The Ol' Ballfield

A's Fire Macha; Piniella Headed to ChiTown

Oakland A's manager Ken Macha was relieved of his duties by general manager Billy Beane today, wrapping up an eight-year tenure on the staff. He compiled a 368-280 record in four years at the helm of one of the American League's most consistently successful teams. Macha's first job as a manager was impressive; the team's worst finish came last season at 88-74, good for 2nd in the AL West, and their trip to the 2006 ALCS was the organization's first since 1992.

The opening in Oakland will be viewed somewhat warily by potential candidates. Since 2000, The A's have compiled 664 victories and qualified for the playoffs four times, second only in the AL to the Yankees in both categories. They have also fallen in the bottom 50% of major league payrolls each of those years. The potential for success for any manager that takes the job is great; the 2007 team should look a lot like the 2006 team, apart from the likely absence of staff ace Barry Zito. However, many feel the team is under the control of Beane, not the manager, and that whoever takes the job will be restricted to carrying out orders from above. This is a bit overblown; while Beane is a notorious control freak, his commitment to winning is very real, and he knows good baseball when he sees it. That said, his definition of good baseball changes every year in order to squeeze as many outs as possible out of his dollars, and this can create friction between him and managers that are set in their ways.

No one has been mentioned as a possible successor to Macha; the only name that jumps out at me would be third-base coach Ron Washington, who is currently being courted by many teams with open managerial positions. Oakland has a reputation as being a great atmosphere on the field and off, and if it's Beane's fancy, it might not take much to lure Washington back.

Another name that may come up if Oakland's trend of soft-spoken skippers is to continue (Tony LaRussa, Art Howe, Macha) is Buck Showalter, recently fired from the Texas Rangers. Showalter has been the victim of some bad timing; he had two jobs before Texas, and was fired from both the year before his respective teams went on to win the World Series (New York in 1995 and Arizona in 2000). He did manage each of those teams to a first-place finish (including the strike-shortened season of 1994), and he has won two Manager of the Year awards (1994 and 2004). As an added bonus, Showalter was voted the most popular manager in baseball earlier this year by the MLBPA.

Showalter's laid-back style would be a great fit in Oakland; his youth (he'll turn 51 in May) and short, unsuccessful playing career are two more indications that he would mesh with Beane's progressive philosophy. Whatever happens, the Athletics are always one of the most interesting teams to follow in baseball, and the announcement will be a big deal in the AL West.

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In other news out of baseball today, the Chicago Cubs are expected to hold a press conference Tuesday naming Lou Piniella as manager. Piniella's fast style of play should be a good match for Chicago, but he also likes to win. The Cubs had the seventh-highest payroll in the majors this year and finished dead last in the NL. Piniella says he feels "refreshed" after two years off after a disastrous managing tenure in Tampa, with bad blood on both sides. It's easy to imagine that happening again with the Cubs and GM Jim Hendry, but Chicago has what Tampa didn't: loyal fans that will always come out to see baseball. Any player will tell you that there is nothing worse for morale than playing for empty seats, and that's a scourge Sweet Lou won't have to deal with on the north side. Another thing that irks Piniella is having to teach the mental aspect of the game to more than one or two players. This will also likely not be a big problem in Chicago, which is young but not inexperienced.

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Remaining manager positions open:

San Francisco
Oakland
Texas
Washington

Prediction/conjecture: If St. Louis falls to the Mets in the NLCS this week, look for Tony LaRussa to be on the hot seat. His very distinct style is wearing out its welcome in championship-starved St. Louis; the Cardinals have been playing in October six of the past seven years, only advancing to the World Series in 2004 where they were swept by the Boston Red Sox. Another failure may be enough for LaRussa's ouster. They might want to look into starting pitching, but, you know, that's too hard. LaRussa, one of the most respected managers in the game and a prominent subject of George Will's seminal book Men at Work, should have no trouble finding another job.

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Game five of the NLCS has been officially postponed due to rain. There won't be a LiveBlog tomorrow night, but it's a possibility for game six on Wednesday. Enjoy the four hours of FOX reruns.

posted by Carnival @ 10/16/2006