from Amazon
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Managerial firings…
I think that Acta is mercifully gone. Let me say up front that I am not big on firing a manager simply because a team is losing, for various reasons, most of which should be obvious. You would certainly have to watch most of a team’s games (and even then, your opinion is going to be shaped by lots of observational bias) and/or be privy to how a manager handles his team, his players, and all of his duties to really have an opinion on whether a manager should be fired or not, but…
Given the underlying talent of the Padres and Indians, how can Wedge and Black NOT get fired. Over the last 2 years, those teams have underperformed SO SIGNIFICANTLY, wp-wise, compared to what they “should” have done, wp-wise, based on player projections, that SOMETHING almost has to be wrong.
I actually have a “conspiracy-nut” type of theory that is supported by weak anecdotal evidence. And I am serious, although I think the chances of it being true are fairly small, although it could be true to varying degrees.
Here is the theory, and again, I am serious:
There are teams where there was widespread PED use in the past. These teams suck now because many of their players are experiencing severe drops in performance because they are not taking PED’s any more. I have not done any research to see if it may be true. There are two teams I suspect with respect to this theory.
Those two teams are of course the Indians and the Padres and the poster boys for “post-PED precipitous drops in performance” are Giles and Hafner. If a significant player on a team was juicing in the past, is it more likely that other players were juicing? Seems reasonable to me.
Disclaimer: I have no personal knowledge whatsoever that Giles or Hafner used PED’s and I am not claiming that they have. I suspect they have for obvious reasons.