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“Questions–I Have Questions?”

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PADRES SEARCH….San Diego might be the plum job that is opening this off baseball season….the question can they lure the right manager to Petco Park.  They have a loaded farm system..some established players..a ton of pitching.  The Padres job is one crying to emotional leadership, some fire, and a strong willed individual.  A look at my candidates list..

..BRUCE BOCHY…This is old school at its very best.  The issue, does he want to manage, how is his health coming off heart issues in San Francisco, and is he willing to work with a young front office that lives by metrics every minute of every day?.  Hall of Fame credentials-how do you not make the call?

..JOE GIRARDI…Strong willed baseball man, who may be waiting to see what transpires with the Cubs.  Again the same issue, if he were to be the guy, would it be his team or AJ Preller’s team?

BUCK SHOWALTER…Did good jobs a bunch of places, but maybe his control-freak personna wears out his welcome at those places too.  Wants back in-would you try?

..MIKE SCOSCIA….Solid-strong-consistent-demanding…alot of things that are missing in the Padres clubhouse.  He demands alot of his players, but his ability to work with catchers and directly with pitchers might be worth a look.  After 19-years with the Angels, is the new era of baseball a good fit for him?

..RON WASHINGTON…Good years in Texas, past relationship with the GM, but if he were so good, how come he never got another chance?  Lots of attributes but the off field problems may hurt him.

..DUSTY BAKER…Wants to work..has every baseball credential there is..could he handle a very young team after being out of it for a number of years…Worth an interview despite all the miles, don’t you think?

..JOHN FARRELL….Did a great job in the ever impossible Boston market and with his pitching background, a possible strong addition with all the young arms they have.  Will get a job somewhere..why not here? .

..MOISES ALOU….An organizational man, who has managed in the Latin market in the off season…very highly regarded, is he ready for the next step?

..DAVID ROSS..Strong baseball intellect, as long time catcher, then scout, then front office assistant and TV analyst.  Name starting to surface as someone to look at, even with no managerial credentials.

..MARK KOTSAY…Done alot in the game, as player, scout..assistant to executives…known commodity upstairs at Petco Park.  Is it his time?

..MARK LORETTA….Seems to have been on this track the last five years, now coaching with Cubs…also served as Preller assistant..but no experience as a manager.

..PHIL NEVIN..Has paid his dues, player, coach with Giants, Tigers…Managed in minor leagues in Tigers system with success…Did interview for Tigers job among others-but did not get hired…Fire in the gut…Lots of experience of ups and downs as a player…strong willed..too strong a personality for front office?

..ERIC CHAVEZ….Learned alot from Billy Beane in Oakland…now managing in farm system…Youngest of group of candidates with strong baseball academic credentials.

..JAY BELL…The real darkhorse…After 18-year career as player-dove into coaching in majors..then managing in minors in Yankees system.  Keep waiting to see who gives him a chance.

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“Padres-Andy Green Firing…The Blame Game”

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You win as a team…you lose as a team.

At least that’s what they want you to believe in sports.

The Padres have fired Manager Andy Green in the wake of his 4th straight losing season, and a likely 4th straight 90-loss season for the franchise.  Green exits with a (274-366) record…a (.428) winning percentage, the second poorest in modern day Padres history.

They underachieved in his first full year, the Matt Kemp-Justin Upton-James Shields era.
They underachieved in his final year, the learning curve season with the youngest pitching staff in baseball.

In Green’s four years, there were lots of bad decisions about the makeup of the roster.
He made lots of bad decisions about his everyday batting orders.
So-called star players had bad seasons yearly too.

There never was any continuity in a constantly changing batting order, and the use of players.  Of course no one would say whether he made out the lineup’s, or they came down from the analytic guys upstairs at Petco Park.

This was a fractured clubhouse, void of vocal veteran leadership.

The four years featured big money veteran players coming off more as independent contractors, rather than good teammates.

Green’s team either featured a pitching staff made up of virtually all rookies (this year) or seasons dotted by Rule 5-refugees, guys coming off rehab, or aging journeyman like Clayton Richard-Edwin Jackson.

The upheaval among his coaching staff was staggering.  7-coaches left in his first three years.  No one ever answered whether the coaches were his hires, or dictates from the front office.  I must be the only one wondering why that was happening.

The insinuations that Green was a control freak, who wouldn’t let his coaches coach, have not gone away.

It appears he lost the clubhouse emotionally, and that players were just going thru the motions as the losses mounted and the season’s hopes of a wildcard playoff spot drifted away.  Going from 2-games out of playoff spot to the misery of where they are now in the standings, just wore the team out.

There’s no doubt there was erosion  on the roster, or regression of the talent.

There has to be question whether there was enough teaching going on of young players, or whether the line of communication went away, because players did not buy into the constant sales pitch from Green, a journeyman .200-hitter in his career.

The young pitchers showed a competitive spirit.  There were a lot more good outings with the kid starters than there were bad innings from those pitchers.

The over-use of the bullpen likely led to more problems as Green and the front office mandated the manger had to protect the young arms in the rotation.

So many everyday payers let the manager down.  Some terrible streaks, bad seasons, but more alarmingly, the appearance the players didn’t care any longer.

Lack of pride may be worse than lack of talent and I sensed that is part of the problem in that clubhouse now.

Blame Green with not being tough enough.  Blame the front office for the roster they gave him.

Blame Manny Machado for his attitude, and hitting .193 since August 1st.  Blame Will Myers for stretches in which he hit .100 for a month. Blame Austin Hedges for being all glove, but not improving with his bat.  Blame Hunter Renfroe for not making adjustments when he hit potholes in the road.

But this look at what’s wrong with the Padres has to extend upstairs to GM-AJ Preller.
He fired Bud Black.  He hired a mistake in Pat Murphy.  He hired and now has fired Andy Green.

This is the same GM who burned thru enormous amounts of club money, making mistakes on all those first year acquisitions, Kemp-Shields-Upton-Upton and the money he had to pay to get rid of all those aging bad characters.

You can credit him for the farm system, but a closer look shows how much money he has spent to get the numbers of players into the system he has.  You can get anything you want if you are willing to overpay.

And Preller remains under MLB scrutiny, along with at least 4-other clubs, over their business dealings to get players out of Cuba and the Caribbean.  This after he was disciplined twice in the past for his dealings.

So as we go to the final week of another long-lost summer, Andy Green has been fired.

I liked him, found him intellectual, but am disappointed there never was any public accountability about the mess in the clubhouse.  It should not have been the ‘Good Ship Lollypop” as we went season to season with all these non playoff years.

Andy Green had a favorite phrase, “Own It”.  His players never did-never improved.  It cost him his job.

And now with the final 3-games of the home schedule infront of us….it’s time AJ Preller “Owned It” too.  This is his creation, his franchise, his players, and his mistakes too.

The blame game-took down the manager.  Others have to be held accountable now.  And the question, what ownership is going to do about it.

Win as a team-Lose as a team.  It should apply to more than just the Andy Green firing.

Ron Fowler-Peter Seidler need to pay more attention to how their team got to this point.

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Antonio Brown–What Do You Think Now?”

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So how do you like me now?

Antonio Brown plays his second game for the New England Patriots, seeking to make big plays in the Tom Brady led offense.

Things looking good on the field for the Patriots, once they get Brown and Josh Gordon up to speed in the 2019-version of the offense.

But off the field, not looking so good.

The NFL is privately continuing its probe of the allegations of rape and sexual assault filed by his former trainer.

They met for 10-hours with Britney Taylor this past Tuesday as the probe begins, and the NFL is not done for sure.

Now a second woman has come public, an artist, that she too was sexually abuse by the former Steelers star while painting portraits in his house.

But Brown’s problems are not just with those two women.

Now revelations that he is in the middle of 6-lawsuits, filed by people, who did business with him, but whom he stiffed in business deals.

Fraud allegations from a church charity.  Money owned on the purchase of properties  for business investments.

His personal chef, his personal travel agent and a secretary.

Of bigger concern, his two former girlfriends, who between them have given birth to five of his children.  They have claims and complaints too.

Child support issues in multiple cities.

Vandalism at condos he rented.

Reports that police in Pittsburgh came to his house 6-different times for domestic incidents.

And now he has lost 5-of his major endorsement companies tired of the stain from his act. Nike, Zenith, Pepsi, Pizza Hut and more have left his stable.

At Gillette Stadium, the only thing that concerns the Patriots are pass routes, yardage, touchdowns and wins.

Roger Goodall could change all that shortly by yanking him off the roster and putting him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, which is likely the forerunner to a suspension.

It’s happened before for lots of different reasons, in all types of cases.  You know the names. , Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson, Ezekiel Elliott, Aldon Smith, Kareem Hunt.

Some came back to play, others never played again, some are still serving penalties.

So enjoy this weekends Pats-Miami game, for Brown might not be around much longer.

For someone who had it all, fame-fortune-friends, while in Pittsburgh, he could be about to lose much it.

He made 69M in salaries, but can’t-or-won’t pay his bills, take care of his kids, act like a human being.

The Antonio Brown story isn’t going away, not so much about he he does as a Patriots player, but what is about to happen to the person, who plays for the Patriots.

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“Burning Bridges–Lots of Places”

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They booed and they booed and they booed more in Milwaukee this week.

In Los Angeles, they’d be booing their guy to, if he showed now to play.

Such the life of Padres 3rd baseman Manny Machado.

And possibly what could happen if Melvin Gordon ever shows up to play the final year of his Chargers contract.

The Brewers are in the midst of a fight for a wildcard spot in the National League playoffs.  The fans are intense, they are backing their team.  And they haven’t forgotten last October.

I’ve seen lots of villains come into visiting stadiums, maybe the most recent being Alex Rodriguez, at the height of his steroid filled, lie-filled career filled  with the Yankees.  Everyone hated him at the end.

You remember the nicknames, A-Roid, A-Fraud, A-Rod.

They don’t like Manny Machado lots of places in baseball.  They really dislike him in Brew-town, the aftermath of dirty play last yearn the Brewers playoff series with the Dodgers last fall.

Manny stomping the foot of Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar, running the bases, the incident seen by everyone, time and time again.  The same Machado, who also flicked out his leg to hit a shortstop on anther close play during the playoffs.  True interference with intent to injure.

The booing was relentless, every pitch, every at-batduring the firs three games of the series,and it will continue.

Meanwhile it’s week nine of the holdout for Gordon, the big play Chargers running back, and now it’s gotten ugly.

He has lost 1.98M in game checks so far.

He wants to be traded, but the team hasn’t found a buyer willing to give up a 1st round pick, to rent a player for 1-year before he becomes a free agent.

Gordon has shown no willingness to end the holdout.  The team has dug in its heels, not coming to camp means no further contract talks.

And now Gordon has gone on social media saying he expects to play ‘somewhere’ before the end of the season.  That’s means the Bolts would have to give in and deal him.  Doubtful.

And Gordon followed up with a direct shot at the LA market, something along the lines ‘we went (12-4) last year and no one cares in LA.’

That’s a slap in the face of the fans in LA, and indirectly a slap at owner Dean Spanos for vacating the San Diego market in the chase for the almighty dollars in LA, which he isn’t getting.

Machado doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks of him.  He’s been laid back most of the year, whether he’s had good games (30HRs) this season, or hitting just (.199) since August 1st as the team faded away.

Who knows if Gordon ever returns, how he will be viewed, but he’s created quite a furor for himself.  He may find out, if he ever shows up here, he crossed too many people..

They haven’t booed many favorites in this town in a long time.

That might change because how Manny Machado acted, and what Melvin Gordon is doing now.

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“Aztecs-vs-Conference Showdowns”

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San Diego State, on the road to redemption after last year’s awful finish to the season, begins the march back to conference respectability on Saturday when Utah State comes to town.

The Aztecs are (3-0) with the impressive win over UCLA as their calling card this season. Utah State, which has become a good program, nearly won at Wake Forest and then blasted a 1-AA team, so they come in at (1-1)….but they are also coming off a bye week to prepared for the Aztecs.

An interesting matchup. An improving SDSU offense matched against a USU defense that returns 7-starters from last year’s bowl team. State’s rugged defense, which has 7-takeaways, 10-sacks and is holding opponents to 33%-on 3rd downs, will be challenged by the Aggies 3rd year starting QB-Jordan Love ((5,908-44TD-15 Int) in a very good career. USU is averaging (656YPG) thru 2-weeks.

Coach Rocky Long had plenty to say:.

..USU one of better teams in league
..QB is NFL type guy-lots of skills
..Statistics are eye-popping-awful good football team
..I think he will be a future NFL star

..Jordan Love-big strong (6’4) guy-can do things with his feet…flicks ball..strong arm-very talented player-makes everything happen.
..Watch on film-he can score points fast..could be out of a game before it’s started.
..He is similar to Josh Allen-Wyoming-can throw the ball and can run the ball
..He’s on target…move the pocket…strong-strong arm

..They have two fast WRs…2RBs and QB making plays happen. They have tremendous skill position.

..Bye week-you get healthier-so that helps them…refreshed-quicker-faster…Coaches have extra wee to prepaqre
..Film vs Wake Forest-surprised they did not win…Wake Forest did move ball on offense-but could not stop USU tempo.
..USU is tempo team-no huddle..try to tire you out…they try to go fast to limit our defense.

..Juwan Washington nearing 100%-hope to play him.
..RB is our deepest position..thank goodness..we have 3-hurt…have 3-more healthy…
..Want to run ball-control clock-keep Jordan Love off the field.

..Defensive numbers getting better.

..We did not recruit him-he’s really grown as a player at USU since coming out of Bakersfield..

..Mountain West..not at surprised at early seasons wins…these are good teams…beating all these Power 5-teams…Air Force winning in Boulder….CSU-Wyoming-Hawaii-Boise all very impressive..

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