Will Phils Hire Best Manager in Baseball?
Well, if not the best, at least 1 or 1A along with the Giants’ Bruce Bochy.
Joe Maddon opted out of his contract with Tampa Bay today. He has taken that chronically-underfunded team to great heights, four times in the playoffs and one World Series appearance.
This is not a pipe dream. He is from the area. In fact, his mom is still a waitress in his home town of Hazleton, PA. He’s a Lafayette grad, and he comes back here often.
This is Pat Gillick’s call, not Ruben Amaro Jr’s.
Pat, for the sake of what’s left of my sanity, Make That Call!
Not sure about all of that, but the words; Baseball, Football, Coffee, and Lunch have something in common. They appear frequently in the emails of people who survive layoffs, and are largely absent fro the emails of people who are affected by layoffs.
Science!!
El Som, you’ve got a better chance of being the home plate umpire for the final game of the Little League World Series.
Maddon opted out so he can choose where he wants to go, and I can’t think of a good reason why he would want to take over a team of overpaid and over the hill underachievers (unless he can get Gillick to trade the whole bunch of ’em to Tampa Bay).
Don’t care where his mother lives, have to wonder what kind of son Joe is.
He’s 60, so she must be in her 80s. You would that he’s made enough money to set her up so she doesn’t have to keep on waiting tables to supplement her Social Security.
Yo, MW, didja know that I used to be a Little League umpire? 28 years worth. Started when I was 14 and realized that I had no future as a player.
While I never made it to the LLWS, I did get to ump some of the state tournament games in DE. Once umpired a tournament game in which Delino Deshields played. It was only at third base, though…
ES,
I lost count of how many games I watched you call, mostly at Chester Bethel, Talley and St. Edmonds. You and Bernie were the best behind the plate.
BTW, GWB was right about one thing. The multi-tier playoffs have diminished interest, as the fall classic is regularly populated by inferior teams:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/sports/baseball/world-series-2014-baseball-is-no-longer-center-of-attention-in-new-landscape.html
Right, John, but how do you explain a handful of political junkies getting so worked up over Barney-Simpler in a down-ballot race when there are a dozen Blue Rocks alumni playing in the World Series?
Shouldn’t we be getting a life, or something?
You’re right. I’m despondent for my Devil Rays, and need to snap out.
But I’m also celebrating the wonderful life of Frank Mankiewicz:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/us/politics/frank-mankiewicz-press-secretary-to-robert-f-kennedy-dies-at-90.html
Yet worried for Kevin Drum:
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/10/friday-cancer-blogging-24-october-2014
The Cubs are the early fave of the rumor mongerers. He could make a big splash early there as the Cubbies have some of the best emerging prospects in baseball.