The Los Angeles Dodgers fired General Manager Paul DePodesta today, only one year after the Dodgers hired him. We're Dodger fans, so this is probably more interesting to us than to most of our readers, but we think this decision shows that the Dodger owners--the McCourts--are both stupid and incompetent. No matter what you think of DePodesta, there is no way that he could put his stamp on the team in only one year, especially with all of the injuries the Dodgers suffered this year. Firing him before he could prove his worth is just plain dumb.
The Dodgers were a team in need of an overhaul before DePodesta was hired, and Frank McCourt was right to put the team in the hands of a GM who would bring a different outlook and a new discipline to baseball decisions. DePodesta immediately made some of the changes that were obviously necessary to anyone who wasn't blinded by amorphous concepts like "character," including trading older players who were popular, but who did not add significant value to the team. DePodesta made the team much younger and gave it much more payroll flexibility. We didn't agree with all of his moves--he spent too much on Derek Lowe--but he put the Dodgers in a better position for the long term.
By firing DePodesta after the McCourts gave him the authority to fire Jim Tracy is inexplicable. As Dodger fans, we haven't been this depressed about the franchise in a long time, and there has been a lot to be depressed about over the last decade.
We hope that Major League Baseball selects an ownership team for the Nationals that is more stable and much smarter than the McCourts. And we hope that that ownership team makes Paul DePodesta the team's new GM.
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5 comments:
As I'm sure you're aware, DePodesta is from the DC area, so why not the Nationals? Everyone thought we had a good shot at Brian Cashman because of his local connections, but the Evil Empire's grip was too strong and he caved. Let's hope the Nationals ownership group (i) is selected soon and (ii) chooses its GM wisely. We'd be in good hands with DePodesta, and I've got to think that he'd welcome the opportunity to come home and build a winner.
Ummm... he was the GM for 2 seasons. Hired in January 2004 says the article you linked to.
We agree with you, Mr. K. The new owner will most likely want to select their own GM, but that may not happen immediately. The timing is such that Bowden may be in the job for a while.
As for the date of DePo's hire, our bad. Too much emotion when I was writing the post.
To me, DePo still has to prove himself, but I'd still like him here. He did overpay on some signings, but if you have the money to blow that's not such a bad thing. A healthy Gagne, Odalis, and JD Drew and the Dodgers are much better and he'd probably still be in LA. Plus he was able to do the most important thing - not resign Beltre.
What El Gran Color Naranja said.
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