Manny Acta Fired

[Speedy]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

That's not a good recipe for success and its hard to see where that is Acta's fault. No one could succeed there.

On the counter side, nearly the entire rotation consists of rookies - Detwiler, Martis, Stammen, Zimmerman and probably Strasburg and the end of the year (pending his signing of course).

[SPTO]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

On the counter side, nearly the entire rotation consists of rookies - Detwiler, Martis, Stammen, Zimmerman and probably Strasburg and the end of the year (pending his signing of course).

On the downside of that history has shown that teams that have thrown young starters out there have either had to wait a loooong time for the pitchers to develop, the pitchers all go down with catastrophic injuries and don't live up to the hype or maximize their potential elsewhere.

3 examples:

'60s Mets: Took a while for Tom Seaver to find his groove, Nolan Ryan was mainly used as a reliever and then turned into the Ryan Express when traded to California, Jerry Koosman had his breakout season in '69 but his first two years was unspectacular at best and Jim McAndrew didn't amount to much

mid '90s Mets: Bil Pulsipher, Jason Isringhausen and Paul Wilson were supposed to be the future of the Mets rotation but injuries and poor pitching killed that.

late '90s Blue Jays: Chris Carpenter had arm problems and showed flashes of brilliance then went to STL where he became an ace, Kelvim Escobar was one of the most mercurial SPs around as one start he'd look like Cy Young and the next start he'd be crap. He then goes to the Angels and is pretty good tho injuries has really curtailed his career some and well we all know what happened to Roy Halladay. He was so messed up at one point that he was sent back to single A but now is one of the top starters in MLB right now.

So young starters coming up at the same time isn't a recipe for success in the long run. The only instance I can think where it worked well was the Braves of '91 and moving forward.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

On the downside of that history has shown that teams that have thrown young starters out there have either had to wait a loooong time for the pitchers to develop, the pitchers all go down with catastrophic injuries and don't live up to the hype or maximize their potential elsewhere.

3 examples:

'60s Mets: Took a while for Tom Seaver to find his groove, Nolan Ryan was mainly used as a reliever and then turned into the Ryan Express when traded to California, Jerry Koosman had his breakout season in '69 but his first two years was unspectacular at best and Jim McAndrew didn't amount to much

mid '90s Mets: Bil Pulsipher, Jason Isringhausen and Paul Wilson were supposed to be the future of the Mets rotation but injuries and poor pitching killed that.

late '90s Blue Jays: Chris Carpenter had arm problems and showed flashes of brilliance then went to STL where he became an ace, Kelvim Escobar was one of the most mercurial SPs around as one start he'd look like Cy Young and the next start he'd be crap. He then goes to the Angels and is pretty good tho injuries has really curtailed his career some and well we all know what happened to Roy Halladay. He was so messed up at one point that he was sent back to single A but now is one of the top starters in MLB right now.

So young starters coming up at the same time isn't a recipe for success in the long run. The only instance I can think where it worked well was the Braves of '91 and moving forward.

The Orioles are sort of doing this with Arrieta, Tillman, and Matusz, but are staggering their debuts a bit. Tillman will likely come up in August, Matusz in September possibly, and Arrieta in September also.

[Seahawk76]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

I feel kind of sorry for Jim Riggleman. He took over as interim manager of the Mariners last year after the team had already gone belly up and now he gets to command another sinking ship. Bad karma, I guess.

[rsox]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

The Nats need an established manager to take over that team. If i were them i would actually consider seeing if Davey Johnson or Bobby Valentine or even Buck Showalter would want to manage the team. There are too many decent players on that team for them to be this bad.

[SPTO]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

Buck Showalter is the perfect guy for this team. He's a no-nonsense guy who has firm rules in the clubhouse but isn't an A-hole about it the way Acta was and he has a knack for maximizing the talent on the field. I just don't think he'd want to go to yet another rebuilding type situation at his age and such.

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

Acta wasn't an a-hole... he was the exact opposite. He was a teddy bear.

As for as Valentine... that's already been 86'ed.

He's looked at as a Bowden guy so he's got no chance of being picked up.

I'll be happy with Buck though.

[SPTO]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

Acta wasn't an a-hole... he was the exact opposite. He was a teddy bear.

Jumping on a guy because he came to the park a few minutes late after a charity function doesn't make you an a-hole?

Okay..

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

Jumping on a guy because he came to the park a few minutes late after a charity function doesn't make you an a-hole?

Okay..

It wasn't a charity event. He was paid $500 bucks to be there. He's also a professional. You don't take events if it interferes with your job.

Plain and simple... All the blame falls on Elijah Dukes.

[SPTO]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

It wasn't a charity event. He was paid $500 bucks to be there. He's also a professional. You don't take events if it interferes with your job.

Plain and simple... All the blame falls on Elijah Dukes.

Oh...didn't know that it turned out to be a paid thing.

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[mvb34]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

This was a dumb move. Until the Nats upgrade the talent level it won't matter who comes in to manage.

[pfunk880]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

On the downside of that history has shown that teams that have thrown young starters out there have either had to wait a loooong time for the pitchers to develop, the pitchers all go down with catastrophic injuries and don't live up to the hype or maximize their potential elsewhere.

You can include the '90s Brewers in that list two. Until Ben Sheets panned out, Milwaukee had a bunch of young pitchers they drafted that never made it. And even Sheets has had all sorts of injury issues. Young pitching is extremely hard to develop. Teams that are able to do it (San Francisco, for example) are the exception, rather than the rule. And there's almost never a "sure thing" when it comes to drafting a pitcher (Mark Prior, for example).

[SidVish]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

Does it really matter who coaches this team?

[oakfan162]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

Does it really matter who coaches this team?

Haha, that was my first thought when I saw he was fired.

My strategy to increase attendance (and improve the team?) would be to have a rotating manager, with a twist. Each series would be managed by a randomly drawn season ticket holder.

It could work!

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Manny Acta Fired

Haha, that was my first thought when I saw he was fired.

My strategy to increase attendance (and improve the team?)

People bag on the Nats for their attendance, but they're still outdrawing per game

Florida
Oakland
Pittsburgh
Cleveland
Toronto
Tampa Bay

It's not completely dire.