Friday Rockpile: Clint Hurdle given benefit of doubt; no trades on the horizon
by Russ Oates on May 22, 2009 7:46 AM MDT
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PrintTroy Renck checks in with this article on Clint Hurdle's status as manager. Dan O'Dowd says some of the usual stuff: Hold me accountable, need to play better, and Hurdle needs the players to be accountable. At the end of the article, Hurdle is quoted as saying that he and the Rockies need to "bust through it and stay through it." I wonder if he's playing The Doors' "Break on Through."
Dan O'Dowd also says (in a separate article) that no trade is likely for the moment, and that Garrett Atkins, the likely trade item, would only bring back another player that is under-performing. And opposing execs know they won't look at Garrett Atkins until he starts hitting better.
And contrary to what the article includes, Jason Grilli, traded to the Rockies in April 2008, did indeed return to Detroit in 2008: here and here.
Apparently Aaron Cook had nothing going for him when he was warming up in the bullpen before last night's game.
Don Baylor will be with the team tonight.
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I am unsurprised
I am convinced that Hurdle will never be fired.
I love Greg Reynolds and I may be slightly ashamed to admit it.
I'm convinced they'll leave him at the Detroit airport if they lose this series.
When you start reading ‘Is this guy’s job in jeopardy?’ articles and the important decision-making people commenting within are saying more than ‘No, it’s not, that’s stupid, I am not commenting any further’, that means the seat is, in fact, officially hot. Hotter than tongs that get stuck in a hot plate that you try to remove with your bare hand. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)
Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.
The Shawn Chacon Experience - Life as a Rockies fan, one day at a time: Because we're all still recovering from those nine blown saves.
Very
but the tram is cool to ride….and ride..
too bad he’s not in Minneapolis, that airport feels like a shopping mall….with gates.
Manager-For-Life!!
Just like former Iraqi President-For-Life, Saddam Hussein, shown here!!
Jim Zorn, 55. Sean Miller, 40. AJ Hinch, 34. Notice a pattern here?
by DbacksSkins on May 23, 2009 11:26 AM MDT up reply actions
Editor’s note: No, this is not actually Saddam Hussein. Yes, this is actually me looking like Saddam Hussein.
Jim Zorn, 55. Sean Miller, 40. AJ Hinch, 34. Notice a pattern here?
by DbacksSkins on May 23, 2009 11:28 AM MDT up reply actions
Saddam Hussein
was really a dinner theater actor known as John Gillnitz set up to distract the people—you fail.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
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Hurdle, Confidence
Is there anyone on here that thinks Hurdle shouldn’t be dismissed (genuine question, not rhetorical)? I’m not a big fan of symbolic firings, as managerial terminations often are, but sports teams can’t be opposed to them for practical reasons (fan disapproval, player apathy). However, this would not be symbolic, but entirely merited.
The first seven weeks of the season have demonstrated that Hurdle a) can’t properly organize a lineup, b) can’t manage platoons, c) wants to play station-to-station baseball (smallball) but can’t properly utilize bunting or pinch hitting, and d) has failed to either get the players to master fundamentals (bunting, sacrificing, not pulling balls, pitch recognitions) or has lost the ability to force his players to exercise fundamental pitch recognition or situational hitting.
It’s not entirely his fault, but lots of people get fired for things that aren’t entire their fault (not least in sports), many of whom have had a lot less time to demonstrate capability. Unquestionably, there is enough talent in the lineup to win a lot more games than the Rockies have won thus far. Pythag. says the Rockies should be .500. At times, the lineup has shown the ability to be a contending team; at others, they look, at best, like a AA team that doesn’t care. When the results are that volatile, the blame must fall on the manager.
I’m assuming I’m beating a dead horse on this, but actually being able to see Hurdle’s rosacea’d face make terrible in-game decisions last Sunday in Pittsburgh really drove it home: he was studded after ‘07, but now it’s time for him to get put out to pasture on Tracy Ringolsby’s ranch.
Weak
and indecisive ownership and GM. If Holliday was a distraction what is this situation? Make a move and get on with the season. It’s almost worth it to watch the team lose and force a move then have to depend on the front office. Players are waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m convinced that after throwing Tulo under the bus to the media the last couple of seasons the Hurdle/Tulo relationship is fractured. Hurdle deserves to go based on performance. I’m sure the FO will find a place for Hurdle in the organization.
by DieHardRox on May 22, 2009 9:15 AM MDT reply actions
That I can do
"We made too many wrong mistakes." ~Yogi Berra
"The ballplayer who loses his head, who can't keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all." ~Lou Gehrig
JFK
I read this differently then Russ did
“It’s a misnomer to say we are on a daily Clint watch. I am giving Clint the benefit of the doubt for now,” O’Dowd said. "It’s unfair to blame him solely for us playing like horse manure. I am just as accountable.
I think I read this differently than Russ did. Granted this is coming from my already reconcieved notion that the person MOST to blame for this mess is O’Dowd, as the GM is the one that put together the minor league system, and the major league roster. He picks the players, and it the players don’t perform, the buck stops on the GM’s desk.
Here’s how it sounded to me: “I can’t fire Hurdle, as that would be explicitly stating that I, the GM, screwed up. That I screwed up, in player selection, and in not firing Hurdle after the end of last year. And my contract is up too at the end of the year, and I’m trying to make it look like I did all I could do, and it’s not Hurdle’s fault, or MY fault that the players aren’t performing any where near the level that we projected/anticipated….I want to work again in this league, so there is no way I’m going to step out into the spot light and shine the harsh light of reality on me, by blaming Clint”
This is correct.....
Redhawk, you got it. Your interpretation of what O’Dowd is really saying is spot-on. He is between a rock and a hard place. He knows that he must replace Hurdle, sooner rather than later. However, he also knows that the day after Hurdle is fired, that bright light of contempt will shine more harshly on himself. He knows that the end of the Hurdle era will put handwriting on the wall that the end of the O’Dowd era is closing in.
It is an indictment of the O’Dowd era that we have a team that underachieves and plays so poorly for over a year now, coming off that great run to the World Series. He was supposed to construct a PERENNIAL winner and contender at 20th and Blake. Instead, he built a 70-something win team that had an almost mystical month. One month does not make for a consistent, perennial contender. O’Dowd has failed, and he knows it. Hurdle is the symptom of “O’Dowditis Disease”, not the cure.
The lack of a Hurdle firing is insulting to the fanbase.
the whole attitude is basically “we are smarter than you, so sit here and take it.” If this were an English soccer club, and the supporters vehemently turned on the manager, he would be out the door in a week. A baseball team has no value without the fans, which is why they should be considered as a stakeholder in the process.
Like Green Bay?
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
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Yeah
I mean you don’t need formal ownership like at Green Bay or FC Barcelona, but I don’t understand why a designated fan club rep doesn’t have a seat at occasional organizational meetings. You would think increasing engagement with your fanbase would be a good thing.
If I were the Monforts (does this work for the fanbase?)
If I were the Monforts, I’d hold a press conference. I’d state that both Dan O’Dowd and Clint Hurdle contracts will not be renewed at the end of the year, but that they will continue in their current positions until the end of the season. The search committee has been formed to find a replacement GM and if possible he would be hired and in place before the end of the year, and Dan O’Dowd has agreed to step down at that time.
Would this placate the fans? Would this be enough along the lines of “We see the standings too, and we feel your pain, and we want something different too”? Or would this seem like throwing in the towel for this season? (granted this season IS over, but maybe the FO/ownership needs to pretend there is still a chance)
What's amazing
Only four managers in the majors have been at their current job longer than Hurdle has been with the Rockies: Gardenhire, La Russa, Cox, and Scioscia. Three of those have a championship. The Mets have been through three managers since 2003.
Didga Know
if you type in “Suck it Monkeys” on Google (images)..you will get a lot of listings from the Purple Row
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