Around the Rocky Mountain region, many heads were scratched and eyes rolled when the Colorado Rockies handed manager Clint Hurdle and general manager Dan O’Dowd contract extensions instead of pink slips last April.
This show of patience from Rockies owners Charlie and Dick Monfort rivaled the display the Cleveland Indians’ ownership showed. Larry Dolan gave GM Mark Shapiro a five-year extension in March, and Shapiro extended manager Eric Wedge’s contract three years in July, ignoring a losing 2006 season and a 1-6 stumble down the stretch in ’05 that knocked the Indians out of the playoffs.
Patience isn’t always rewarded, of course. But this postseason is an argument strongly in favor of stability in the dugout and the front office.
Hurdle, who is in his sixth year with the Rockies, and Wedge, in his fifth year with the Indians, easily could have been cast aside a season or two ago.
The thing that strikes you looking at the Rockies and Indians is the faith their managers have in their players — and the faith their front offices have had in their managers. It’s remarkable, given that between them, Hurdle and Wedge had only one winning record in nine years.
Before Thursday night’s fifth game of the American League Championship Series, Wedge sounded more like a Pony League coach than someone managing a $61.7 million payroll.
“I’m just looking forward to the ballgame,” Wedge said. “I say it so many times: I really like watching these guys play. I love the way they compete, and I just don’t want to get caught up in results. [I want to] just go out there and play and trust that the rest will take care of itself.”
The relationship between Wedge and his players, as well as Hurdle and his players, goes a long way toward explaining why their teams are still playing as Halloween approaches. These guys know their players, and the players know these guys. They have a shared history that is bringing out the players’ best.
The eight managers who took their teams to the playoffs have averaged longer than five years with their current clubs, with the Cubs’ Lou Piniella the only one on the job less than three seasons. The 22 teams that missed the playoffs had managers who had been on the job an average of less than 3 1/2 seasons.
Take Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa out of the equation, and you have 20 teams that entered this season with managers who had been on the job an average of less than 1 1/2 years, including 12 in their first or second seasons.
Firing the manager always seems like the easy fix. The problem is that sometimes there is no easy fix, in which case there’s no substitute for stability, no matter how hard it can be to stay the course.
Follow the money
While the Yankees made a mistake in asking manager Joe Torre to take a pay cut and only a one-year guarantee, there’s no reason to believe that their top free agents are going to follow him out of New York. Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and others will be back at Yankee Stadium next season, provided GM Brian Cashman pays them big money.
Torre’s departure puts more of an onus on ownership and Cashman to keep the Yankees’ nucleus. That could even benefit Alex Rodriguez. Cashman plans to make A-Rod an offer in hopes of keeping him from filing for free agency but has told agent Scott Boras he won’t join the bidding if Rodriguez does file.
One troubling element of the Torre situation is that it was ownership, not Cashman, that essentially was making a baseball decision — that is, who would be the manager. The Yankees’ run of four World Series championships in five years came at a time when George Steinbrenner had moved into the background, allowing the baseball professionals to make the baseball decisions. You wonder if his sons and the others now involved, including team President Randy Levine, will be wise enough to follow that example.
Yeah, right
No one does a better job getting value for his clients than Boras, who recently has been quoted about how much ancillary value a player like Rodriguez can mean in revenue from YES Network ratings and other indirect sources. Red Sox President Larry Lucchino, a longtime Rodriguez admirer, disputes that notion.
When shopping Daisuke Matsuzaka last winter, Boras said he would bring $21 million in marketing and advertising revenue, the same amount he claimed Hideki Matsui generated annually for the New York Yankees. The Yankees, however, say that figure is way high, and Lucchino says the Red Sox know better after Matsuzaka’s first season.
“A grossly laughable estimate,” Lucchino said about the $21 million annually. “The reality is far, far, far below that. … We didn’t do it for economic gain. We did it for baseball reasons. We made a baseball decision. That’s the reason we bid what we bid [$51.1 million], and that’s the reason we’re paying Dice-K the salary that we pay him. We feel he’s a fine pitcher.”
The last word
“The same people are convinced we kept all those midges in a box underneath the ballpark and let them go against the Yankees. If we were that good, we would have won at least one World Series since 1948.” — Indians VP of public relations Bob DiBiasio, on accusations that the team had enlisted Danielle Peck to sing the national anthem for Game 5 because she was a former girlfriend of Josh Beckett, Boston’s starting pitcher.
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WHISPERS
Philadelphia has paid close attention to Boston third baseman Mike Lowell and right-hander Curt Schilling, both prospective free agents. The Phillies got only 11 homers, 76 RBIs and 66 runs from their third basemen (primarily Wes Helms, Greg Dobbs and Abraham Nunez) this season. Lowell appears intrigued. “You look at Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley and guys like that and that has to bring a smile to your face,” Lowell said. “And I’ve always hit well in that park.” … Sam Fuld, the outfielder who caught Cubs manager Lou Piniella’s eye in September, is off to a fast start in the Arizona Fall League (.323, two homers, five stolen bases, 10 runs scored in nine games). He and Tyler Colvin could play themselves into spots as big-league contributors as early as the second half of next season. … Starter Jack Egbert and reliever Fernando Hernandez Jr., two unsung prospects in the White Sox system, are pitching well in Arizona. … Washington recently outrighted center fielder Alex Escobar, the guy they got from the White Sox in exchange for Jerry Owens. Escobar, the key to the Indians-Mets’ Roberto Alomar trade in 2001, never has been able to stay healthy. … Like Barry Bonds, left-hander Mike Bacsik, who gave up homer No. 756 to him, is a free agent. The Nationals outrighted him off their roster. … Andy MacPhail’s restructuring of the Orioles’ front office has led him to consider guys on both sides of Chicago for jobs. There are rumors of him pursuing Oneri Fleita, the Cubs’ farm director; Alan Regier, the White Sox’s farm director, and Bill Harford, a longtime scout for the Cubs who previously has served as farm director.
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progers@tribune.com
