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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Why does Bud Black get a pass?
The Padres have been atrocious this year after being picked by the various analysts to finish with 85 wins or so and contend for the NL West title. I don’t think, off the top of my head, that they have had more than their fair share of impactful injuries. Maybe less. They have trotted out a bunch of young starting pitchers and few have succeeded. They have tried to bring back Sean Estes, who wasn’t good before he got hurt a couple of years ago, and stinks now (86-90 mph fastball with little control or movement, a mediocre curve with no control, and no other pitch).
Kahlil Greene looked like he completely forgot how to hit and didn’t care one way or another. He never pinch hits for Adrian Gonzalez in high leverage situations versus a lefty pitcher, even though Gonzalez can’t hit lefty pitchers and K’d 25% of the time this year against them.
Yet he gets a pass. I NEVER hear any criticism levied against him or even of the Padres. Let me speculate (loosely) why:
1) The Padre fans are laid back and they play in a laid back environment.
2) Bud Black literally “looks” thoughtful and intelligent whether winning or losing.
3) He carries with him a huge positive reputation from his days as the pitching coach of Anaheim, whether that reputation is deserved or not.
Now, I have written that firing managers is generally silly (although I am not opposed to it) since one, generally no one knows whether or by how much a manager is responsible for his team’s success or failure, and two, you have to pay them anyway (it should not even be called a “firing” in my book).
That being said, if any manager in baseball deserves to be fired based upon their team’s gargantuan underachievement (I think), it is Black!