Benching a player because he made a mental mistake or for lack of hustle is appropriate (read: NEEDED) during this losing streak. That sort of benching doesn't display the lack of confidence that benching a young player because they are slumping does. Acta should know the difference between the two.

He missed a sign? Kearns?

Ahhh yes, Mr. Anonymous Poster knows more than the major league manager. Maybe Manny wanted to, say, win the game instead of send a message right then? Or maybe Guzzie's never made a mistake like that in his career and deserved some slack? We don't know, do we?

Who* Who missed a sign?

Manny's got good instincts on this.

Also, I would offer that the suggestion to put Felipe in LF is a little shortsighted. The point of this season is to give Wily Mo 500 ABs to see what he can do. The team can't give up on him after 50 ABs. Yes, he's been horrible. Every time I see him wave at a slider in the dirt, I want to throw something at the TV. The point is though that this year is about finding out who will eventually be a piece to the puzzle. WMP has never been given a full shot. The Nats need to give it to him and then decide what to do with him after that.

A good reminder: As you can see in the policy above, all posts should be signed. I have deleted only one post in the history of this blog, but I will start deleting unsigned ones if I have to.

Thanks.

I'm not sure if Acta is charting the right psychological course with the team during this difficult stretch. All I know is that as a fan, I'm seeing things over the course of a few games -- like dropping lazy flies, baserunners forgetting the number of outs, and pitchers having multi-RBI games without getting a single hit -- that you normally don't see in a whole season. This is just uncharactersticly bad baseball, at least as compared to last year.

Maybe Manny needs to rethink his approach some. Maybe he should think about throwing something around someplace to get his team's attention to the levity of this just awful play. Poor fielding, poor baserunning, lousy at-bats, pop-up bunts, etc. This is his team and it is playing very badly. His spirit is good, but his team is BAD.

I harp on it here often, but Manny should think about moving things around on the lineup card. Zim is not cutting it, not by a long shot and it is KILLING the team. Why is his name carved in stone on the lineup card in the 3 hole? Zim is the worst 3-hole guy in MLB, and it aint even a close call. ONE for 26 with RISP?! Acta's gotta move him down to where there is less pressure and he needs to do it NOW! I don;t want to hear about how Zim is so young and how he has potential and character and whatnot -- right now he is woeful in the role Acta has placed him in. The role needs to change until Zim proves worthy. Zim should respond well to the challenge (given his great character and all) and I am not sure whether being the face of the franchise (by annointment) is so great when the franchise sucks as bad as the Nats do right now.

I love Manny Acta and think he's doing a fine job. Losing streaks are going to happen and they happen to everyone. It stinks that it has happened to the Nats to start the year (2nd season in a row), especially with the club trying to sell tickets at a brand new park. But they'll win some games, behind his positive approach.

What I would like to see happen is for JimBo to go or the club make a roster move (call up Balester or Maxwell, say goodbye to a veteran). Keep the positive vibe, but shake up the roster a bit.

Barry's laying down the law!

It could be worse. On some blogs, you have to be logged into your washingtonpost.com account.

(Quick. Someone figure out which post it was that he deleted.)

Wait, someone who signs in as "Bob L. Head" is complaining about anonymous posting?

I agree with #4 - it sounds like WMP is being hard enough on hmself as it is. Benching him might just shatter what little confidence in his abilities he has left. Let him work through this slump with playing time.

Manny isn't cutting it. HE IS SETTING THE TONE OF MEDIOCRITY!!! By him doing nothing and stubbornly not changing anything he is allowing guys like Zim, Kearns, Milledge and other to see it is okay to miss a sign, it's ok to make a mental mistake, and it's ok to not perform.

He is setting the tone that it is ok to make a mistake and as long as you remain positive you keep your job. I for one am tired of watching Manny simply remain positive and continue to do the SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER AND WONDER WHY THERE ISN'T a different result.
I've said it for a while he is to us what Alan Trammel (the manager) was to the Detroit Tigers.

In 2011 BRING ON JIM LEYLAND!!!

I'd say that since Bowden feels 1 playoff appearance in 14 years is acceptable, that Manny's attitude is too gloomy. Seems like we're right on pace

#4, I'm with you on giving WMP a full shot, I just think they rushed him back and that he could have used some more fine tuning after the injury in order to give him the best chance to succeed up here. I'm not advocating giving Felipe a f/t job in LF by any stretch, but Lopez has been decent of late and finding him a bit of p/t in left, while WMP is struggling, in addition to SS and 2B, didn't strike me as a bad idea.

Where's the Kyle Lohse fan club today? He just put up a nice line of 4 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. Time for some of my friends to learn the definition of "regression to the mean."

Wait, someone who signs in as "Bob L. Head" is complaining about anonymous posting?

Posted by: Steven on Capitol Hill | April 22, 2008 3:16 PM
-------------
You think he's fudging on his middle initial????

Barry, this does explain a lot.

Reading this post I get the impression that Manny's probably in-tune enough to know when a guy is beating himself up enough that he should leave him be, and when guy is slacking and needs to be scolded.

Still, I do wonder what the difference was with Guzman.

And I repeat again, I don't mean throwing chairs, but surely he has words with the players when they eff something up, right?

Anyway, I'll leave Manny alone now. All my questions aren't really answered about this, but I've vented enough I guess.

I've been toggling between acceptance and anger on the stages of grief.

Ahhh yes, Mr. Anonymous Poster knows more than the major league manager. Maybe Manny wanted to, say, win the game instead of send a message right then? Or maybe Guzzie's never made a mistake like that in his career and deserved some slack? We don't know, do we?

Posted by: Bob L. Head | April 22, 2008 3:03 PM
-----------------

Win a game? hahahahahahaha!

Steven, you missed the point. I complained about what the anonymous poster said, not about the fact that he was anonymous.

With that said, I do prefer monikers to anonymity, but only because it facilitates the conversation, not because those of us with monikers are any less anonymous than those without (although I will also say that a lot of us know who each other are after all this time).

Steven on the Hill kills me with the 3:14 post.

Manny is managing his way into oblivion -- the team's problems are about focus and effort, not about staying positive. These guys are professionals and adults, Manny does not need to keep them smiling, he needs to motivate them to perform and to set them up to succeed as a team. Right now, Manny is failing and the fact that he says "we'll get out of it" makes me think that he has no iniative to make that happen (as if it is beyond his control).

Leadership approaches differ based on the subjects being led and the demeanor of the leader. I've seen some pretty awful leadership styles in my life, and the worst examples were the "Screamers" who yelled and belittled subordinates in public. On the other hand, the most crushing blow I ever felt due to failure came from a leader, who, in a quiet voice, told me how disappointed he was in my behavior during a particular incident. I don't know Manny too well, but it seems like his style falls squarely in the latter group and seems appropriate for the group that he's leading. Performance will come...

Please don't abandon my little yurl.

I don't know the first thing about motivating people, especially ballplayers, so I have a hard time questioning Acta. I also think that he's not a softy "players' manager" who encourages a sense of entitlement and a lack of responsibility.

That said, I've had more fun scraping the brown off the bottom of my shoe than I've had watching this 2-15 streak. Accordingly, Manny might want to try something new, and hope that they recognize that he's not panicking, he's just . . . coming close to panicking.

And why isn't 5-15 WORTH panicking about? We know we can go 2-15 with the level-headed ship . . . .

Trying to kill time at work today, so I decided to look at the NL batting averages with runners in scoring position (min. 25 PA's). Washington has 4 players that have at least 25 PA's:

Milledge -- .333/.440/.389
Kearns -- .208 /.387 /.250
Johnson -- .200/.433/.350
Zimmerman -- .038/.097/.038

YIKES! Milledge, so far, is the only one getting on-base with runners in scoring position!

I also noticed that only one other NL team has at least 4 players that have at least 25 PA's ... the Mets:

Pagan -- .409/.423/.591
Church -- .400/.500/.400
Wright -- .269/.394/.654
Beltran -- .222/.323/.370

Now that's some decent clutch hitting!

Interestingly, only one team (D'Backs) have three players meet this criteria (Hudson, Byrnes, Young). The Cubs (Soto, Ramirez), Dodgers (Ethier, Loney) and Cardinals (Glaus, Ankiel) hvae only two players, and the Braves (Texeira), Brewers (Weeks) and Phillies (Howard) have only one player.

So it looks to me that the Nats are getting guys into scoring position more than most other NL teams. Some time or another, the hits will come to drive them in. I'm praying that it's sooner rather than later.

I can't figure out what's up with this ball club - other than the obvious that they aren't hitting. There are a ton of mental mistakes (Lopez running to first the other night on 3 balls and 1 strike, dropped flies, etc), so something is distracting the team. Is it a player that was added this year? All I can figure is that we should be improved over last year. This time last year we were 6 and 13. So, with the talent we added, we're worse off than last year. I would offer a suggestion that we work on hitting.

Call me apathetic, but "fragile guys"....is it just me or is this professional baseball, and the very top of professional baseball at that. It's not little league softball where you have to worry about equal playing time or else somebody goes home crying. Fragile psssh. Get it done or get on the bench --- you get paid to execute, I don't want to hear about fragile. Barry, great piece but I hope you're not advocating the fragility (word?) of this ballclub. While we're sitting around being fragile the Mets are going to come in here and stomp us. Enough of that, suck it up, know what you have to do (quit making mistakes that my JV team knew not to make, much less my college team) and do it.

I love Manny's even-keel, but he shouldn't have to feel like his team has to be handled with kid gloves....they're big leaguers for *&#@ sake.

I turned the game off after the top of the first, then came back intermittently during breaks in the Caps game to see what was going on.

I have to say, that Zim's at bat in the 8th(?) was probably the best AB I've seen him have in quite awhile. He fell behind 1-2, then fouled off like 4 or 5 pitches (making decent contact on each one), then proceeded to smack a single up the middle.

Maybe a few more AB's like this will get Zim up and running again!

NatsFan said: "In 2011 BRING ON JIM LEYLAND!!!"

So, you weren't watching the 1993-1996 Pirates?

Seriously, I can't see how Manny can be held accountable for one horrible month when he has a team with a serious talent deficiency, and key players experiencing the worst slumps of their careers.

I've always been impressed that Manny does NOT make knee-jerk reactions and always is careful to make constructive criticisms -- and not engage in senseless tirades. He doesn't confuse results with effort, and he understands the difference between an honest mistake and a careless one.

But some fans want blood (and a scapegoat, apparently) ...

Repost:

Steve on CH,

So, Adam Dunn is not a productive ML'er? Sean Casey, Mike Cameron, DA Meat Hook, Ron Villone, Danny Graves, Aaron Boone, Ron Gant, and Jason LaRue. None of these guys signed, traded for, or drafted by Jimbo, didn't have or are having solid ML careers?

Marge Schott was a well known cheap skate and with the way the players salary's sky rocketed in the 1990's it made Jimbo's job that much more difficult.

Look, I'm not saying that Jimbo hasn't made some bad moves but, hell what GM hasn't. I just think that calling for his head now, 2 years into the plan is a very hasty. Especially, with the way the minor leagues system has improved under his watch.

Been busy and the first post was all talked out by the time I got to it but I'll take an opportunity to chime in on this one.

Disclaimer: I am not now, nor have I ever been a baseball player. My opinions are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Nationals Journal, Barry Svrluga, or the Washington Post.

A successful manager needs to be able to keep his team focused through both winning and losing streaks. How many times have we heard guys like Manny and Bruce Boudreau described as evenkeeled, not too high, not too low kind of guys? I tend to agree with that. The fire and brimstone guys tend to burn hot for short periods of time in an organization before that team ultimately decides it needs to make a change for a more player friendly, evenkeeled type of manager.

Like so many things I think the right answer is somewhere in the middle. The players have to be able to approach the game without fear of being publicly or privately dressed down for every mistake. That being said, there has to be responsibility for one's performance, and with that responsibility comes a certain amount of consequences in the event of mental lapses, lack of hustle, locker room issues, etc. Nobody deserves to be chastised for failing to execute at something when they're trying, following instruction, and failing still. Baseball is two-thirds failure after all.

Most of us in our daily lives respond much better to critique and/or criticism when it's presented to us privately and/or in a calm orderly fashion often with ideas on how to address our areas of weakness. Given that they are human, it's gotta be similar with ballplayers. Nobody wants to be embarrassed publicly for failures. Doing that is a good way to lose a player mentally for an extended period of time.

I'm in agreement with natsnut and corey. When people are consistently making boneheaded mistakes, your approach needs to start changing. Manny needs to call out players publicly for the bad play. If they're soft mentally then maybe a little tough love is what they need, coddling isn't working with this ball club.

Also for crying out loud, move zim in the batting order, he is not the third rail of this ball club, moving him won't make fans desert in large numbers. It also might shock him enough to start batting better.

Barry keeps asking the same question in a variety of different ways, but it all comes back to the same answer: EXPECTATIONS. Call it what you want: The Plan, patience, building, whatever. We keep referencing the same core response, which is the output relative to the effort: so long as expectations are low (and they have been low since Spring Training), everything can be managed with a less-than-frantic approach, a la Manny.

Barry: you've been posing the same question over and over. Throw a change-up.

Leadership approaches differ based on the subjects being led and the demeanor of the leader. I've seen some pretty awful leadership styles in my life, and the worst examples were the "Screamers" who yelled and belittled subordinates in public. On the other hand, the most crushing blow I ever felt due to failure came from a leader, who, in a quiet voice, told me how disappointed he was in my behavior during a particular incident. I don't know Manny too well, but it seems like his style falls squarely in the latter group and seems appropriate for the group that he's leading. Performance will come...

Posted by: N@sfan | April 22, 2008 3:30 PM
----------

I think when you have a guy like WMP crying in the dugout after a game, he obv is putting way too much pressure on himself. Benching him in that situation could be devastating...I don't know WMP.

But it also seems to me that Acta should start punishing players for their habits. Like benching someone after they make a mental error. Or disciplining a player when they don't take good swings at the plate. There is a difference between doing that and punishing a player for not getting a hit.

Last but not least, focusing on the fundamentals takes a player's head away from their slumps. Moving a guy over, successful sacrifices, etc gets player's focused on doing things right.

@Section 505--He has 1 playoff appearance in 14 years as a GM. If that's satisfactory to you, then get used to the 5-15 starts.

I mean, really, truly, your list of Jimbo's greatest hits is really sad: Adam Dunn, Sean Casey, Mike Cameron, Dmitri Young, Ron Villone, Danny Graves, Aaron Boone, Ron Gant, and Jason LaRue. THESE are your best acquisitions in FOURTEEN YEARS as a GM? Aaron Boone makes the list?

The Plan is supposedly about drafting and developing young players. He did NOT do that in Cincy. Again, I quote from the article Mr. Anonymous Posting Bob L. told us to read in defense of JimBo: "Bowden called the shots in 11 entry drafts for the Reds. Only Austin Kearns (1998) became a productive big leaguer."

But regardless, even if you believe Bowden deserves to still be a GM in MLB, Kasten should bring in his own guy. It seems clear and predictable that they aren't all on the same page. Bowden's talking about winning now and resigning aging vets like Dmitri "Fatty Fatty Fatty Fat Fat" Young while Kasten's wanting to flip the vets for prospects and draft and develop. The Lerners and Kasten I believe kept him on in an act of inertia and caution (or laziness, disinterest, who knows). It was their first big rookie owner mistake, and as Ron Wolf said the only thing worse than making a mistake is living with it.

As Barry made clear (when the mystery player missed the mystery sign and Acta "let him have it" in the dugout -- presumably in front of his teammates), we can't assume that Manny isn't disciplining just because he isn't calling people out to reporters.

Bravo, MKevin, bravo.

As fans, we'd likely be ecstatic if every single one of our batters completely failed at their jobs 70% of the time.

As failure (a condition of which most humans are not enamored) is integral to this sport, like it is in few others, I don't think compounding those failures with berating the players or issuing damning statements through the media is necessarily effective. Refusing to vent to the media about a specific player or the team as a whole cannot be equated with hand-holding or soft-talking behind the closed doors of the clubhouse, as some posters here argue. Further, I think the kind of "righting-the-ship" speak that Manny and Lenny have engage in thus far is fine.

They are conscious (how could they not be) of the issues that confront our team, and they are undoubtedly aware that at some level, they are being judged and their jobs are ultimately on the line (because many fans/their superiors define their success by the performance of their team, a not wholly unreasonable metric) every day that they show up to the park.

As an aside, I also thought Zimmerman looked much better at the plate yesterday, especially after the throwing gaffe that was awfully reminiscent of a couple of his air mail specials last season.

Here is a snippet of what Barry wrote about Manny's "philosphy" in his March 23 profile:

"Spring training had long since grown old, and most of the Washington Nationals were ready to depart this collection of strip malls at the side of Interstate 95 to begin the grind of a major league season. But with the sun still rising over Space Coast Stadium one morning last week, Manny Acta gathered all of his position players in a huddle around first base. He spoke loudly, projecting his voice as a teacher from a lectern. He waved his hands.

"I want to be the one team," he said, "that doesn't get doubled up on a line drive with no outs. That should never happen."

* * * *

"This drill on a calm morning, hours before an exhibition game, wasn't so Acta could hear himself talk or impress team owner Mark Lerner, who was visiting for the weekend, and it wasn't a reaction to the way the Nationals had been running the bases in the spring. It was planned weeks in advance by Acta and third base coach Tim Tolman, the man who organizes spring training's complex logistics, as a way to impart Acta's philosophies after camp had been cut from 76 players in mid-February down to 40 or so, a more workable number. The message was clear.

"In a nutshell," Tolman said, "it's: Don't give away outs."

Clearly, a month later, this has not come to pass. The Nats are giving away outs on the base paths like it's nobody's business. What kind of accountability is there? An attitude like "I just keep trying to help my guys every single day get through it, and we'll get out of it" does not appear to be one where there are any consequences--for players *or* coaches (ahem, Tolman)--when you make boneheaded mistakes. If things should *never* happen, as Manny says, then what do you do when they *do* happen? I don't think that Manny has figured that out, and no, I don't believe he is setting the proper tone. Hopefully he will figure it out, but I hope he doesn't lose the clubhouse before then.

Steve on CH,

Every guy on that list is/was a productive ML'er and that was just a small sampling just off the top of my head. And quite frankly, that is what you need to be successful, a lot of solid professionals.

Not every organization can be like the Yankees or Red Sox, where you have current or former All-Star's at almost every position.

Your missing the point, Marge was cheap. She wouldn't sign draft picks, she would pay to have a normal amount of scouts, and she wouldn't sign big FA's. You try and get a team to the playoffs every year in that environment.

make that: "wouldn't pay to have a normal amount of scouts."

"But it also seems to me that Acta should start punishing players for their habits. Like benching someone after they make a mental error. Or disciplining a player when they don't take good swings at the plate."

=========

Philosohpical comment here. Punishing/disciplining for mistakes and habits is, admittedly, the way the adult world often acts. However, it has been clearly established by researchers and practitioners ranging from child development to pet training that this JUST DOESN'T WORK. The only truly successful way to change habits or behaviors is by positive reinforcement (yeah, it's HARD to wait till someone does something good/right and then praise or reward him/her/it, but it's a given that calling attention to something -- even negative attention -- reinforces its repetition. I will cede that "negative reinforcement" also works, but that is far more difficult to actually do. [No, negative reinforcement DOES NOT mean "negative consequences for undesirable behavior"; it actually means removal of a negative circumstance in exchange for desired behavior. FOr example, getting out of bed and turning off the alarm causes the noxious stimulus of the shrieking alarm to go away. Thus getting up is "rewarded" via negative reinforcement.]

"Manny needs to call out players publicly for the bad play. If they're soft mentally then maybe a little tough love is what they need, coddling isn't working with this ball club."

Oh, no no no no, please no. Now, I admire Frank Robinson, and he always gets special credit for those first two years, but let's remember the lessons he left. He called players out in public, and it didn't do diddly-squat for improving play. In fact, he all about drove Ryan Church out of town. Say what you will about Church--he may not be a star player, but he's solid and he certainly didn't deserve what he got when Frank showed him "tough love." You discipline the team as you need to, but I find it unprofessional, demeaning, counterproductive, and bad for team cohesion to call players publicly. That's some bad news bears, and I'm glad Manny doesn't do.

We are not the Chicago White Sox, and Manny Acta is not Ozzie Guillen.

Isn't Buttermaker's contract with the Bears up at the end of this year?

e, post of the day, maybe week. Not that we're giving you any competition, but that breakdown of 25 PAs with RISP was insightful, illuminating, and - as a bonus - positive.

Did anyone else's mind go straight to this Sam Wyche gem when they read this post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7M3S87wHj4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are not the Chicago White Sox, and Manny Acta is not Ozzie Guillen.

Posted by: Budapest | April 22, 2008 4:12 PM

Starting in mid-1996, Marge Schott was banned from involvement with the day-to-day operations of the Reds. She wasn't even allowed to attend games at Riverfront without buying a ticket. And during her earlier suspension in 1993, Bowden officially ran the team. So let's not be so quick to blame Marge for JimBo's run of mediocrity in Cincinnati.

New post containing the most dreaded site in baseball: "Dr. Andrews"

I like Manny Acta. Still, I can't help but wonder if he hasn't allowed himself to be caught up in a puppet regime with Mr. Bowden pulling all the strings.

manny is not the problem. he's got a very long leash in my book. i've said before zimmerman wasn't a 3-hole hitter and now it appears commonplace to call for his removal.

well i wouldn't do that either. there truly is nobody else on this team that deserves to hit there. my point was this team won't be legit contender until zimmerman is the third best hitter on the team, most likely hitting 5th. as of now that's just not the case. better players have had horrible streaks worse than this. let zimmerman suffer through the slump. i'm sure he's mentally stable enough to survive and learn from it.

i wonder if all our players have so many at bats with runners in scoring position is because it's the same runners who are stranded. such as guzman waiting at 2b, milledge ks, zimmerman ks, johnson ks. 3 at bats with runners in scoring position. whereas mets, would just knock him in with a single. a bit of a misleading stat.

and the minors has improved big time. quit hating on bowden for stuff that's already been fixed and is now in the process of generating positive results.

"Starting in mid-1996, Marge Schott was banned from involvement with the day-to-day operations of the Reds. She wasn't even allowed to attend games at Riverfront without buying a ticket. And during her earlier suspension in 1993, Bowden officially ran the team. So let's not be so quick to blame Marge for JimBo's run of mediocrity in Cincinnati."

___________________________________________

CIL,

So basically you're telling me that because Marge was suspended Jimbo then had an open checkbook?

That is both naive and ridiculous.

e, this is really nice work. Hell, Barry, I would mention this to Acta and Harris and include it in a story this week.

The hits will come...these things tend to even out.
__________________________________
e: "So it looks to me that the Nats are getting guys into scoring position more than most other NL teams. Some time or another, the hits will come to drive them in. I'm praying that it's sooner rather than later."

Steven on Capitol Hill - If I show up at the NJ reunion on Sunday, will you call me "Fatty Fatty Fatty Fat Fat" ? I have asked you to stop this. It's offensive. And I wasn't in the race for the batting title and MLB's Comback Player of the Year. I guess you wouldn't have wanted any fat players in their prime: Ruth, Fernando Valenzuela, David Wells, etc. No, you'd prefer a team of Nook Logans.

stay the course...workin great aint it...NOT

what has acta done to prove hes such a good mgr. when the nats were supposed to finish historically bad last year they only finished really really really bad. and now they may be historically bad. so tell me again why hes so good?

i like milledge a lot but if he doesnt know when to run and when not to--like on the first pitch against olson this weekend, why isnt he getting the red light and being told not to run. this is bad managing.
these guys are playin like crap.
i mean these are the bad news bears here.
thats on the manager.
are you tellin me we are the worst team in all of baseball. bs. i dont believe it.
thats on the mgr.

the cubs lost their first 2 games and sweet lou changed the lineup immediately. after 2 games. it took acta weeks to change the lineup during this scourge.
guy has done nuthin.
he srgent shultz of hogans heroes.
he knows nuthin.

WADR to Mr. Wolf, we all live with mistakes. Making the same ones over and over--I would call that worse.
Right behind insulting people for no reason besides sheer mean-spirited thoughtlessness.
But maybe that's just me.
***********************
as Ron Wolf said the only thing worse than making a mistake is living with it.

Posted by: Steven on Capitol Hill | April 22, 2008 3:53 PM

One of the de facto patron saints of this blog, Bill Veeck, did the only actual lab work I know of on the question of whether a group of average attentive baseball fans could manage about as well as the people who get hired to do it. Small data set, sure, but it seemed to support our foundational hypothesis here, that we could fly the plane about as well as the pilot, given the opportunity. Ok, maybe that wasn't the best metaphor ...
Managers aren't all equally good, so if we accept, arguendo, the Veeck Conjecture, then it stands to reason there are some teams in MLB who would actually get better if the fans were in charge. (No, I don't think Manny is one such manager.)
Of course, it could also be that not all fans are equal, and this would work better in some cities than others: St. Louis, say, vs. Philadelphia. The Cards fans might not bat their closer eighth, sure, but the Philly fans would DFA the entire club by the sixth inning.

This is late but I was ostensibly productive at work today so I'm catching up a little bit.

Gotta jump on the propswagon here: e, nice post.

I haven't heard of any team-only meetings and only read about one closed-door meeting so far this year. It seems that by this point there should have been some of that kind of private discussion if there was any chemistry in the clubhouse. Yes, it begins with the clubhouse leader (that's Manny, NOT JIM BOWDEN) and continues on day-to-day through the attitude and actions of the clubhouse leaders.

And at that point I have to keep reminding myself that we didn't trade Schneider for LoDuca, we traded Church AND Schneider for Milledge whom I'm glad to have. But I think LoDuca is a bum.

Just trying to keep our nerd card punched.

(whaddaya mean, "rejected"!?)

do you really think that leyland or pinella would get gotten any more out of this team than manny? it has to be a lot easier to manage when you have depth and payroll. don't forget that pinella and leyland threw in the towel, in miami and tampa respectively, when confronted with the challenge of leading a young team.

i still think that acta has the proper temperment for stewarding a young team. i just wish that he had a little more major league ready talent to work with.

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