I did and didn't see this one coming. With the stupid way he left and came back last offseason, seemed to me that he was on a short leash anyway. I didn't see it coming because I thought all the bitching that Terrance Long did before he left about how Macha never talked to him was an aberration. I had thought it was an isolated incident. It had to be, or else Beane is the penultimate sucker for signing Macha for as long a term deal as he did and now having to eat that cash. The guy apparently rubbed EVERYBODY not named Eric Chavez the wrong way to the point they were mutinying. This, the guy Beane tried to sell me as a fan as being better, more cerebral, than Art Howe - who, funny, the players ALL rallied around to try to save his job. (Can you tell I'm anti-Beane?
)
In the rarest of rare moments (check for the apocalyspe
) I agree with Marcos Breton. Since the era of the wise and all knowing Billy Beane, the A's have seriously undervalued the managerial position. That's why I'm bracing for another in the line of Howes and Macha hires, and am ready for the guy who has been Beane's guy all along...Bob Geren. Although they should hire Ron Washington if they are going to barely look outside of their clubhouse. As much as the Geren hire would make me roll my eyes I would prefer that over the names they were floating around when Macha momentarily left last offseason....you may as well pull my heart out and stomp on it a few times if the Oakland A's would have hired Larry Bowa (yeah, that guy's a step up from Macha in the cuddly players manager dept
and Orel "I still hate you from the 1988 World Series" Hershiesher. The only name worse would have been Kirk Gibson. They would have tested my faith as a fan then.
But Buck Showalter's name has dripped off Beane's lips recently. (see: fan faith testing above). So, that leaves me really hoping it's Geren, which makes me nauseous to even admit now.
