This is long. Sorry. But its important. To me at least :-). *** Today the Arizona Diamondbacks fired manager Kirk Gibson - this coming on the heels of hiring new General Manager Dave Stewart and assistant GM De Jon Watson. Arizona’s Chief Baseball officer, Tony La Russa, wants a fresh start in baseball operations and I can’t say I blame him. As anyone who knows me or has read my posts in regards to the D-Backs can tell you - I was not a fan of Kirk Gibson and I’m glad he’s gone. But when they hired him as interim manager and then gave him the permanent job I was all for him. I was picturing the fiery player I’d seen many times on the field, a natural leader that had driven two different teams to World Series glory. But as a manager he was barely awake. Sometimes I truly wondered if he was even watching the game…… maybe he mellowed with age- which is fine- but I’m sorry he was a lousy, unimaginative manager. My family and I were among the first people to ever walk into La Casa Grande -the big ballpark in Phoenix (I don’t acknowledge corporate names of stadiums). From day 1 in 1998 we gave our hearts to the D-backs. We rode the highs (1999, 2001, etc ) and lows (2004) as good fans do. We were constantly at the ball park even though it was a three hour drive. But then changes in ownership and regimes tested us severely. I still hate that we changed colors from our original purple (Which was all about the war between Colangelo and Kendrick NOT marketing). I saw young obvious talents traded away for next to nothing….no patience given to young pitchers and hitters….Now many are all-stars around the league. Sometimes one must trade prospects for veterans to help a club take a shot- but our players were bad-mouthed in the press by the club and thus reducing their own trade value. It made no sense. Players were shipped off if they didn’t fit the D-Back mold. Not every player is a smiling Luis Gonzalez. Some are a prickly Randy Johnson. It takes all kinds to build a winner. It was frustrating. Baseball America recently published a piece that showed the Diamondback Draft picks between 2004-2012 had the highest total WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of all MLB teams. The bad news is that the vast majority of players creating that stat were starring for other teams…..lack of patience….. I swear if Paul Goldschmidt had come up and struggled for a season he would be a star 1B for another team. Add to the lack of patience in player development the fact that Ownership was running their franchise like a High School team, and my frustration got worse. Telling fans of other teams to change their shirts, telling clinching teams not to celebrate on our field……STOOPID. When the D-Backs clinched in 1999 it was in SF. Another year I think it was in Milwaukee. Nobody told them not to celebrate on the field. It was bush league pure and simple. Want fans in your colors? Don’t want teams celebrating titles on your field? WIN. With all that going on, we ended up in Colorado. I have liked going to Coors Field (I’ve really missed day games and sunshine) and I don’t root against the Rockies but they’re not really my team. I adopted an AL team in Cleveland (Terry’s Tribe) due to my respect for U of A alumnus Terry Francona. The Indians are fun to watch and I root for them…but again my eyes were always drifting to see what was happening with AZ. Most of what I saw I didn’t like. But they’re trying for a fresh start now and so will I. I WANT to love this team. I just hope that La Russa and the baseball people can keep Kendrick and his sidekick Derrick Hall where they belong- in the back office. I cannot stand my team being a laughing stock nationally and it’s not the losing I’m referring to but some of the nonsense I mentioned previously. I know this is a long drawn out post about a baseball team. But this matters to me. Baseball isn’t a simple sport to enjoy to me. It’s part of who I am. It’s in my soul. I know some of you out there know exactly what I’m saying. Following a baseball team takes commitment- it’s every day, not once a week. All I ask is a commitment from the team to the fans and to improvement. So let’s see how things go. AZ is ways a way from real contention with SF and LA in their division, but unlike AZ ownership and regimes of the past, I AM patient as long as I see effort in building something. Oh but one more thing. I am hearing it might be an Oakland A’s reunion in Phoenix…..but leave Phoney Baloney Mark McGwire in LA. Okay? Please? GO D-BACKS. TC
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 01:11:22 +0000
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