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After two years, 188 regular season wins, and a trip to the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox have parted ways with Grady Little. Are the Sox making the right move? Who should get his job?
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Page 46 I have this overwhelming urge to drop Grady a line saying although I did not agree with many of his decisions, I am embarrassed as a Boston sports fan for the ridicule and poor treatment he received from the media and fans. And since Todd Walker has filed for free agency and some of the other guys will be on their way as soon as they can, take heart in last season. It will be a long time before it happens again. Anyone with an ounce of self respect should not take the job. It's a lose-lose. Thank the self-righteous pompous buffoons in the Boston media. Dave, Coventry RI i disagree. we paid Pedro to carry us and for most of the year, no one in the press, fans or even management had any confidence in the bull pen. the bottom line is that if trot nixon played Jeter's fly ball correctly, which was a routine fly ball to the warning trac, we would not be having this discussion. The players have voiced their support for their manager, and i think the result of todays decision will be felt when contracts are up in the next year or two. That is when you will see a mass exodus from Boston. Remember, John Henry could not employ the proper personal with the Marlins and now he is trying to bring the same people to Boston. Instead of building on a great season with no bullpen, we are tearing apart this team and will pay for it the next 5-6 years. DAVID, waltham, ma I thought Grady Little did a great job holding the team together this season - motivational- wise he is awesome. Tactically, I think there were some issues. Hoping the team can learn and move on from this. There is nothing to be worried about from the Yankees now. By the way, watched the last few games up in Seattle - like to thank all the Mariners fan who celebrated, then commiserated with me! Dave, Dublin, Ireland Oh sure, they don't fire a manager because of one incident says the Red Sox management. LIES!!! If you can't respect your manager's decision then how does this town expect to win a World Series...Grady did a great job. Maybe the Yankees will pick him up as their new bench coach. He would be welcomed to the Yankees organization with open arms. Boston fans should get a life and know when to support a good manager! By the way, expand your vocabulary to more than 'Yankees Suck" Charles, Boston I found this blog just the other day. Funny guy who seems to know his stuff about the Red Sox. This is the best description/ analysis of the Grady Little decision (and all of it's repercussions) that I've seen. I'm sure Gammons will have some good stuff, but until he chips in . . .look at the article called "Grady's Gone, Everyone Happy Now": http://theninth.blogspot.com/ Conrad, Charlestown While I wish Grady well, he simply was not a good manager when it came to close games. Game 7 was just the exclamation mark for that deficiency. When the Sox weren't hitting, he did little to nothing to manufacture runs. While 188 wins is laudable, does anybody really believe those totals couldn't have been increased with a little better strategic managing? How about an occasional sacrifice bunt to move a runner into scoring position? How about a hit-and-run? I don't believe it is a matter of having a manager who takes all of his cues from the executive offices. But it is a matter of making decisions based on all of the information available. Neal, Hummelstown, PA The Sox should definitely have given him at least one more year. He kept the group together, relaxed, and focused on playing baseball all season. This was the most fun Red Sox team to watch of the last 20 years. They truly represented what it meant to be a 'team' more than any other in MLB. Other teams were in awe of how close the Red Sox were all season even when they were down(Oakland as an example). Bob, Boston Here again the club is responding to the media and fan disappointment. When I first went to Fenway my favorite player was Doc Cramer so it's not like I haven't seen this before. I went through years of mindless babble by Dave "The Colonel" Eagan who, had there been free agency, would have driven Ted Williams south to NY. There's just too much second guessing by people who just are not qualified. Who have never pitched, or hit, or dribbled, or punted, or passed, or coached, or done anything but taken the noun critic and made it a job description. As far as Little not being statistical enough, that takes much of the human factor out of the game. We're not dealing with chips here they're human beings with human failings. How many of them were sitting like vultures waiting for a kid to fail, pitching on three days rest, so they could say "I told you so"? As far as even including Jerry Remy in a list of candidates to replace Little is the height of absurdity unless you want somebody with no managerial experience but perfect twenty-twenty hindsight. But if they do maybe he could have Sam Horn as bench coach. Wouldn't that be a pair? I feel sorry for Grady. He and that team gave us the best season in Boston since "67". And one more for the media. Where are all those writers who bemoaned the fact that the Sox let Mo Vaughn "walk"? How many of them would pitch in to pay a bloated salary to an overweight, out of shape, DH with bad knees? EARL S. , MAPLEVILLE, RI Grady Little was and is a great manager. To let him go is a terrible mistake. Unlike the Yankees who are a collection of All Stars sometimes playing well sometimes not, the Red Sox were a baseball team. The collective nature of this team can be attributed to Grady Little. If stats were all that mattered then one needs to follow the Yankee model and I will start following the Minnesota Twins. John, Kent, CT So long Grady. Unfortunately, we knew you too well. Just one question: How could you wait until the FOURTH consecutive hit to go get him? Were you trying to stick it to ownership for leaving you hanging after you a) qualified for the playoffs and b)came back to beat Oakland in the first round? If it was spite or revenge, it was certainly served cold, much like this offseason. I just wish you were as good a situational manager as you were a clubhouse leader. John, Boston Response pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
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