The Houston Astros fired manager Phil Garner today and replaced him with former Brewers first baseman Cecil Cooper. What may have been the right move for the Astros, who are 15 games under .500, could be a blessing in disguise for the Brewers.
Now seems like a great time for general manager Doug Melvin to axe Ned Yost and replace him with "Scrap Iron."
Maybe, just maybe, the man who almost led the Brewers to their last playoff appearance in 1992 could be the same guy to coax this year's team to the post season.
Let's let Phil Garner finish what he started.
"Baseball people" are probably gonna call for my head after reading this, but I've been quietly advocating for some time that the Brewers part ways with Yost. I understand that conventional wisdom says you can't fire the manager of a team that is 1 1/2 games out of the division lead. But the Brewers have fallen back to Earth, and people need to start questioning why. Since you can't fire the players, you have to look at the skipper during the team's downward spiral.
In Sunday's loss to the Giants, Yost did what he's been doing all season long: leaving pitchers in to blow games. Dave Bush, who pitched five good innings, struggled in the sixth. Even the TV announcers seemed puzzled when Yost left Bush in for the seventh, since the right-hander has rarely been reliable late in games. And just like clockwork, he gave up a game-tying homer, which is when the wheels started to fall off.
How many other times have you found yourself questioning Yost's decisions? Like that awful game against the Phillies, when the Brewers entered the ninth inning with a 6-1 lead. I was there, and I knew the moment Yost brought in poor Matt Wise, that the game was over. Wise, who had recently plunked an opposing batter in the head, was shell-shocked. He couldn't hit the broad side of the barn. But Yost left him in to give up a pair. He then turned to his overworked closer, Francisco Cordero ... and the rest is history. Sad, pitiful history.
I feel like you could apply the same story to so many pitchers, it's not even funny. Turnbow. Villeneuva. Capuano. The list goes on and on. At some point, you have to look at the manager and wonder if his blind loyalty is costing the team games. In the case of Sunday's loss, the Brewers were facing an off day and could have turned to the bullpen.
Offensively, it's not much different. Why didn't Yost pinch hit for Jenkins yesterday, using Kevin Mench to avoid a lefty-lefty matchup? You don't have to be Bill James to predict what Jenkins does against southpaws in pressure situations.
Part of me likes Yost. He gets fired up (though not at the right time) and believes in his players (frequently to the point of absurd loyalty). But firing Garner was one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the franchise. In 1999, the Brewers canned Gar, but the team was really the problem. Now we have the most talented squad since 1992, and arguably, 1982.
Lets see what this World Series veteran can do with the Brewers. It's hard to imagine doing any worse than what we've all witnessed since the All Star Break. Yost has had his chance and is floundering helplessly. It'll never happen, I know -- but bring back Scrap, and the Brewers will win.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
