When Billy Beane went on a totally different approach to start the 2009 season to bring in better offensive players, it was a major surprise.
He brought in Jason Giambi (32 home runs), Matt Holliday (25 home runs), Nomar Garciaparra, and, of course, Orlando Cabrera, who is a solid offensive shortstop, but his defense dramatically improved the A's up the middle.
Yet, even with the excitement of these new players to benefit the offense, there was another contract extension more A's fans should have been paying attention to.
Who was signed to the extension? Manager Bob Geren.
This signing is quite possibly one of the dumbest moves Beane has ever made. Not only that, but Geren is by far the worst A's manager since the early-to-mid '90s Tony La Russa teams.
Geren so far this season still shows why he will never take the A's organization anywhere except to sub-.500 records. Geren is still clueless as to when to take out a pitcher or when to have Kurt Suzuki come out to the mound to settle a pitcher down.
A perfect example was in the debut for Brett Anderson. He went through the first inning very easily, but in the second inning, Anderson gave up five runs. What led to that, though?
The at-bat by Ken Griffey Jr. in which Anderson walked Griffey on four pitches. Instead of having Suzuki come up and calm down Anderson, the rookie was allowed to pitch to Jose Lopez, and the first two pitches were not even close to the plate.
Only until that point in time, where Anderson threw six balls in a row, did Suzuki attempt to calm Anderson down. Yes, Anderson is a young pitcher, but he was facing one of the best hitters in baseball history.
So it is only fair to assume Anderson's adrenaline was pumping and at that time it would have done wonders for Suzuki to go to the mound and settle Anderson down.
Unfortunately, by the time Suzuki did go to the mound, it was far too late. Anderson eventually gave up five runs in the inning and they turned out to be the only runs the Seattle Mariners needed to win the game.
In today's game against the Mariners in the eighth inning, with the A's winning 5-3, Geren brought in Santiago Casilla. The start of the inning didn't go well, with Bobby Crosby making an error.
Then Casilla gave up a single and then a walk, loading the bases. So, what does Geren do? He puts in Brad Ziegler in the top of the eighth inning. Another stupid decision by the A's manager.
Ziegler is the closer; he should be reserved for the ninth inning or if a situation warrants him in the eighth, if only one out is needed. Not all three outs.
The decision to bring in Ziegler was not a good one. He gave up a two-run double and a two-run single, and that meant the A's were now trailing 7-5.
The other issue that Geren has is getting players motivated in taking on the less than stellar teams. It seems the A's do play well against the tougher teams like the Red Sox, Angels, Yankees, etc.; yet, when playing a team like the Mariners, they struggle.
This falls squarely on how Geren motivates his team, and he fails at it. He is not a good manager and he never will be. Beane should never have given him a contract extension and, in fact, he should have been fired as soon as the season was over.
Mr. Beane, do A's fans a huge favor. Fire Geren!
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