the doubt and felt he had a bad rap, up until now).
I suggest other Dodgers fans send similar respectful and heartfelt pleas not to fire DePodesta.
Whatever we end up with will almost surely be worse.
--Ex-Dodger Fan.
I'm not ready to go as far as Kayaker -- I'm still going to renew my season tickets, because I want to watch live major league baseball and I don't want to drive to Anaheim -- but I agree that at best this is foolish and at worst it's a disaster for the franchise.
I am sad that DePodesta is gone. All depends on what his successor does. DePodesta protected the uberprospects at all costs, and I think it ultimately cost him his job. The next GM will probably have a mandate to trade some or -- gasp -- all of them. All we can do is wait and see how much of the future is mortgaged for 2006.
If Kim Ng is promoted, that might save this move. If he hires Towers or Bowden, then you have everything Jon said.
It's not so much a conscious decision as the inevitable result of such a clearly boneheaded move that will likley result in dismantling the farm system and returning to "old school" conventional wisdom GMing that will likely prove unsuccesful.
When Orel went to dinner with the McCourts, Plaschke blasted DePo for not being there. But I thought there had to be a reason he was not there and it might be what is now coming to the surface.
So does DePo quit if McCourt says you have next season to prove your worth?
Wake me when this is over, please. If we hire Terry Collins on top of this I may well have to abandon ship.
He's pretty old though
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Gillick
I could refuse to buy season., or any, tickets, but then I don't live in LA so that's not much of a threat.
If this is true, there better be a good plan in place immediately, rather than yet another long drawn out process. (And by good plan, I of course don't mean hiring Tommy Lasorda.)
(b) Perhaps more importantly, why would Kim Ng want the job? Yes, it would be a tremendous accomplishment to be the first female GM -- however, she's just been witness to how cavalier and thin-skinned her owner is. Wouldn't it be better for her to wait for a better situation?
I wonder what Jeff Kent and Eric Gagne are thinking at the moment.
Maybe I should actually call back the Dodgers ticket office person now who keeps leaving messages asking me to renew my mini season ticket plan and vent on that person. Those people must have REALLY hard jobs now. They were hard enough to start with. They better have a lot of patience or a very thick hide.
The Dodgers went from a team without a skipper to a team without a skipper and an engine for the boat and any navigational equipment.
This is going to be one heck of a three hour tour.
Takes you directly to the email form. I suggest everyone who thinks this will be a disaster send a respectful email explaining why.
I agree with you. McCourt is going to hire someone steeped in old, tired and stupid baseball tradition.
I'm sure that DePo's allegedly poor PR and communication skills didn't help.
But the truth is, we've only heard one side of the story, from the likes of Plaschke, whose thought process went something like this:
Who is DePodesta?
He uses computers.
He has a Harvard degree.
I hate him.
Therefore he is bad.
Therefore he has poor interpersonal skills.
I just made a haiku.
24. Thanks!
For two years, Dodger fans have talked to each other over a series of fault lines: Pro JT/Anti JT...Pro DePo/Anti DePo... Cora vs. Kent...Beltre vs. Somebody cheaper...Heart and Soul vs. Provable Performance.
But if Frank McCourt in fact does fire DePo, as I would agree appears 99.99 percent likely, all these factions will unite. Because I don't care how much disdain you might've had for DePodesta, firing him in the middle of the managerial search, just days before free agents start to arrive on the market, makes the McCourts look simply incompetent.
Just compare the McCourt quotes from October 6, cited in Henson's story, with what apparently will happen now. What kind of chief executive says 'we're committed to a plan,' and then three weeks later, pulls the plug? An unsuccessful chief executive, that's who.
Camille Johnson, you can put as much perfume on this pig as you've got, but you will not save the McCourts from becoming the most hated owners in LA sports history (and that's saying something.) I can live without DePodesta. What I can't stand is squirmy, reactive, insecure, p=== your pants leadership, and that's what McCourt represents.
Like the joke about the economist stranded on an island:
Let's assume a boat ....
If it's true, I have to wonder how Lasorda ended up with so much power in the organization? And why? The fact he managed for 20+ years really doesn't mean that he knows anything about building a winning baseball team in present day. Afterall, isn't this the guy who once forgot (or never knew in the first place) that 10/5 players can demand a trade from their new tream if traded in the middle of a multi-year contract?
If DePo is on such thin ice that he could be fired 3 weeks later without really doing anything, why let him fire Jim Tracy?
I've got to think that McCourt HAS to make a statement to the press very quickly reaffirming his faith in DePo, and if he doesn't, then the report is probably true. If it's not, then the LA sportwriters seem to have reached a new low by reporting DePo was going to be fired, not because of an actual source, but because they just don't like him.
Until it's official, I won't spend too much time worrying about it. But if it is, well, it would be just crazy.
That means Benny Agbayani should be making his triumphant return to MLB!
We should be as careful of the cult of personality as our opponents are not. There is no magic to the name DePodesta. He is not the only person in the world who can get us where we need to go. He happens to be creative and on the right track, but he has significant flaws and is, unfortunately, a polarizing figure. We may welcome a future with the positives of the past two years combined with a fresh start from someone who will keep the system largely intact.
Or not. But only McCourt knows.
DePo: 89.5
McCourt: 65 and Growing
Lasorda: 40 for being a jerk
Now...
DePo: 96
McCourt: 2 and Falling
Lasorda: -25 for pushing for the firing...
I am at the point of moving from Los Angeles I am that upset.
The answer to this question is the only thing that gives me hope.
And Bobby Valentine? Gag me with a spoon.
I went through this when John York fired Steve Mariucci and replaced him with Dennis Erickson. I can't believe it's happening again to one of my teams.
(I would curse but I respect the clean-ness of this blog).
That suggests that the guy at the top (McCourt) is clueless and, in fact, has no plan. In addition to nepotism and firing a bunch of lower level staffers for no reason that has been explained.
That is bad. Usually when organizations start firing a bunch of people because bad things happened and there was bad press, and there is no rational explanation, it means that the person at the top is clueless and he thinks hiring new people will solve all the problems.
When the better answer is that there is no guarantee new people will be better, and that the person at the top is likely the problem and if this is the case, his new hires will likely be no better and are likely to be worse.
That's why this is so bad.
Would Valentine be any worse than Terry Collins? Other than the Plaschke-love?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2207122
The Dodgers of the 1960s and 1970s (the good ones, not the 67 and 68 teams for example) can't be replicated under today's conditions. It's impossible with baseball's financial setup. It's a fool's errand.
But people think it can be done. It can't. You have to look forward. You can only look back if you try to learn something from that time. And I don't see this looking back as being productive for the makeup of the Dodgers now.
As to Valentine, I just have a strong personal dislike of him.
Well at least they're qualified for something.
http://tinyurl.com/e4dsm
She might even be hip enough to read a blog like DT. So let me address you personally, Camille Johnson.
Before you talk to your new bosses again, ask yourself: Is it your experience that CEOs thrive if they are seen as overreacting to negative PR, or to a short-term setback such as the 2005 season?
True, the LA Times does not like Paul DePodesta. But if the McCourts thinks the Times will respect them more if they fire DePodesta, that's amateurish and naive. You, Camille, should know this as well as anyone.
Go do your job, PR expert. Go speak truth to power. (But you might want to put a few souvenirs of your brief baseball career in the trunk of your car first.)
McCourt is only trying to emulate the best. Never fear, Dodger fans, a dynasty is on its way!
Last week I heard an interview with a phenomenally successful investment manager for Yale University, who was asked what the biggest mistake individual investors make, and he said that what they do is that they base decisions on what has just happened rather than anticipating what's going to happen. This practically guarantees you're going to buy high and sell low, because you're buying something when the peak of its value appreciation has already been reached. The sports equivalent of this is signing Adrian Beltre, Paul LoDuca and Steve Finley. The sports equivalent of anticipating what's going to happen is signing Jeff Kent. The state of things with DePodesta at the end was that he had demonstrated that he knew who not to sign, but (Kent aside) he hadn't proven his ability to find the players that were going to be stars.
Fortunately for the Dodgers there seems to be a lot of top quality GM talent available just now, and the Dodgers have got to be in the most attractive position of any team looking for a GM – if it wasn't for the McCourts.
I can't see it, either. I figured the big problem was that McCourt wanted Orel for manager, and DePo wanted someone else, and refused to cave in. This is just nuts.
So its roll back the clock time (how appropriate) - replace all the old blue seats with pastels like 1962, bring back Tommy, Orel, Bobby V and hordes of other stars of yesteryear. Who cares if we trade away the future? It's the past that matters!
Good luck to DePo. I think he'll be successful elsewhere - maybe back to Oakland if Beane moves up the ladder.
1) Don't bunt
2) Disappear all the Jasons
3) Bat Izturis/Robles eighth
4) Don't treat every Weaver start like a Frat Hazing
5) Play good players and bench bad players
6) Stop blaming everyone else for your problems
I have no idea of Valentine's proclivities to do, or not do, any of these things. I don't care about his fake mustaches.
So that the new GM wouldn't have to make that decision and take the PR hit for it?
If wouldn't have anything against Orel as GM, or even really against Valentine as manager. If these decisions had been made two years ago, I would have looked forward with optimism to see how they worked out. But now?? The turmoil just makes me ill. What a classless, anchorless, visionless ownership this has turned out to be.
Anything McCourt said about taking the long view was a bunch of hot air. This will be a team in chaos for years to come.
Don't kow who If is.
...wait for it...
...wait for it!!!...
http://tinyurl.com/dtod2
Doesn't sound like a particularly appealing job, unless it's going to be offered to someone with the last name McCourt.
It's correct, but that's the British spelling. We use the letter z in this country!
http://fireterrycollins.blogspot.com/
So I guess you're ready to pass judgement, while the rest of us pass judgment?
Um...
I think this McCourt business belongs in a comedy at the cinema, but you probably think it belongs at the "movies."
My first reaction to seeing the story: the Dodgers are going to be horrible for the next five years--Malone era bad. Reading the above comments made me re-think a bit. Kim Ng might be interesting. But then realize, as people have, that the new GM's identity does not matter--any negative press and the McCourts will cave, no matter how much money they are making. It's not that Paul DePodesta walks on water, but its that he was basically making good moves and had the franchise moving in the right direction. Why fire this guy?
Another part of me is mad at DePo. Why did he never try to court the media? You can say the Plaschke crowd was against him no matter what he did, but what about all the stories about DePo not calling people when they were fired, let go as FA, etc.? Could all of those have been false? Maybe he really didn't manage people well. There are a lot of facts we don't know, but is anyone else kind of mad at him for letting this happen? Why DIDN'T he explain the thinking behind letting Paul "slightly above average but overpaid and past his peak" LoDuca go? I mean, who would you rather have next year, LoDuca at 5 or 6 million or Navarro or Russ Martin for the minimum? I think fans were capable of understanding that, but DePo did not get out into the mainstream media and explain stuff like that, it seemed to me. Any thoughts on this?
They've hired excellent coaches, and have backed their choices long enough to see the vision become reality.
Too bad our baseball team can't do the same.
Old Major: Dan Evans (starting the Farm System)
Snowball: DePodesta
Napoleon: Tommy Lasora/ Frank McCourt
Mr. Jones: Dan Evans/ Kevin Malone
Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick: The Yankees and the A's or Indians
Napoleon kills Snowball and brings his own revolution which crumbles after a good beggining...
Given T.J. Simers' obsession with The Screaming Meanie, will we see a pro-Depo column tomorrow?
I remember reading stories that McCorut had a number of offers for this real estate but refused to sell, and instead of using it at its economically highest use (most likely a commercial highrise) he keeps operating a parking garage rather than developing it.
This suggests that he is not a very good businessman. In addition to having a porfolio that is not at all diversified.
But as a Dodger fan, unless some minor miracle happens and the franchise somehow ends up being stronger, I think we're going to hit another phase of tightening our belts, getting through some years of bad ownership and mediocre teams, and pining for past glory (in other words, the last decade or so).
Pity... it seemed like we were about to turn the corner.
Is this too much of a dream?
Then he would have resigned, not rumored to be fired.
The communication problem for the Dodgers is a disfunctional ownership that with a severe case of rabbit ears.
But I believe that the media would be much more likely to embrace someone like Hershiser using virtually the same methods as DePo.
Here's an example: I was watching the NFL last Sunday and Troy Aikman was doing color. He said that the way people have been ranking offenses is all wet. He said that he looked at the stats and he thought that yards per carry, yards per passing attempt, third down percentage and red zone percentage were the most important stats. He also said that the old way of total yards was nonsense. He also said that the teams that led in "his" preferred stats generally scored the most points and had the best records.
This is essentially what football-sabre people like Football Outsiders have been saying.
But Aikman was not ridiculed. Why? Because he was a Pro-Bowl, multiple Super Bowl winner.
So, IF Hershiser were to use the same strategies as DePo, I think the MSM would be much more likely to accept it.
As long as he doesn't write a book bashing Joe Morgan.
Right. I have no reason to be optimistic, but I choose to have hope.
The communication problem for the Dodgers is a "dysfunctional" ownership with a severe case of rabbit ears.
I realize there's little to no chance of this, but it makes everything a lot nicer =)
I have a book that you need to read, and it takes 'Football-Sabre' to a new level.
It is called Scientific Football, and you can find it at thefootballscientist.com. It tells all, but it is pretty expensive. I deem it worth the price.
I vote for a moment of silence for Paul DePodesta at 12 noon.
Aikman has been saying that for years. He's even developed his own metric for ranking offenses and defenses. And Football Outsiders leaves a lot to be desired. Personally I find their work to be essentially useless.
I agree with your point though: it means a lot more coming from a great player.
Back on topic....
(do anyone else find it suddenly ironic that Telemachos is correcting his father?)
I can not imagine that DePo would desire to take a demotion within the organization. If he didn't feel comfortable as a GM and wanted to be an assistant GM instead, he'd go elsewhere.
Regardless of that, the point remains that he wouldn't be fired if it was something of his choosing.
Are you going to take that guff from you little squirt, Odysseus?
Bob, How was the drive last night?
USC had a game against Arizona a few weeks ago which was considered a "disappointment" despite winning by a comfortable margin. USC rolled up over 700 yards of offense. They didn't score a lot because they had to go 80-90 yards all the time. Then against Washington, the total yardage was a lot lower because of the reasons I stated above.
My heart will not let me stop rooting for the Dodgers, yet my head knows things are terribly bad in Dodgerville. I am a co-dependent Dodger fan. I guess I am like Cubs fans.
It is a truly sad day.
Whether it came out of DePo's mouth or not, the media all reported dutifully that LoDuca's production always plummets in the second half.
Paul DePodesta is in part a victim of an incredible streak of bad luck. Penny's arm injury. Gagne's injury (for which Tracy deserves much blame). Bradley's multiple injuries. Valentin's injury. J.D. Drew's extremely slow start, followed by his injury.
He was also a victim of the "hole" in the Dodger prospect chain, which happened to have settled over the AAA team just as the major league injury wave hit. While the Braves were able to call up Jeff Francouer, we had to settle for the likes of Mike Edwards.
DePodesta is not blameless. The LoDuca trade had one flaw--it left a contending team with basically no catcher. The Charles Johnson refusal was an embarassment. The dealings with Arizona and New York left a poor aftertaste, even if that wasn't all DePo's fault.
Above all, he showed no leadership with regard to Milton Bradley. This was a challenging issue. But unfortunately for DePodesta, there was a precedent just down the street: Jose Guillen. The Angels got huge kudos for how they handled him. Scioscia, Stoneman and Moreno seemed to work as a team in addressing that problem. The poor level of communication between and among Tracy, DePo and McCourt really showed itself in how the Bradley issue was allowed to fly off the rails.
After DePo is gone, all of this becomes just part of history. What will not change is the clear impression being left by Frank and Jamie McCourt that they are wretched owners, weak, narcissitic, grasping, small-time fools with no sense of the value of the property they own.
The powers that be--from the city government to the commissioners' office, need to be on high alert. If this is how the McCourts handle the baseball and management side of their operation, imagine the true financial condition of the team. Bankruptcy does not strike me as a far-fetched outcome of the McCourt era of misrule.
Would that be EST or PST?
In a sense, Sandy Alderson helped get the "Moneyball" thing rolling by hiring Billy Beane and exposing him sabermetrics.
Sandy Alderson is now team president for the Padres.
There are rumors that Kevin Towers is about to get canned.
What if Moneyball comes full circle and Alderson hires DePo to replace Towers?
I'm a lifetime Dodger fan, but wouldn't it be poetic justice to see a lean, mean Padres organization own the Dodgers for about ten years?
I might mail McCourt a copy. Does anyone have an address?
Aikman is thoroughly annoyed that offenses and defenses are ranked by yards, not points scored/allowed; and things like 3rd down percentage were more important as well. It doesn't have anything to do with the way it's computed, but the way it's percieved. And he's right, of course.
While I had made some observations that it had all seemed similar to the way Georgia Frontiere had run the Rams when they were in town, some of us did make it silly suggesting that a move to Portland was imminent. (I'm guilty of that!) But the facts are that the McCourt's are ruining this franchise and from my source, it isn't going to get any better. only worse.
Dssrtrat has pretty much summed it all up.
"The Dodgers have scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) Saturday amid published reports that general manager Paul DePodesta is expected to be dismissed."
I hate when that happens. Nothing worse then spilled cosaba(sp) melons for which to cry over.
Pretty cool at there though isn't it? Had to believe that kind of area exists so close to Los Angeles.
At first glace, there is the whiff of panic about this. The timing is inexplicable. The McCourts support DePodesta's firing of Tracy, then can him in the middle of the managerial search? There's something, maybe a lot, we don't know. Perhaps the season ticket renewal rate is shockingly low. Maybe they've just looked at the loss of parking and concession revenue resulting from late season no-shows. Maybe DePodesta said something to anger them, like his public comment that he alone would be hiring the new manager (subsequently overruled by McCourt).
One thing for certain: DePodesta failed to develop his own constituency. When the McCourts, for whatever reason, soured on him, he couldn't fall back on support from the players, the fans or others in the front office. His demeanor_shy and cerebral to some, aloof and arrogant to others_worked against him. The chief operating officer of any company, and that's what he was, has to build an internal support mechanism. He never did that.
And Frank as Milton.
I'm sorry, the Dodgers ticket people always called when I wasn't home! :-)
Buster Olney in his blog had two different sources with slightly different takes. One said that DePodesta wasn't at the Hershiser interview, because McCourt and Lasorda wanted him out of the loop for that.
The other source depicted DePodesta as a loner who holed up in his office and didn't talk to anybody.
Ummm... If they say they will fire him at 2:00 pm, does it mean that they WILL do it or could it be a publicity stunt?
I know what the answer is but I just wanted to ask... I'm sorry.
The place is right there in town, and across the street from it is an outdoor Mexican restaurant.
One more year of DePo means another year closer to getting the kids up with minimal damage. Now I don't know what's going to happen. I hope Hershiser or whoever gets the wheels knows what they're doing.
The place is right there in town, and across the street from it is an outdoor Mexican restaurant.
"Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt fired general manager Paul DePodesta on Saturday."
Not "will announce" or "may", but "fired."
I suspect the Bulldog will be the man, right now I have to go, but I'm going to try to find out from the source if he knows more and I'll report back later. In fact, he may be at that press conference IF he hasn't been fired yet! :)
http://tinyurl.com/ceouy
You read this and it's pretty clear that DePo was doing the job Jamie herself covets. In terms of management orientation, they seem quite similar, although vastly different in personality. This was probably a train wreck long in the making.
While even the McCourts might fear the public reaction of having the owner's wife appointed GM, I would not be surprised to see the new GM essentially become a puppet for her.
But if Frank is smart, what he'll do is not hire a cipher to please his wife, but instead hire a grizzled veteran whose expertise Jamie will have no choice but to respect. Don't kill me for saying this, but given the personal and management dynamics at play, hiring a guy like Pat Gillick might be the only way to salvage things.
I would love to hear some real information. What is so bizarre about the whole thing which shoots holes in some of my own theroies. According to published reports, Daily News earlier in the Week Lasorda felt that Collins was the best guy for the job. Supposedly DePodesta and him got along real well. As far as Hershiser being interviewed at the end, but not by DePodesta, Billy Beane before he went back to Macha had a great interview with Hershiser and may have passed some of that info on to DePodesta. Hence why he was willing to only initially interview Hershiser by phone.
At the end of the day though while many on this site dislike the Plaschkie's of the world, if and when DePodesta is fired it will have far less to do with bad PR, but obviously some major split between DePodesta and McCourt. The question will be when did develop and how did it build so quickly.
i know I'm blowing smoke but tragic moments will do that to you.
"Blue Screen of Death - DePodesta Fired"
OR
"Dodgers Fire DePodesta; Reboot with Hershiser"
It was closed when I was there Friday.
The football game was very exciting although the Daily News ended up shrinking my story to about 3 sentences. Oak Park 28, Nordhoff 22.
I wonder if the DePodesta story played havoc with space in the paper.
As the (Dodgers) World Turns...
http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2005/10/as_the_dodgers.php
i know I'm blowing smoke but tragic moments will do that to you"
Great point 152. I think that is absolutely true and I can think of nothing sadder than that.
"This place has tried quick fixes, they don't work. This is about stability and continuity."
Yep, everything about McCourt just screams stability and continuity, right? Well, that and nepotism.
Everyone wins! Except the McCourts, who lose, but that's a good thing.
Stan from Tacoma
Amen.
Nah, he's more like Red McCombs. Hopefully his tenure as owner will last about as long as McCombs' did.
The prophesy is complete, now comes the apocolyps.
It's very sad that he's disgraced his legacy.
Why does the English language have the words "flounder" and "founder" which can have very similar meanings when used as verbs?
Whom do I complain to?
It's like the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant after Homer led the workers on strike to save the dental plan!
"Lisa needs braces!"
"Dental plan!"
"Lisa needs braces!"
"Dental plan!"
"Lisa needs braces!"
"Dental plan!"
"Lisa needs braces!"
Lenny - "Dental Plan."
Marge - "Lisa needs braces."
Lenny - "Dental Plan."
Marge - "Lisa needs braces."
(and so on)
Right now, I'd say the McCourts are floundering and the Dodgers, as a result, are foundering.
Unrelated: I always hated it when Plaschke et al. called for ticket boycotts, so I can't see getting on that bandwagon, now. But I will, calmly, lay out my well considered proposition--Molitov Cocktails. I bet a twenty million dollar house burns real nice. "When in the course of human events. . ."
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~heycock/thurber-who.html
Things have gotten so dire today that I'm falling back on T.J. Simers terminology.
Simers is many things. Self-centered, juvenile, egotistical, not an especially fine writer, to name just a few. But he's no idiot.
Of course everyone knows a theory is only as good as it explains phenomena that occurs around us. For example, Newton's laws of motion were abandoned when relativity better explained the universe.
For the third time I am posting this theory. Lasorda has been trying to rest the control of the direction of the team from DePo. McCourt who badly needs positive press and fans at Dodger stadium favors Lasorda because of his charisma and the fact that the media loves him. Besides a return to "Dodgerball" will be enough to get media backing and sufficient excitement about the upcoming season to sell tickets. (of course Penny and Choi have to be traded to erase the anger from the LoDuca trade)
My theory, however much I hate it, still continues to adequately explain what the hell is going on with the Dodgers. I wish I could say it is false but the damn thing continues to adequately describe the events we keep reading about in the papers. Someone please find a better theory please. I would hate to think I am right on this, it makes the "I told you so"s no fun.
Lasorda wins, DePo loses
Do the Dodgers lose? Let's hope not.
BTW, I am giving up thinking about the Dodgers. It is too depressing. Since I think for a living (I teach philosophy), I will stick to my field and let blissful ignorance fill my mind on those rare occasions the Dodgers are on in Dayton Ohio.
But at least Jim Tracy isn't managing the Reds. If that were the case, Adam Dunn would be benched for sure.
The Dictator
Simers: Self-centered, juvenile, egotistical, mediocre writer.
It's nice that the L.A. Times sports page reader has so many good options! :)
Well, perhaps the reign of the McCourts will turn out to be Hobbesian: nasty, brutish and [thankfully] short.
Mmmm.... pan fried founder.... ooohhhh.... [[drool]]
Whatever this decision is, I really hope it wasn't made because of the p*-poor journalism coming out of the LA Times sports pages the past year.
And as a previous poster brought up, while I still don't miss the Fox ownership days, I do kinda miss Dan Evans now. He was a pretty solid GM during some rough times.
As opposed to now! Um... Anyway, I dunno why he'd want to come back, but I agree with the idea they may want to bring in a much more veteran, respected GM. If they don't do that, then I really don't understand this at all.
Back to quick fixes, I guess....
However, I think the "Art of War" would help him the most. It would teach him how to run his business.
DePodesta actually had a long-term strategic vision.
Tracy had a short-term tactical vision.
DePodesta and Tracy had to part ways because of the clash between the tactical and the strategic.
I personally preferred DePo's long-term strategic vision.
But as much as Tracy drove me crazy, the Dodgers could do a lot worse.
But McCourt clearly has no vision. He's too busy panicking, trying to please idiots like Plaschke, engagin in nepotism, and shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic (chaning the colors of the chairs) to worry about whether there is any sort of philosophical consistency in firing everyone.
There isn't. It's just panic and ineptitude.
Frank, if you are reading this, do not take this as a threat but more as a much-deserved punishment/time out.
As a Vikings fan also...this move definitely fits with something Red would have done. I'm totally bummed. I thought Depo was on the right track and you would have hoped McCourt would have at least given him 3 seasons to prove himself. McCourt obviously doesn't have the thick skin to be this much in the public eye. His moves are too reactionary.
I feared this could be the outcome after reading Plashke yesterday...although I'm shocked it happened this fast. I was thinking more along the lines of in a couple of months.
The only thing that could make this OK is if Theo is named as our GM. That I could live with.
Frank, if you are reading this, do not take this as a threat but more as a much-deserved punishment/time out.
The LA Times used to be so thick with ads you needed a back brace to pick it up off your stoop. Nowadays a stiff breeze will blow that little newsletter into your neighbor's yard. And, as bad as the LA Times is, its new owners, the Chicago Tribune, thinks its management spends too much money on trying to be good!
The LA Times is going to be the first major newspaper in America to fold as a result of new communications technologies.
The idea that a guy like Bill Plaschke should be seen as some kind of important molder of opinion is like saying the telegraph is a vital communications link. Other than to make fun of him, who reads him? Who takes him seriously?
Not only does the Times lack a "Jim Murray," but the Jim Murray of today wouldn't bother working for the LA Times. If he wanted his opinion to matter, he'd start a blog or get a radio show.
Go Wallstreet Journal......
I'm flabbergasted. I'd taken all the swipes at McCourt with a huge grain of salt, mostly because I had been impressed with the DePodesta hire, and with the public support for the long-term plan. Now I see that it was all BS, and that the McCourt detractors were right.
Steinbrenner withoutt the money in---d.
Flabbergasted and furious. I'm hoping that this was DePo's decision to leave, but that he made McCourt fire him instead of resigning.
When it comes to the "moneyball" approach, personality isn't very important. Anyone can execute the plan, whether it's DePodesta or someone else. Thus, I don't really care who the Dodgers' GM is as long as the moneyball approach is implemented.
My hope is that the McCourts will replace DePo with another GM from the moneyball school.
However, I'm not at all optimistic that this will actually happen.
What strange timing. I keep hoping it's April 1st today, but alas no luck.
Where's Steve? Is it hard picking a new team to care and root for like the A's? I would think it's too half-hearted being that there's really no emotional attachment. Is it worth the years that will take?
In truth, every fact we know about this (as opposed to speculation, which is fun, but shouldn't be confused with fact), comes from the Times and other MSM. It's silly to blame this on the media. The McCourts respond to the bottom line, not sports columnists.
In truth, every fact we know about this (as opposed to speculation, which is fun, but shouldn't be confused with fact), comes from the Times and other MSM. It's silly to blame this on the media. The McCourts respond to the bottom line, not sports columnists.