Room For Two

After navigating the toughest month of opponents in franchise history, skipper AJ Hinch has predictably been dismissed. Less predictably, he took the General Manager with him. Like Bob Melvin's ouster a year prior, the timing of the firings, relative to the seasonal schedule, leave little doubt as to the short term impetus or curious integrity of the changes.

If you recall, Melvin was axed immediately after surviving a 29 game stretch against almost exclusively .500 or better teams, ushering in Hinch to face the then hapless Nats and Reds at home - and one of the easiest extended stretches in recent memory. Today, Hinch endured a brutal interleague schedule to make way for Kirk Gibson, who will be greeted by 17 of 20 at home against lesser foes. After that, the schedule trends even easier, if that's possible. Sound familiar?

The other parallel involves tangential effects. Melvin's dismissal didnt stir much outrage, at least outside the clubhouse, but did lead directly to the departure of Bryan Price. Today, most everyone is relieved to see Hinch exit, but the absence of Josh Byrnes may prove more strategically problematic.

Byrnes, it is rumored, is the early odds on hero in all this, standing by his man, a la Tammy Wynette. Just kidding. I think it's actually damn dignified and a pretty rare thing to do. To punt a high profile baseball job, because you really believe in someone you think is getting a raw deal.

Just ask Bryan Price.

Longer term, jettisoning AJ Hinch is a good thing, although not as good as never inserting him in the dugout in the first place. The clubhouse vibe, which he was hired to improve, never did, and in fact badly deteriorated. Reportedly, the relationship between Byrnes and Hall had also grown strained. That's what happens when you put a marketing careerist ostensibly in charge of a substantive baseball mind competing under tight fiscal pressures.

The marketing careerist won and I'm not sure that's a good thing for the franchise.

What easily gets lost in all this shifting, is that Melvin and Hinch both had their clubs objectively playing better just before they were dropped. That doesnt mean AJ should've ever been hired, or that Melvin was a great manager. But both teams had settled down, with clearer skies ahead. That contextual performance tends to fall by the wayside, however, when what matters most to the leaders of an organization is manipulating fans and perception. When what's more important than fielding a good team is telling you how good it is. When what trumps winning is manipulating personnel so you can take credit for anticipated bumps a softer schedule affords.

I fear that's what this organization has largely become. It's defining character seems to be perception, rather than substance, driven. Hinch and Byrnes were party to that, at times, and received criticism here. So, I harbor mixed feelings about both of them. But in the end, seeing how their respective if not always respectable tenures played out to the bitter end, it's hard to escape my impression that each young man, in his own way, was probably a little too good for the room.

Hinch To Winners: Drop Dead

Today the Diamondbacks purged the only remaining men in their dugout with any successful managerial experience.

Chip Hale, Arizona's third base coach since 2007, had managed Dback affiliates six years prior, including three with Tucson's AAA Sidewinders, where he won the Pacific Coast League (PCL) Manager of the Year award.

Lorenzo Bundy, this year's first base coach, managed fifteen years in Mexico and the minor leagues - most recently with the Dodgers' AAA Las Vegas affiliate. He was twice named Manager of the Year in the Mexican League, and had worked with the Diamondbacks, on and off, for about five seasons. The Philadelphia native will have a tumor surgically removed tomorrow.

The dismissals were arranged by front office favorite Andrew Hinch, who supplanted Bob Melvin, the NL's 2007 Manager of the Year, in May. Hinch's voice cracked as he explained his staff's need for "new voices" in 2010.

In his first coaching assignment at any level, and bouyed by breakout seasons from Justin Upton, Mark Reynolds, Miguel Montero and Dan Haren, the deeply sensitive skipper propelled Arizona to a 58-75 mark (.436), good for last place in the National League West.

See No Evil

Barely two years after ceasing to be a viable ballplayer, Eric Byrnes' eponymous TV show is suddenly going off the air. I dont know about anyone else, but now that I cant watch Byrnsie mumbling with his hat on backwards, sippin' a Starbucks, I'm not sure what to do with my time.

In related news, four months after being a viable major league team, the Diamondbacks arent on TV much either. The past few Saturdays have been radio games, granting visual respite from AJ Hinch's AAA rebuilding exercise and the oily accompaniment of Daron Sutton and Todd Walsh.

The game's not on TV tonight either. Instead, FSN is blasting Frank Caliendo's loud and uneven impressions, another tape of Joe Garagiola's ceremony that dominated Sunday's broadcast, Redheads pre-sell coverage, a never ending Todd Walsh indulgence with ticket broker Danny Zelisko, extended japery between Gracie and....wait a second. Is that Barry Zito? Oh, gosh. My mistake. There is a game being televised tonight. Sort of. Oh, and the game's tied in the seventh. Who knew?

Attendance @ The Lovely Morgan has dropped almost 5000 fans per evening since last year, one of the largest % and numerical drops in the sport, yet curiously the Dbacks' National League ranking remains eleventh (out of sixteen teams) - same as 2008.

Even with light rail and a summer of Phoenicians curtailing out of town vacation travel , this will be the fifth year in a row our team draws more on the road than at home, despite Chase Field's purported "lowest prices in baseball." Colangelo never made such claims, or massaged pricepoints to look better in industry TMR metrics. He just offered higher quality baseball at broadly lower prices, and drew more fans downtown than they did on the road - every single one of his seven years at the helm.

10:30pm -- The Dbackles just dropped tonight's 'contest' to the Giants. The loss puts Arizona four games south of San Diego, with eleven to go. After the game, AJ Hinch called it a night of poor execution and not winning baseball. More accurately, it's been a season of poor execution, with players acquired by JByrnes, developed and managed by Hinch.

Bob Melvin won 90 games and went to the 2007 NLCS with Doug Davis and Livan Hernandez as his #2 and 3, and a bunch of rookies and journeymen in the field. He got fired, presumably, for finishing two games off the pace in 2008, and falling 4.5 back of the wildcard in May of this year. Derrick Hall termed this five months 'gross underperformance'.

In his five months, AJ Hinch has rocketed out of contention faster and farther than anyone imagined, far worse than Melvin ever did with this rough core of players. As the brass defends AJ's hire under these circumstances, making excuses for AJ when they made mincemeat of Melvin, one can hardly escape what unprincipled phonies run our newly entrenched, last place Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bulletin: Chris Young Not Producing for Hinch/Howell

May 7th, 2009

Bob Melvin: Say Josh, Chris Young is hitting .170 and killing our offense.
Josh Byrnes: Never disparage my core guys, Bob. You've had a whole month to restore CY to who he was - in my dreams. Plus, pending the doctor's report, I charge you with witchcraft against Conor Jackson! You're fired.

... ___ ...

August 10, 2009

AJ Hinch: Mr Byrnes, I think we may, possibly, need every outfielder to hit, like, at least .270 if we're to fully align our situational leadership goals. You know I think the world of Chris....but...well...
Josh Byrnes: 270? Super input. I'll send him to Reno today. Anything else?

AJ Hinch: May I please have some more dudes from Australia?

Rocky Times

You have to admire the chutzpah of a front office which parts with an established manager in May to give its team a midseason boost. I speak, of course, of the born again Colorado Rockies, who found themselves ten games below .500, hired Jim Tracy, and have scarcely lost since.



The Diamondbacks, by contrast, fell five games below .500 after a mere 17 contests, then fought even up (6-6) against the NL's best for two weeks straight. That sort of "gross underperformance", according to club CEO Derrick Hall, got Bob Melvin fired in favor of favored favorite Andrew Jay Hinch, Esq.



Hinch, the Dream Team's answer to not only jumpstart the men, but "change the nature of the job a little bit" is himself five games below .500 - damning enough on its face (the one Josh Byrnes is falling flat on) - were it not for this reasoned, unseasoned protege's cupcake schedule and comparative roster advantages over Melvin.

Both managers suffered the loss of Brandon Webb, but Melvin also missed his two most reliable hitters from 2008 - Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson. Drew returned from the DL for Hinch, and is starting to rip the ball as expected, and Jackson's mysterious and crippling April has finally been diagnosed and mercifully replaced by the NL's Rookie of the Month. The one unusual challenge Hinch faced - and which Melvin was spared - was the sudden and relatively minor practical absence - but devastating personal loss - of LOOGY Scott Schoeneweis.



Beyond that, the club's alarming recent spike in runs allowed appears at least somewhat managerially related - in that limiting runs (RA) was an immutable strength of Bob Melvin teams. Simply carping at Hinch, however, misses the bigger picture. Without pitching guru Bryan Price, an inadvertent casualty of Josh Byrnes' deflective blame game, this novice skipper now produces more regularly scheduled, prime time situation comedies than Norman Lear.

Eighth inning. Must see TV. Just. You. Watch!

Not Hinch's fault, necessarily. It's on Josh Byrnes, who trashed a decent manager, in hopes of shifting blame from the GM's longstanding failure to meet on field expectations. De rigeur for Byrnes, on his fourth hitting coach since 2006, who's built just one squad since then barely capable of outscoring opponents in baseball's weakest division.


The religious Rockies appear largely above such tawdry political machinations, and not surprisingly, sit above us in the standings as well. They matter of factly replaced their below average manager with an above average one, and like the Diamondbacks, are reaping their just rewards on earth - as it so often is in heaven.