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1. The Nationals team ERA is 5.342. The bullpen has blown 14 saves this season
3. THIS IS YOUR BULLPEN: Steven Shell, Michael Hinkley, Kip Wells, Garrett Mock, Wil Ledezma, Jason Bergmann, Saul Rivera, Jesus Colome....TERRIBLE
4. Jesus Flores has missed a majority of the season
5. Lastings Milledge is in AAA and has a terrible attitude
6. Scott Olson has missed a majority of the season
7. Daniel Cabrera...35 to 16 BB/K ratio!
8. Austin Kearns...where did all the talent go?
9. Closer Joel Hanrahan has a 6.35 ERA
10. Ronnie Belliard is hitting .175
11. John Lannan is the only starting pitcher with an ERA under 5.
12. The starting rotation is one of, if not the, youngest rotations in baseball
13. The Nationals are last in fielding percentage
14. Adam Dunn, who is 6'6, 285 lbs, is stuck in left field. Hands down, one of the worst OFs in baseball.
15. Yes, Corey Patterson is on the roster right now.
Bottom Line: there is no way that Nationals management SHOULD blame Acta for the Nationals poor play. He has been given very little talent to work with. Could another manager do a better job with this group? Hell no. So then why fire Acta? I can't understand it.
THERE IS VERY LITTLE TALENT HERE.
And finally, ask yourself this: is there a better manager out there for the Nationals to turn to if they do decide to can Acta? I say no. Acta has been given virtually nothing to work with during his three years with the Nationals and their poor record is a reflection of former GM Jim Bowden, not Manny Acta.
Before the Nationals fire Manny Acta, they should give the man some talent to work with instead of running out a cast of retreads and has beens on the pitching side.
7 comments:
Acta is a smart guy who isn't afraid to try new and different things -- that is to say, he's not at all like most baseball managers. If we were in an alternate universe and Ron Gardenhire were remotely fireable from a PR standpoint, I'd fire him and hire Acta about 0.2 seconds after the Nats let Acta go.
These are the questions I would ask myself before firing a manager:
1) Has he consistently made horrible calls that were just against common sense?
2) Does he have control over his clubhouse (ie. keep players in line, follow the rules, etc.)?
3) Do the players follow and play for him, or are they constantly criticizing him?
4) Are there players that just shouldn't be there that have other possible solutions?
5) Are they at least doing the fundamentals right (not making lots of mental mistakes, know their situations, etc.)?
6) Do I have a seriously better option because a straight-up trade for the same competence is just dumb?
You'd have to answer these questions. I don't know enough about the Nationals to judge. But I don't judge managers too much based on performance. If he's making good decisions, that's all that I can ask. If it's talent level, that seems to be a me problem.
#16. Because 'Jorge Says No!'
#17. did I mention that Ron Villone is his best relief pitcher?
A couple things to consider.
1: Most of the guys you named in the Nationals bullpen are, in fact, not on the Nationals bullpen. Over the past serveral weeks, the bullpen is dramatically better, but the offense has gone into hibernation.
2: It was only recently that Acta decided to bench Kearns. For the life of me, I have no idea why that guy is on a major league roster.
3: The Nationals starting rotation consits of four rookies and a second year guy. There is some talent but it's going to take time to develop.
4: Cabrera was released about a month ago and the winning percentage has not increased at all.
5: Patterson is on the roster because of a tragic incident to the Willingham family.
6: Look at Ron Villone's numbers-he'd be one of the best on any team in baseball.
The bottom line-Acta has to go because he continually mismanages each game and brings zero spark with his personality. I can respect his stoic nature, but a team this bad needs to some attitude and a sense of urgency. His time to move on is way past due.
Anon: I just don't think the Nationals should punish Acta because they gave him very little talent to work with...
I don't think there are any managers, who could have done any better with the talent Acta was given.
Unless the Nationals management is so sold on Acta that they believe he should stay another 10 years, then they need to axe him now. This roster is no worse than the 2006, 2007, 2008 teams and yet he gets less and less from the team each month. What is it about his managing that cause his defenders to support him in the face of a .260 winning percentage? This team was 51-30 at the midpoint of 2005, because Frank Robinson was a motivator. Do you really think that the 2005 players were 30 games BETTER than the 2009 version? Stop making excuses for Acta and demand that he win. That's his only purpose.
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