Let me get this out of the way first… I have nothing personal against Bob Geren. I have never met the man.
He might be a nice guy. He certainly is a baseball lifer. He played professional baseball from 1979 to 1993 including five years in the big leagues.
He’s been a minor league manager, a bench coach and now a big league skipper. He might be right person for a job somewhere.
But it is becoming more and more obvious that he is not working as the manager of the Oakland A’s.
And the staff at Sully Baseball, who has put him on the firing line and called for his head, all agree that the time to let him go is now.
Not in a month.
Not in a week.
Now. If Billy Beane is reading this, he should fire Bob Geren before he finishes reading this sentence.
Here’s why:
IT’S NOT LIKE HE’S NEW TO THE JOB
He’s been there for 2 ¼ seasons…
He might be a nice guy. He certainly is a baseball lifer. He played professional baseball from 1979 to 1993 including five years in the big leagues.
He’s been a minor league manager, a bench coach and now a big league skipper. He might be right person for a job somewhere.
But it is becoming more and more obvious that he is not working as the manager of the Oakland A’s.
And the staff at Sully Baseball, who has put him on the firing line and called for his head, all agree that the time to let him go is now.
Not in a month.
Not in a week.
Now. If Billy Beane is reading this, he should fire Bob Geren before he finishes reading this sentence.
Here’s why:
IT’S NOT LIKE HE’S NEW TO THE JOBHe’s been there for 2 ¼ seasons…
and his second season was worse than the first…
and his third season looks worse than the second one.
You see a pattern developing?
You see a pattern developing?
THE A’S WENT FOR IT THIS YEARThey brought in Holliday, Cabrera, Nomar and Giambi. This looked like a year that the A’s would make a run at it.
And some people kind of bought into it.
The season in ¼ over and the team is the worst in the American League. If they still are going for it, then they can’t wait as they continue their 66-96 pace.
THE MANAGERIAL SHAKEUP IS THE ONLY OPTIONThey aren’t going to make a blockbuster trade.
They aren’t going to bring up a phenom.
The only way to give the team a boost or a kick in the pants is to change the man in the dugout.
THE A'S ARE CHASING THE RANGERS!!!!Look, the Rangers might turn into the Rays and stun us all the way to the World Series.
Or…. They could be yet another team that had a terrific first quarter and wilt in the summer heat!
They aren’t trying to track down the 1961 Yankees… or the Angels for that matter.
Did you remember the Rangers were in first place at this point in 2006?
OF COURSE YOU DIDN’T!
They played losing ball the rest of the way and another team zoomed in to take the division.
Do you remember which team it was?
Do you remember which team it was?
THE A’S!!!! And the A’s had a losing record at this point as well!
So it isn’t too late… but you’ve better do something before it is.
So it isn’t too late… but you’ve better do something before it is.
THE A’S ARE PLAYING THE RANGERS!The A’s are 8 games back of the Rangers… and on Friday they head to Arlington for a 3 game set to finish the month.
What better way to start making up those 8 games than some head to head wins?
AND FINALLY… THEY HAVE TODAY OFFIf you are going to have a change, why not have it on a day off? Have a transition of power and give the new guy a chance to get into the new office.
And also have give the players a day to have it sink in that the front office isn’t about to throw this season into the dumpster.
Now who should they put in?
Do you promote bench coach Tye Waller or third base coach Mike Gallego?
Do you give a shot to a solid minor league manager like Ken Oberkfell?
Do you give another shot to Don Baylor? John Gibbons? Ned Yost? Bob Melvin?
Do you go a drastic new direction and bring in Buck Showalter?
I’m always in favor of giving Chris Chambliss a shot…
Heck, give the job to Stomper the Elephant.But the A’s need to do something and they need to do it now.
And when I say “now” I mean in 3… 2… 1… Now.
John Gibbons? That guy shouldn't be allowed to manage anymore.
ReplyDeleteTerry Defrancesco got screwed last year as a coach in his stint with Oakland and now he is back with Sacramento. He has nothing left to prove in Sacramento though...bring him back up, give him the reigns.
It's actually a 4 game set, which means the A's could be anywhere from 4 to 12 games out come Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteBut nothing will change here because (1) Beane and Geren are best buddies (Geren was the best man at Beane's wedding, and (2) Beane is of the belief that a manager doesn't make any difference in wins and losses.
That's an interesting observation, considering the A's last manager (Ken Macha) and the man he consistently ignored for the postion (Ron Washington) are having pretty decent years in other places.
Oakland Athletics should be always competitive enough to keep pace with the others. I really like them; they’ve always been my favourite teams in MLB. Just read about them here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.athleticstalk.com
Couldn't agree with u more dude...BOB GEREN HAS TO GO!!!May be he's not the reason why A's suck this year, but they have to do something n changing the manager could put some fire in the players....Good example would be Rockies...they fire their manager and look they are super hot...I am not saying that A's would show results like rockies did...but like I said before...they have to do something...so FIRE BOB GEREN!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSOMEONE NEEDS TO START A FIRE BOB GEREN WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBOB IS AN IDIOT. HE NEEDS TO GO. I HOPE THIS PIECE OF SH... GETS RUN OVER BY A BUS
ReplyDeleteNot so fast Sully with baseball pedigree
ReplyDeletePlaying careerGeren was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round with the 24th pick of the 1979 draft.[1] After spending ten years in the minor leagues, he made his major league debut for the New York Yankees in 1988, playing with New York through 1991. While with the Yankees, he appeared on the CBS daytime version of Family Feud hosted by Ray Combs with other members of his family late in 1988. He spent the first two seasons backing up Don Slaught. In 1990, he had his statistically best season as the starting Yankees' catcher. In 110 games, he had a .213 batting average with 8 home runs and 31 runs batted in.[1] On July 1 of that year, he was the catcher when Andy Hawkins no-hit the Chicago White Sox but lost 4-0, the White Sox scoring all four runs in the runs in the eighth courtesy of three Yankee errors.[2] (With the change of the definition of a no-hitter the following year, this no-hitter would be taken off the record books.)
After spending 1992 in the minors with the Pawtucket Red Sox,[3] he played his final season of baseball in 1993 with the San Diego Padres, the team that originally drafted him.
[edit] Coaching career[edit] Minor league managerGeren was hired by then Boston Red Sox director of player development Bob Schaefer to manage in the Red Sox minor league system. He managed for them from 1995-1998 at the Rookie and Class A levels before leaving the organization over Schaefer's firing.
He next was the manager for the Oakland A's Triple-A affiliate Sacramento River Cats from 2000-2002. During this time he worked under A's General Manager Billy Beane, a longtime friend and former high school baseball opponent.
During the winter, Geren managed the Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Baseball League, winning the league championship in 2002.
Geren was eventually promoted to A's bench coach, a position he held through 2006.
[edit] Oakland A's managerOn November 17, 2006, Geren was promoted from his previous position as Athletics bench coach to the position of manager.[4] He replaced Ken Macha, who was fired after disagreements with players and general manager Billy Beane. In 2007, Geren led the A's to a 76-86 record and their first losing season since 1998. In March 2009, the A's and Geren agreed to a contract extension for one year, with an additional options year.[5] On September 11, 2010, MLB.com announced that Oakland had exercised Geren's option for 2011, assuring him another season in the green and gold.[6]
[edit] Managerial recordTeam Year Regular Season Postseason
Games Won Lost Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result
Oakland Athletics 2007 162 76 86 .469 3rd in AL West - - -
2008 161 75 86 .466 3rd in AL West - - -
2009 162 75 87 .463 4th in AL West - - -
2010 162 81 81 .500 2nd in AL West - - -
Total 648 307 340 .475 0 Division Championships - - - 0 Playoff Appearances