Baseball Firings

The Detroit Tigers have fired both their field manager and general manager.

Both probably deserved to be fired, as they have a confirmed history as losers. But the timing is peculiar. As Rob Neyer writes:

If Dave Dombrowski had any confidence in Garner and Smith, he wouldn't be firing them after just one week of baseball. And if Dombrowski didn't have any confidence in Garner and Smith, why didn't he just fire one or both of them when he signed on as club president last November?

Exactly. Six games into the season is a TERRIBLE time. No manager is going to be able to come in with the other guy's coaching staff, after the other guy has conducted spring training, and turn a terrible baseball team around. He'll need at least spring training to get things moving in the right direction, and maybe several (or it may never happen, since we are talking about a franchise that has sunk pretty low in recent years).

Of course, had they fired them in the preseason, there would have been fan pressure to hire two legitimate replacements in the offseason, which might have cost money. And for most teams in baseball these days, it's all about cutting costs in counterproductive ways (i.e. it's hard to win without a legitimate front office or field manager -- so firing those guys and going with scrubs for most of the season essentially amounts to quitting, six games in). So enjoy the baseball season, Detroit fans. Your ownership is clueless.

On a positive note, Houston rebounded from that dreadful home series with St. Louis by pounding Colorado and putting Roy Oswalt's record at 2-0. The sky's the limit for Oswalt, who's the most promising pitcher to come through Houston in a while.

[Posted at 17:46 CST on 04/08/02] [Link]