However, Piniella was famous for more than just his teams success. During his tenure he built a reputation for his short fuse and expressive demonstrations of his frustration. His most famous explosion was probably when his literally took third base out of the ground and threw it. Fans would go crazy when Piniella erupted.
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| Take that hat!!! |
This brings us to the Lou Piniella problem. Lou's success with the Mariners has led to fans to believe that the only fiery managers with temper control problems can find success. People seem to forget about all the good decisions Lou made. This leads many fans to value lack emotional control over on field decisions.
Since Lou left the Mariners for Tampa Bay in 2003, the manager position has been a rotating cast of people. Doug Melvin, Mike Hargrove, Jon Mclaren, Don Wakamatsu and Eric Wedge have all filled the role to start a season. Before they were fired Melvin, Mclaren and Wakamatsu, were facing the wrath of large portions of the fan base. One of the biggest knocks against these managers was their lack of fire. They didnt show enough passion and emotion of the field. Often writers mentioned that Don Wakamatsu needed to get thrown out of a game to prove to his players that he cared.
This problem is exemplified in the Mariners current manager Eric Wedge. Most fans seem to love him. Additionally he is the media's golden boy. He appears to be able to do no wrong. Not surprisingly he shows a fire on the field. He often "holds players accountable" for their play (you know by making Chone Figgins the lead-off hitter after two terrible seasons). He does many of the things fans and the media grew to love about Lou Piniella. He reminds us of the good days.
The problem is Eric Wedge makes lots of questionable in game decisions. His use of the bullpen and decision of which player to give at-bats to are questionable at best. In fact, often his decision are down right poor. The guy started Carlos Peguero over Greg Halman and Mike Carp for a good part of the 2011 season. Peguero batted .196 and struck out almost 35% of the time. All the while Mike Carp was sitting on the bench doing nothing after tearing up AAA.
Mariner's fans and the media need to open their eyes and realize that there is more then one model for a successful manager. They need to starting judging their manager's based on their on field decisions not their theatrics. Wins matter more than ejections.
Sources: Baseball-Reference.com
I don't think that Eric Wedge has been deemed a Golden Boy at all. Sure, he doesn't get tons of criticism, but I think that stems from the fact that the Mariners are awful, and that he didn't really have choices to make last year one way or the other. The Peguero decision was awful, but that wasn't just Wedge: GMZ has to be able to recognize when its time for a guy to be in the majors or not. Wedge isn't a great manager, but he is certainly better than some of the guys we've had recently.
ReplyDeleteIt is probably just my KJR and Seattle Times bias. Both of those sources are in love with Wedge and the hard nosed attitude and grinder attitude he brings to the team. I consume information from both of those sources so frequently that I assume their opinions are everyone in the medias opinion.
DeleteHopefully you are right and once the Mariners get better players people start actually looking at managerial decisions instead of attitude.