Billy Beane is the only general manager that would allow personal feelings to get in the way of the team's success. The hiring of Bob Geren was the worst decision Beane has ever made and now, Beane does not have the fortitude do fix it.
Here's an easy thought for Beane: It's time to get rid of whatever personal feelings you have for Geren, and get rid of him. Then to save yourself call a press conference explaining why you had to fire Geren.
For one it will make A's fans happy. We're tired of watching a clown try to manage a baseball team. Again the same issues plague Geren and he hasn't changed at all. Furthermore there has to be an explanation from Beane on why he allowed Geren to make the same mistakes constantly.
Leaving pitchers in the game too long when they are struggling, sending runners in questionable situations, caring too much about players feelings instead of producing results, etc...
Hard to believe but the A's today against the Detroit Tigers were up 6-0. Yes, 6-0 coming into the bottom of the second. Trevor Cahill gets pounded in the innings throwing over 40 pitches in that inning and the A's found themselves up 6-4.
Whereas Jim Leyland a proven managers with great experience can easily tell when his pitcher is not having it out on the mound took out his starter Armando Galaragga who pitched only two-thirds of an inning and threw 41 pitches.
So, instead of putting in a long reliever to start the bottom of the third inning, Geren continues with Cahill! So, the next question for Beane is does Geren pay attention to the game? It doesn't take rocket science to understand that Cahill should be out of the game.
Well, mostly in part of Cahill the Tigers went from being down 6-0 to being up 8-6. All because Geren was hoping that he could get Cahill to go five innings for a win even though it was painfully obvious that Cahill wasn't going to last for anywhere near that long.
The decision making process of Geren hasn't changed in his two plus seasons as manager of the A's. What's even more funny is that Beane thought it would be a great idea to bring in veterans like Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Matt Holliday, and Orlando Cabrera.
Garciaparra is injured like usual, Giambi isn't hitting, Holliday has driven in runs but isn't really hitting either, and Cabrera has struggled on both sides offensively and defensively and alll of this can be traced back to the laid back approach of a manager who doesn't know what he is doing.
Too make matters worse for A's fans and A's players is that Geren was given a contract extension for doing something, but I don't know what Beane was watching because I've yet to see the A's ballclub play with any fire under Geren or any passion.
In fact the only player that even remotely showed it was Cabrera who got on his teammates for the lackadaisical play and that's when the A's offense showed up against the Kansas City Royals, but hasn't been their since until today, but even then Geren finds a way to screw that up by allowing Cahill to give away the lead.
A's fans understand that not every decision, Beane makes is going to have an immediate impact on the club or even be good. Yet, when it's a player they can be sat down and out of the lineup, but when it's the manager then there's a huge problem.
The A's need an attitude adjustment like the San Francisco 49ers had when Mike Singletary became coach of the team. Of course the adjustment in attitude will not happen until Geren is given the pink slip and the question is when will that be?
There's a minority of A's fans who will buy the excuse from the 2008 season when the A's suffered through a variety of injuries. Well, that could have been an excuse for the team if they hadn't played well throughout the whole season, yet the A's were a couple games out at the all-star break from the Anaheim Angels.
Even then when the A's made the trades to get prospects in return for Rich Harden, Chad Gaudin, and Joe Blanton the A's still had the pitching to keep them in games, but it was the offense that gave up that didn't show anything and gave up after those trades were made.
It's inexcusable for a major-league club to give up just because there were a few trades made. Well, that's what happened under the direction of Geren. The minority of the A's fans who believe Geren did the best he could under the circumstances with injuries and trades.
I have one question for you then how come the A's haven't improved with the additions that were made? Another question is how come Geren makes the same mistakes as he did last year and the year before that? Why is Geren so afraid to rip into the team for their horrendous play?
The major problem with Geren is that he cares too much about his players and what they think of him, which makes it hard for him to do his job especially when a player is slumping.
For example Cabrera was brought in for the A's to replace Bobby Crosby at short stop due to the injuries that Crosby has been known for and that Cabrera was an upgrade defensively and offensively.
Yet, Cabrera has made five errors already this season and most of those errors have come on easy plays and due to injuries Crosby has played everywhere on the infield except for his normal position at short stop.
Even though it's looking like Crosby is better off playing everyday and once Mark Ellis comes back from injury then where does Crosby go? The A's did bring in Adam Kennedy who's been hitting the ball well too so what do they do with Kennedy as well?
If Cabrera continues to struggle at the plate the A's should trade Cabrera for a prospect or two and then put Crosby back at short stop.
Crosby has been hitting better and yes he's made the same amount of errors, but that's because he's been playing one of three positions either first base, second base, or third base, but with his play and Cabrera's struggles continue it's time to put Crosby back at short stop and leave him there.
Geren is the one that fills out the lineup card would Geren even consider replacing Cabrera in the lineup if his struggles continue? What about a pitcher who has labored through a couple of innings?
The A's need a change and it starts with Geren, he needs to be sent packing!
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